3284. EBB to Emelyn Story

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 19, 331.

[?Florence]

[?10 November 1853] [1]

I do hope, dearest Emelyn, you will be wise & kind to others as well as to yourself, & go to the villa notwithstanding. It is as you say, an exquisite day, .. good for souls & bodies, & Mr Story wont have the benefit of it if you stay at home– So think of him & the rest of us, & be good & go–

As to the great controversy last night I dare say I ought to beg everybody’s pardon on my knees for meddling with what does’nt concern me. I am ignorant of course, and, having certain impulses, am the apter to trust to them on that very account of ignorance– So, as nobody professes to know much on this subject, let us hope at least for the best—that’s all I venture to say in behalf of these same instincts– For the rest, there was not a call on you to “vindicate” yourself .. nor is– Vindicate!– From what, I wonder? From being patient with

your affectionate

EBB—?

for instance.

Publication: Isabel C. Clarke, Elizabeth Barrett Browning: A Portrait (London, [1929]), p. 297.

Manuscript: Wellesley College.

1. Conjectural date based on letter 3286, in which EBB details inconclusive experiments with spiritualism on two occasions, the second of them occurring on a Wednesday evening, possibly 9 November 1853. Emelyn Story was present at this “less satisfactory” séance, when there was “conflict & confusion” and EBB inveighed “against every person present who instead of trying these experiments with humility & reverence, played at sharp-shooting with the invisible world.”

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