Correspondence

1605.  EBB to Mary Russell Mitford

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 8, 307–308.

[London]

Monday morning. [29 April 1844] [1]

My beloved friend, let these words go to you, as a kiss through the air, until I can write more. I want to thank you a thousand times for your dear kindness in coming here & bringing Flush, [2] —& I have scarcely spirits for one time. Crow left me the day after I saw you .. & suddenly to me,––because they had kept the time of her going, concealed from me—and I have been shaken into sleepless nights & depressed days by it, .. the bow has lost its elasticity. Wait for a day or two,—& I will write. This word is just to prove me … no monster of ingratitude [3] towards you– I love you better & dearer & more gratefully, on the contrary, than ever. And although, to be sure, the Flushies did break our talk into bits, I cannot repent having seen your’s. He is in my mind for evermore. I know him. I see him. His Idea is with me, faithful & complete from henceforward.

And then, May, May!—— I look forward to May.

What was worse than the barking of dogs when you were here, was the aching of my head. How it ached, as if to put to shame the pleasure of the heart!—— And it has ached ever since, I think. Never was such a head.

But I have seen you—and I have seen Flush—and your goodness in coming I lay up on the top shelf of my precious thoughts & consecrated recollections.

May God bless you!– Heroic person you were, to do so much, so resolvedly, that night!–

Now, remember May. I shall chirp May into you, like a bird.

Your own EBB.

Ah yes—your loss is more bitter than mine, [4]  .. from the manner of it—but mine is more affecting than yours, from my aspect towards it. My morbid dislike of strangers .. too natural under circumstances of confinement & total personal dependence, .. you, who are active & social, can scarcely imagine, perhaps– But the thing is to be borne—& complaints are nought. May God bless you, dearest friend.

Publication: EBB-MRM, II, 407–408.

Manuscript: Wellesley College.

1. Dating based on Miss Mitford’s visit to London.

2. The visit took place on Thursday, 25 April.

3. Cf. Troilus and Cressida, III, 3, 147.

4. The loss of their respective maids, K. and Crow.

___________________

National Endowment for the Humanities - Logo

Editorial work on The Brownings’ Correspondence is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This website was last updated on 3-28-2024.

Copyright © 2024 Wedgestone Press. All rights reserved.

Back To Top