1704. EBB to Mary Russell Mitford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 9, 121–124.
[London]
Sept. 1. 1844.
Ever dearest friend I began a letter to you last week & had not the heart to go on with it. You may well reproach me for silence, & say hard words of me in your secret thoughts. Appearances are against me,—& I am not sure, .. for all this love for you which rises up at the thought, .. I am not sure that I am altogether innocent. Still, as I do love you, & have not been turned away from writing to you by overmuch pleasure, you will try to forgive me, .. & will understand perhaps how naturally I have sunk into a distaste for the opening of my heart to you, when I tell you at last that two of my brothers, Stormie & Henry, are at this moment on their way to Ægypt. Everybody, except myself, knew of the plan long & long ago. The Statira is Papa’s own ship, & takes out coals, to bring back wool from Alexandria; and the young men (particularly Stormie, who sang for joy to the last moment) were wild with desire to go out in her—and Papa gave way, .. & had every possible luxury of preparation, .. up to hermetically sealed cream & Champagne, .. provided for them. A few days before they went, they told me—and although I had strength to avoid any scene or weak demonstration, the arrangement has naturally given me many a fearful thought & heavy hour,—and I bitterly think, even now, that the advantage of being in Ægypt a month, at Gibraltar two days, & at Malta, two days, is disproportionate to the long anxiety of those left at home. The ship is considered a good & safe one; & the Captain is experienced,—and the voyage will be as agreeable, I suppose, as a voyage can be, from the airiness & size of the cabins, & the comforts of all sorts, with which they were furnished. And then I try to think of the fine bright weather, & the favorable wind!– Only once, when the sun shone brightest I was near my greatest woe——and, so, there is nothing but to trust God for it that He will be merciful & spare us to meet happily again. They are to be at home at Christmas or before—& the plan is, if possible, to get down to Thebes while the ship is being loaded at Alexandria. Oh, they were so delighted to go! Even the sight of my tears as they stooped down to kiss me, could not change their smiles for a moment. They smiled on, as if they could not help it,—& I am sure they could’nt. Dear things! It is some comfort to know they are so happy—and then it is weak & morbid, I feel, to have such thoughts as I have struggled bravely against. Do you know I once thought of escaping the anxiety by sharing the risk, & of going with them to Malta, there to wait for the spring, .. flying an English winter in the same act!– But then, I thought again, if I went, & Papa consented to it, my sisters wd wish to go & he wd insist on it,—& that wd be undoing his home for him, as I swore I never again wd! No—it is better as it is! Besides I have not striven in vain. I am more cheerful than I expected to be,—& not presentimental.
Dearest friend, I have sent you Miss Pyer’s volume of poems today .. & see in it an address to yourself. The subscription is all settled. [1] And now I am going to tell you of my books. There is not much to say. I have had some very gratifying letters,—very—but there has scarcely been time to guess at what will be the ultimate judgement of impartial readers. The only review I have seen yet, is the Athenæum’s, which is most kind, & leaves me satisfied & grateful. Did you not see it? It began a number,—& scarcely obliged you to the effort of page-cutting. Then, I hear of a review in the John Bull of yesterday, which is said to cut me into gashes, on the ground of the vicious ambition of emulating Milton. I have sent for the paper, as I wish to know the head & front of the violence done to me—the praise or blame of that publication not being however of much importance, to my apprehension. Also, it is said to be more gracious to the minor poems. [2] I have had kind letters from Carlyle, who told me that a person of my “insight & veracity” ought to use “speech” rather than “song” in these days of crisis,—which wd be too like Pope’s advice to Wycherly to turn his poems into prose to be exceedingly gratifying, [3] if he had not followed it by some cordial kindness. He had not read all the poems when he wrote,—had not read the ‘Drama,’ nor the ‘Vision’,—& singled out ‘Geraldine’s Courtship’ as his favorite so far. Well, then,—Wordsworth only “looked forward with great pleasure” to having leisure to read,—this being ‘his season’ at the lakes. The same with Landor, who wrote before the parcel containing the books reached his hands. Leigh Hunt is from home. Mrs Jameson used strong language of praise to Mr Kenyon, & said that she meant to write to me—but she has not yet written. Miss Martineau promises a full & unreserved opinion ‘for better or worse’ when she has finished the reading,—but she has not yet written. Mr Boyd is demonstrative to the highest degree in satisfaction with the ‘Drama,’ but (except his Cyprus wine) has read nothing else. Among my private friends, you know how it must be—they show only the sunny sides of their thoughts. That I have made progress, and particularly improved in clearness, appear general admissions—& made not only by the Athenæum. By the way I do not at all doubt that Mr Chorley is the author of that criticism; & I am sincerely grateful to him for it. It is a review of the minor poems,—with a reference to a purpose of taking the long poems into consideration on a future occasion.
There now! Have I not told you all? All that you will care to hear, I think. It wd have been abominable of me to resist your request; & I have made my confession as well I could. Would you like to see Carlyle’s letters?– You shall see & hear whatever you care to see & hear. Reserve to you, wd be ingratitude in me.
After all, I have thought little of the book lately, as you may well believe. Let John Bull tear me up if he pleases.
Oh, I forgot to say .. I have continued your subscription to the library– [4] I just mention it, lest you may remember the six months have ended, & be uncomfortable with a passing doubt. How are you? how are you enduring? I fear, day by day, to hear of your being exhausted at last. Have you been pastoral yet with the Mechanic’s Institute? [5] Do tell me something of yourself. Alas! it seems to me that I have fallen into black letter [6] with you, & am put away on a dusty shelf. You are forgetting to remember me? are you not? How is Flush’s obesity? Tell me all.
And do you know anyone who, having a young child from four to ten years of age, wishes it to be taught French, English, Italian, & Music, by a daily governess? Miss Haydon is anxious to undertake the teaching of such a child; & her father has written to beg me to do what I can to meet her wishes. [7] I––what can I do? But you, who know everybody in the world, may know some evil disposed person in town, inclined to torture his or her poor child. Or perhaps Miss Skerrett might? I need not ask you to interest yourself in poor Mr Haydon’s wishes,—& I fear it is not a mere caprice of his daughter’s, although he talks of “occupation & amusement to her spirits.” May God bless you, ever dearest Miss Mitford! Do not forget me all at once.
I am as always
your most affectionate
EBB.
Ought I not to give a copy to Mr Harness, after his gift to me? [8] Answer!– I feel shy,—because he is sure, almost, not to like the poetry—from what you told me of his school, I guess so.
Oh—I had a few words (just words) from Mr Horne in Prussia—& he desires me to name him to you–
Publication: EBB-MRM, II, 440–443.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. EBB and Miss Mitford are both listed as subscribers to Wild Flowers; or Poetic Gleanings from Natural Objects (1844) by Catherine Smith Pyer (see letter 1601, note 7).
2. EBB’s Poems (1844) was reviewed in John Bull, 31 August 1844, pp. 551–552. For the text of this review, see pp. 330–333.
3. Cf. Pope’s comment, in a letter of 2 May 1710, to William Wycherley regarding certain “Pieces,” “[it is] my sincere Opinion that the greater Part would make a much better Figure, as Single Maxims and Reflections in Prose … than in Verse.” The Correspondence of Alexander Pope, ed. George Sherburn (Oxford, 1956).
4. Pietro Rolandi’s (see letter 1601, note 4).
5. See letter 1688, note 3.
6. A heavy Gothic type generally used by early printers of English.
7. Letter 1703.
8. See letter 1608.
___________________
