847. EBB to Mary Russell Mitford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 5, 118–121.
[Torquay]
Saturday. [28] August [1841] [1]
My dearest friend,
I read your letter just after sending my own to you, with a sympathy as true & full as the love it came from. That “it” seems to mean your letter, but does mean mine—and might, I know well, mean either. God bless & keep all who are dear to you, & bless & surprise your heart with still more riches in the consciousness of many being dear. Life is dreary indeed without love—the sand were not worth the footsteps. [2] And love is nearer to us than even the more sanguine of us reckon upon—over us, in the Heavens—& with us perpetually, whatever we may lose, in what is called lost. “He will not come to me—I shall go to him”. [3] The connection, the meeting, the embrace, remain as sure in the case of death as life—the change being simply in the action .. in the going instead of the coming, .. & in the person acting .. ‘I shall go’, instead of ‘he shall come’. It is well for us perhaps—not—to live without love—& not—to die, because we have not love—but to have love on each side the grave.
Do not omit telling me, my beloved friend, how Mrs Edward May [4] continues to be!– Your little picture is vivid to my eyes .. better, as all your pictures are, than Mr Lucas’s. A lovely picture—fragrant as well as beautiful. Oh may she indeed be spared to her husband, & the dear unconscious children, & to you!– I feel so, all you must have felt!–
Mr Kenyon arrived the day before yesterday,—& as that day went down, he had your letter. Yesterday morning before my sofa-hour, he kindly came to see my sisters, & promised to be here again today—which promise he is perjured in. So I have’nt seen him! But I may still! He looks, my sisters say, most excellently well & is in his usual spirits—those you know, being holiday ones. Was there ever anyone who made such a holiday of life as this dear friend of ours? Is there anyone under twelve years old?—or ten perhaps?—or six?—to antedate the Latin grammar! I know of nobody.
He is here, he says, for a week,—“with two ladies”,—and as they feared the noises of an hotel, has taken a house for their common use. “Two ladies”, he said—naming no name. [5] One house, one carriage, “two ladies” (introduced namelessly) & Mr Kenyon! Can you pluck the heart out of the mystery? [6] Is’nt it a mystery? Is’nt there a heart? I assure you I am pondering it gravely. And then the broken vow about coming here today! And another vow, which he mentioned besides, not broken yet & strange upon his lips—to abstain from the society of the place during his stay!!– They were a week too at Sidmouth,—& from hence cross to the north of Devonshire! Dear, dear, Mr Kenyon, what can you be about?
He is very fond of Miss Garrow—and so is Mr Bezzi, and so is Mr Landor. But how am I to answer your question in regard to my sisters? I open my heart to you always,—& I have wondered sometimes whether you ever wondered at my saying so very little about her, when everybody else of better judgment, said so much .. Well—my sisters do not very much admire Miss Garrow—and now the inness is out. I may trust you. I do trust you—for I shd be very averse to any word of mine on this subject being repeated to anybody in the world. I do trust you solely. My sisters—I shd say, my sister Henrietta—since Arabel has seen so little of her—my sister Henrietta then, does not admire her, for manner or simplicity, or any other quality than her superior musical accomplishments. A musical talent goes a great way with Henrietta, & she can appreciate it more fully than literary attainment—but with all this appreciation of & admiration for Miss Garrow’s remarkable proficiency in her own favorite art, she does not .. to speak plainly .. she does not admire the musician. And it is not merely Henrietta. There is a great lack of popularity here I understand—and (which I think of more gravely) there have been those, whose general charity & particular sensitiveness to certain graces of character failed to include them among her admirers. The charges are—affectation—at least want of naturalness—& a leaning to light flirty manners.
For my own part, I have seen her twice, & from that limited experience, I did not infer the ‘affectation’, & had of course no opportunity of inferring the rest. She came with her sister Miss Fisher, her half sister,—who has been far the most cordial to me of the two,—altho’ the whole family has been kind in sending me now & then a present of vegetables & flowers. Miss Fisher spoke however & wrote—& seemed the more inclined to like me—and as a kind person entirely without pretension, & not very particularly polished, I liked her.
In regard to Miss Garrow’s poetry, I cannot to please any person in the world take the Landor & Kenyon estimate of it. Mr Landor, you know, says “Sappho” [7] —and Mr Kenyon says,—said in my ears—“wonderful genius!” while Mr Bezzi does, I believe, strike the full chord. The best poem I have seen of hers, is the Ballad in Lady Blessington’s Keepsake for next year [8] —but we must all think & feel for ourselves, if we think & feel at all—and I think & feel of that ballad as of the rest, that it is flowingly & softly written, with no trace of the thing called genius, from the first stanza to the last. She has a good ear, & has caught the tune of the poetry of the day. I told her, when she kindly sent me a previous annual—a Book of beauty [9] —(oh such trash as those beautiful books rejoice in!) that I thought her verses graceful & flowing. But power—originality, which is individuality—the sign of the separate mind—you seek in vain for them. At least I do. And the philosophy I have drawn from the mystery of the admiration of such very good judges, is an additional reserve & guardiness in my own case against trusting the applausive opinions of friends. I myself always thought, & perhaps think still, that I cd love a person to the top of my heart, & yet judge their writings fairly. But it is presumption in me—or it is otherwise with them. Think of Mr Landor saying “Wordsworth never wrote anything like this”!! I heard he said so! Why even friendship which covers so many sins, lies scant upon the blasphemy!– [10]
It is right to admit that I have seen only four or five poems—but those were selected ones .. for Lady Blessington [11] —(two selected by Mr Landor) and the master-hand is seen in a stroke. In German & Italian literature she is I believe highly accomplished—speaking both languages. But from all I can hear the forte is music. She composes & performs—& there is genius in each. Quite enough various attainment, you see, to render her remarkable & admirable—without touching Wordsworth’s laurel. Push just praise into extravagance, and you undo it! If the world recognize her as a poet, I shall be surprised—but certainly not so much so as I have been already.
Oh my dearest Miss Mitford, the carriage is come!– We are going!– We shall probably go on tuesday or wednesday.
There is much to bear—much to dread– The physical danger almost passes from my mind. How I shall thank God, if He do reserve to me the comfort of being at home again. Poor Papa is too frightened to come, & will meet us, he says, somewhere on the road—while Dr Scully, repeating “If a lady must, she must” is obviously drawing philosophical inferences upon the indomitable obstinacy of womanhood generally. How can I help it? I can’t stay.
God bless you—dearest & kindest!– I am leaving a place where in the midst of unspeakable anguish, I have known when I cd know anything the truest kindness—the soothingest ceaseless touch of yours. I thank you, thank you for it all.
While I live, I am
your attached
EBB–
You shall hear.
God bless you & dear Dr Mitford!
You shall hear—but dont be uneasy if you shd not immediately. We may be days & days on the road, if not longer– Write to 50 Wimpole Street–
You are aware perhaps that Mrs Garrow was a public singer. The whole family is musical. [12]
Publication: EBB-MRM, I, 268–271.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Dated by Kenyon’s arrival, anticipated in letter 845.
2. Cf. Longfellow, “A Psalm of Life” (1838), line 28.
3. Cf. II Samuel, 12:23.
4. Assumed to be the sister-in-law of Miss Mitford’s physician, George May.
5. One of the ladies was Sarah Bayley; see letter 845, note 8.
6. Cf. Hamlet, III, 2, 365–366.
7. The poetess of Lesbos, ca. 600 B.C.
8. The Keepsake for 1842, edited by Lady Blessington, contained Miss Garrow’s poem “The Doom of Cheynholme” (pp. 87–107). EBB must have seen the poem in manuscript, as the book was not published until November 1841.
9. See letters 670 and 671.
10. Although Landor’s friendship with Miss Garrow’s father, Joseph Garrow, might have contributed to the extravagance of his praise, EBB later ascribed his comments to “the personal feeling which speaks in him” (letter of 20 November 1845 to RB).
11. Two of her poems were included in the 1839 Book of Beauty and two in the 1840 edition.
12. Theodosia Garrow (née Abrams, 1766–1849) sang at public concerts in London for several years with her sisters Harriet and Eliza. Joseph Garrow was an accomplished amateur violinist.
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