1796. Mary Russell Mitford to EBB
An amended version of the text that appeared in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 9, 300–301.
Three Mile Cross,
Dec. 29, 1844.
My beloved friend–
How I have been occupied during the past week I can hardly tell—but really I have not had one moment to bless myself– I have been out six days and had one supper party at home—& Jane has been & is still very very unwell—& an old pensioner of my poor father’s, one of those good pious patient women whose long life of suffering & privation would alone be enough if we were not Christians to prove the existence of a future state, is slowly passing away, so that reading to her & looking after her a little, is another occupation—a fourth has been scolding the railway people– Two packets sent to me the beginning of the week having gone astray—one arrived this morning (a Turkey kept from last Monday!) another (my French books—much worse than the turkey!) not come yet. Of course I added your offering to the list—& I’m quite glad I did– That Monopoly is so badly managed that here is no possibility of scolding it too much. Now I have read the Chimes. [1] I don’t like it. If the story which now passes or does not pass in a vision or a nightmare had been told as a truth simply and honestly there might have been some meaning in it—but as the matter is I don’t like it. Mr. Dickens is lacking that good faith in narration which makes Balzac so enchanting.
I am enchanted to find that you mean to write narrative poetry—and narrative poetry of real life. [2] We must talk over subjects and stories. I still wonder that Napoleon does not inspire you. Oh what a man! I would have given a limb to have been in the place of Madame Bertrand [3] or Madame de Montholon, or even of one of the Miss Balcombs [4] —ay, or to have been concealed somewhere just to have heard him conversing and dictating, but rather conversing. After all, his prophecies are realized. He is the glory of France. Louis Philippe would hardly have sat on the throne so long had he not called in the memory of its idol to fix him in the love of the nation. You won’t be sorry, if you happen to forget it, to hear what Napoleon said of Junot—that he was the man to whom he had given more than to any other of his generals; that his extravagance was beyond all bounds; that he never saw him without some fresh demand; that he lived a life of sad debauchery, which, at last, ended in insanity; that, after behaving very strangely in Moscow, Napoleon had given him the government of the Illyrian provinces, where the malady broke out; that he wounded himself fearfully, and shortly after died. He (the Emperor) sent for Madame d’Abrantes to remonstrate with her on the necessity of restraining her husband’s extravagances, as well as her own; that she behaved very ill—Napoleon’s phrase is, “She treated me like a child.” He also speaks quietly of her mother, as having been greatly obliged to his. [5] In short, it is perfectly clear that, in the romance of Napoleon’s love for Madame Permon (a woman ten years older than Josephine), and of his fancy for herself, Madame d’Abrantes says the thing that is not. I always felt that part of her Mémoires to be false. But they are very charming, nevertheless; and the idea of her dying in a hospital is frightful. Do read “Un Homme Sérieux,” and Béranger’s “Cinq de Mai.” [6]
I can’t quite tell yet, dearest, when I shall come, because the weather must get a little better first. But be quite sure that it shall be soon. I hope the cessation of frost will be good for you. For my own part, I liked the cold weather; it was so dry. We had, and indeed have still, a family of blackbirds and redbreasts, who came to us every time we opened the door for crumbs and water, and were so tame that they all but fed out of our hands. That’s the way I like to have birds. They are quite as tame with Flush; and he likes them as well as we do.
Heaven bless you my beloved friend!
Ever yours
M.R.M.
Publication: BC, 9, 300–301 (in part).
Sources: Text (in part) L’Estrange (2), III, 188–190; transcript at Reading Central Library.
1. See letter 1793, note 14.
2. See letters 1793 and 1797.
3. L’Estrange published this name as Rechard, doubtless a misreading of Miss Mitford’s handwriting. Fanny Dillon Bertrand was the wife of Henri Gratien Bertrand, the grand marshal of les Tuileries. He was with Napoleon at St. Helena from 1815 until 1821.
4. The “Miss Balcombs” were the daughters of William Balcombe (1779–1829), the English naval agent at St. Helena. Napoleon was Balcombe’s guest at “The Briars” for the first few months of his exile, until “Longwood House” was suitably prepared. During that time, Napoleon and “Betsy” Balcombe (Lucia Elizabeth, d. 1871) became especially good friends. Albine de Montholon (1780?–1848) was the wife of Charles Tristan Marquis de Montholon (1783–1853), who was Napoleon’s aide-de-camp and the author of Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de France sous Napoléon (1823) based on Napoleon’s recollections during his exile in St. Helena.
5. These comments about Napoleon’s opinion of Mme. d’Abrantès follow closely the record given in Memorial de Sainte Hélène: Journal of the Private Life and Conversations of the Emperor Napoleon at Saint Helena (1823) by Emmanuel Dieudonné comte de Las Cases (vol. II, pp. 347–351). Las Cases accompanied Napoleon to St. Helena and acted unofficially as secretary until he was expelled from the island in November 1816.
6. Un homme sérieux (1843) by Charles de Bernard. Le Cinq Mai formed part of Chansons (1828) by Pierre Jean de Béranger (1780–1857).
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