Correspondence

2590.  EBB to Mary Russell Mitford

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 13, 348–350.

[London]

[ca. 8 September 1846] [1]

My dearest Miss Mitford, what are you thinking of me this long while of silence? Forgive me first—& then I will tell you, dear friend, that among other absorbing thoughts & reveries, I have had to reverie about my poor Flush, who has been lost again & found, & for whom I have had to pay six guineas more—making the twentieth of which the dogstealers have robbed me– Is it not atrocious—the loss of money, & the sense of imposition & extortion being quite null before the pain & anxiety: for I lost my appetite & power of sleeping, besides my money—not to say, my temper & patience. And if you conjecture that any carelessness entered into the case, you are wrong: Flush was simply out in the carriage with me & Arabel. We had been in a shop, & the steps were let down, & he was at my heels while I stepped up them. Once seated, I turned & called Flush, .. my sister looked round for Flush—there was no Flush. He must have been drawn under the carriage with some guilty hand on his mouth to prevent the yell which would otherwise have been uttered, & so slipped into a bag. And think of us, there, in Vere Street, looking & calling for him in vain– And there was no help—we had to come home with ever so much despair in our faces, .. mine, as white as possible,—& to send off an embassy to the chief of the bandits instantly, being perfectly persuaded that he knew every particular of the loss better than anyone. Which he plainly did—. It was only an hour after the loss, observe, & scarcely could he keep his countenance, the knowledge in him was so triumphant. And to this man, I paid within the space of a week, the sum he demanded, & had my poor, poor Flush back again—Flush as black as the iniquities of his enemies,—I never saw him so dirty. The night he came home, he was in low spirits too, & put up his head & cried & moaned whenever anyone said “Poor Flush, what did the naughty men do to you.” No wonder! he who objects to lie on the sofa without a pillow for his head, & refuses buttered muffin without marmalade! He must have thought that the end of the world was come.

Dearest Miss Mitford, do write & tell me all about yourself:—I long to hear. Also, was not something said about your coming for one of the ‘angel visits’? [2] Our relatives are all dispersed now, some vanished into thin Parisian air & some into Scotch mists—but if graciously you should think of coming, (and of pure grace it will be indeed) tell me the day beforehand that I may be of a surety disengaged. Then I want to know about Dumas—your Dumas. His “Memoires d’un Medecin” [3] are most vivid & amusing: he improves, it appears to me. Have you seen Sue’s new romance ‘Martin ou l’enfant trouvé.’? [4] As to Balzac he has grown dumb.

Is it not a sign of prosperity with the Daily News, that it has emitted an evening paper? [5] Tell me, you who are wise. Did I tell you that Moxon had gone with Tennyson to Switzerland? He has returned, Moxon has, leaving the poet, & bringing home the news that he is disappointed with the mountains. [6] Now! Is it right, do you think, or wrong, for a man to be disappointed with Mont Blanc? I mean, is it to the dishonor of man or mountain? For my part, I am inclined always to believe that the imagination is at fault, rather than the object,—& that disappointments of this class occur most frequently in minds of the lower order. In all admiration of natural things, we give as much at least as we receive—is it not so? I am disappointed at Tennyson’s being disappointed, you see. However, to make up for it, he is said to have a ms poem nearly finished, [7] in his pocket, & I dare say I shall have full reason for forgiving him very soon. May God bless you, dearest Miss Mitford! Do write, & write of yourself. Have you more rest & leisure? Do you like your maid? Have you heard from Mr Buckingham? and how is Mr Lovejoy’s little girl? I have had a civil note from the Blackwoods & am going to let them have some poems of the shortest. [8] Think of me gently, as of one who never ceases to love you affectionately & gratefully–

Your EBB–

Oysters go to you.

Publication: EBB-MRM, III, 184–186.

Manuscript: Wellesley College.

1. Conjectural dating based on EBB’s reference to Flush being stolen and returned, which she reported to RB in letter 2585.

2. Thomas Campbell, The Pleasures of Hope (1799), II, 378.

3. Mémoires d’un médecin: Joseph Balsamo (1846–48), an historical novel depicting the life at court during the reign of Louis XV.

4. In a letter to Miss Mitford dated 20 September 1847, EBB mentions not having “read ‘Martin’ ever since the first vol. in England.” Balzac published a number of works about this time, including Les comédiens sans le savoir (1846) and Les parents pauvres (1846–47).

5. The first number of The Express was issued 1 September 1846, and it continued until April 1869. It was edited by Thomas Eliot until 1855, and then by J.R. Robinson.

6. See letter 2576, note 2.

7. Doubtless The Princess, which was published the following year.

8. See letter 2554, note 6.

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