Correspondence

1490.  Thomas Westwood to EBB

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 8, 139–141.

[Enfield]

[6 January 1844] [1]

I have read the Review, dear Miss Barrett, & now, woe is me! I send my book blushingly to you, as one of those “little books that your shelves groan under, & you groan over, less metaphorically”– “Poet in a parenthesis”–! [2] Verily the cap fits—& yet not so—it is but the power that is wanting, not the will or the devotedness—had that been vouchsafed me, I should not have stood, as I now do, amongst that ‘vile species,’ you break upon the wheel of your satire– [3] But you will not “groan” over my verses, notwithstanding—they will scarcely give you time to do that, & besides, they will look up to you pleadingly, & with something of a friend’s face—so that—you cannot choose but smooth down the critical wrinkles, & stretch out a hand,—or at least a finger—to greet them– And will you be angry with me for associating your name, with such a book as this. I have had my fears—& indeed you must scold me very sharply, if those fears are just–

And this review– I cannot tell you how much we admired it—both for its fine high tone, & still more perhaps for its affectionate, reverential spirits– I always enjoy too that vein of quaint quick humour, which runs, like a sunbeam, through your prose composition, & sometimes flashes out upon one, so suddenly, that while the brow is grave, the lips are smiling. But you are no “blind admirer” of Wordsworth [4] —better still—seeing his faults, you love him none the less—and this is well:– On the strength of that review, I will read him thoroughly, which I have never yet done, & then perhaps I may owe you double thanks—thanks for the review, & thanks also for the new field of enjoyment, I have reached through it.

I did not need your letter to tell me that the Melvill reached you—for I left them myself– A sudden summons took me up to London, so I thought I would ensure their arrival—besides—I must tell the whole truth,—I did wish to see the house you lived in—so it was quite a pilgrimage. I hummed to myself, as I walked down the street,

 

“I dwell amid the city.

The great humanity which beats

Its life along the stony streets,

Like a strong unsunnëd river

In a self made course, is ever

Rolling on, rolling on!” [5]

Now, dear Miss Barrett—you must not answer this, till you are quite, quite at leisure– I know well, even in my small way, how much of labour & occupation, the publication of a book brings with it, & you, who are not strong & well, if you have a few minutes to spare, ought, I am sure[,] to spend them in perfect relaxation & repose. Treat me in this matter at least as an old friend, who will always rejoice heartily to hear from you, but will never quarrel with you however brief or far between your letters may become–

You will tell me whether you think I have made any improvement in this book—the only thing which I think an improvement is, that it is more cheerful[.]

Believe me to be—

Very faithfully Yours

T. Westwood–

The volume of Horne—it has not reached me yet—I am getting quite anxious about it– Do pray let enquiry be made at the office– I should be vexed beyond measure if I were, in any way, the cause of your losing it– What would you not wish respecting me?– I will set our Enfield Carrier to work, if you can tell me by what medium it was forwarded.

Do not think I have been stupid, & misapplied the motto [6] —there is an old story & a pleasant, connected with those two lines–

Address: Miss E. B. Barrett.

Publication: None traced.

Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.

1. Dated by Westwood’s saying in letter 1501 that the book had been sent on Saturday; this was the 6th.

2. Westwood is quoting from EBB’s review of Wordsworth’s Poems in The Athenæum.

3. In her review, EBB criticized the “many poets who live and are true … but hold back their full strength from Art” (p. 759).

4. In letter 1473, Westwood had said that all his literary friends were “either blind admirers of [Wordsworth’s] poetry, or unjust despisers of it.” EBB responded to this comment in letter 1477.

5. Lines 1–6 of “The Soul’s Travelling,” included in The Seraphim.

6. As a motto on the title page of Beads from a Rosary, Westwood used lines 9 and 10 of EBB’s “Minstrelsy” (“I know that much, whereof I sing, / Is shapen but for vanishing”), contained in Prometheus Bound (1833).

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