Correspondence

760.  EBB to Mary Russell Mitford

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 4, 277–278.

Torquay.

Saturday [?30 May] [1840] [1]

My beloved friend,

I wd willingly, gladly, thankfully, hear something of you & dear Dr Mitford—the last account being, for all the promise, at the close, so unsatisfying. It grieves me very much that your anxieties shd last. Perhaps the season & the confinement in which his accident resulted, [2] may have induced the temporary disposition towards the head. May it prove to be temporary—the good, lasting!– God bless & keep you both– I shd like so much to hear.

Let me put first, lest I forget it, one question. When did you send—at what time last year—the geranium plants to Wimpole St.?– I never heard of their arrival, & Arabel says she is sure they never did arrive unless it were late in the autumn,—& if they had done so at all, I cant fancy that (what with Set’s triumph & his knowledge of the things I care to be told) I shoul’nt have ‘heard the fame thereof with my ears’. [3] In the case of your remembering, do answer,—because you see we cant afford to lose them.

I have learnt a little about Mr Bezzi’s marriage and a great deal about him personally. Mr Kenyon’s estimation of him in all possible ways appears of the highest—and indeed in the note which he brought me there was a request that if I saw anybody at Torquay it shd be Mr Bezzi. I cant however do it, till at least I get into a dressing gown & the next room—which I shall be more particularly anxious to do soon from the circumstance of dear Mr Kenyon coming here his very own self .. intending to come .. in the autumn– Nay!—I understand Mr Bezzi to be holding the office of house hunter for him—hunter of a permanent house which he means to occupy a portion of the year, retaining his house in London. It surprised me a good deal in the hearing. The place is very lovely, a gathering of hills & waters wrapped in silken snoods for atmosphere: but Mr Kenyon couldnt go on anywhere without society,—& the worst of the society here is that there is such plenty of it. Dining, dancing, cardplaying society (—into the depth of which one is thrust, if solitude be not chosen at first for the better & the worse,—) will scarcely suit him—& he cant or wont do without it. Mr Landor comes too, I understand, but only for a short time.

Tell me if you hear of Mr Horne’s Gregory VII. There are magnificent things in it. His power of language as well as thought, seems to me less masculine than gigantic—& his whole mind to partake of that distinctive & originating character, properly called genius,—to at least the degree of any writing of the day. Gregory wd scarcely do I shd think for the

<…> [4]

I gain strength I think—but very slowly– Do tell me what you are doing, dear dearest Miss Mitford! Where are the letters?– [5]

Say how you are—& tell me of dear Dr Mitford. My affectionate remembrances to him—& many from hence to you

God bless you!

Ever your attached

EBB–

Address: Miss Mitford / Three Mile Cross.

Publication: EBB-MRM, I, 199–200 as [June? 1840].

Manuscript: Wellesley College.

1. This letter obviously follows no. 759, in which EBB mentions Bezzi’s arrival in Torquay.

2. See letter 748, note 2.

3. Job, 28:22.

4. The remainder of the letter is missing, except for the concluding sentences written across the top of the first page and on the flap of the envelope.

5. See letter 737, note 1.

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