1648. EBB to Mary Russell Mitford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 9, 42–44.
[London]
Monday. [?8] [July 1844] [1]
Ever dearest Miss Mitford, if I said I was going to write before you wrote, I spoke far too generously & beyond the limits of my nature. I have been on tiptoe for a letter from you. The toes of my expectation ache considerably in consequence. At last you write, & accuse me of perjury, .. which “on my fay” [2] I cast off the imputation of. Oh no, no. My letters are indeed valuable (George Robins judice) [3] six to one of yours,—but still I appeal to the “custom of the country” [4] .. in matters of correspondence,—& dont mean to write six times to your once. Take pity on me & write. I miss you so– You cant imagine what it is to lose you like a sunbeam lost, & to have to sit on in the dark.
After all I console myself with fragments of your dear letter of this morning which refer to London in a promising manner! Suppose you come instead of going .. to France,—after all? My hopes are flourishing more than my ivy– I begin to think seriously (seeing that you have thought so long on the subject) that you may come. Railroads will be riper next year——consider! do!
Before I say a word more, let me speak about business. If Mrs Dupuy rejects that position positively, is anybody else, in whom you are interested, likely to accept it—and if not, is there any possibility of my securing it for Mrs Orme, who is the very person for it .. quite a woman of the world, .. with a large acquaintance of high sounding names,—accomplished, agreeable, sensible, in the shrewd sense .... I have mentioned her before to you. Now is there a chance for her? If you think so, will you, for love of me, say a word in her favor?– [5]
Mrs Gore’s damnation was flagrant I suppose,—and I agree with you that her essential deficiencies were likely enough to be damnatory. [6] Still a comedy of the Sheridan fashion does not require much of the finer stuff of nature,—and I shd have imagined her capable of a new “school for scandal” [7] with some effect. Flash upon flash, .. if she cd keep up the flashing, .. wd save a comedy (—one might fancy) in these days of general destitution.
Talking of which, … I shall “think no nonsense,” [8] —be sure,—about the comedy: only I am not surprised that it has not come, [9] .. & you cannot reasonably reproach me for a want of astonishment.
Neither am I surprised—only pleased, .. at the natural pleasure [10] of Mrs Jameson in her desire to see you. Now I do hope you may like her—I think you will. I think she must be to be liked. Oh, and she will enchant you with talk about Germany, & the smoking & pickled cabbage,—& throw it all into the ideal. And then the worst of it all will be, that you will be for going there directly, & leaving Flush & me behind you to “grow square” [11] at leisure, without regrets or remorses.
Oh—I have been interrupted. Shall I keep my letter till tomorrow or send it so? Send it—for Mrs Orme’s sake principally.
May God bless you my beloved friend—I will write of Bernard. [12]
Your own
EBB.
Publication: EBB-MRM, II, 418–420 (as [?1] [July 1844]).
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Dated by EBB’s promise to write about Charles de Bernard, fulfilled in letter 1650 on 12 July; the Monday prior to this was 8 July.
2. “Fay” (“faith,” from the French), in common usage from about 1300, can be found in Chaucer and other early writers.
3. “In the judgement of George Robins.” Robins (1778–1847), was a well-known auctioneer, whose advertisements were “high-flown and fantastic” (DNB).
4. The Custome of the Countrey is the title of a 1647 play by Beaumont and Fletcher.
5. We are unable to clarify the reference to the position for which EBB is proposing Mrs. Orme; doubtless it was as governess or companion in an upper-class family.
6. Mrs. Gore’s comedy, Quid Pro Quo, had been selected from 97 entries competing for the £500 prize offered by Benjamin Webster, the lessee of the Haymarket Theatre. It was acted on 18 June, and a review the next day in The Times felt that, although “written with considerable smartness,” the play wanted balance and was “too flimsy for its length.” The last act “was played amid a storm of disapprobation.”
7. Sheridan’s 1777 comedy.
8. See the reference to “nonsense thoughts” in letter 1643.
9. i.e., the manuscript of Chorley’s play, mentioned in letter 1634.
10. Cf. Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel (1681), line 28.
11. “Square” used here in the sense of disorder or confusion (OED).
12. See letter 1650 for EBB’s comments.
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