860. EBB to Mary Russell Mitford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 5, 141–143.
50 Wimpole Street
Oct. 9th 1841
My beloved friend,
It is my remorse & your pardon which I must think of first, in writing to you at last! What is to be said for me? That the flowers shd be withered before I thank you for them, withered, & the last stalks thrown away—what is to be said?– And the worst is, I have no very good very iron reason for silence. I have not been ill, no, nor gagged!– And I did receive the beautiful beautiful flowers, and the books, & your letter dearest of all!—, with gladness & thankfulness, besides the dumbness. I stand in my sackcloth & ashes, [1] without a spark of excuse left in them—if this shd be none—that I put off from one lazy day to another my duty & pleasure of writing to you, having some letters of paramount propriety to write, & some disinclination through a little more languor than usual (which has passed now) to writing at all—so that it was convenient to me to think to myself “Now I am not up to writing today—& to prove it, I wont even write to Three Mile Cross”. Besides—I wanted to fix a day for my holiday or holidays––& in order to that, wanted to hear something of dear Mr Kenyon. Not a word comes!– But surely surely he must come back soon. Yes!—it wd be hardhearted & ungrateful of me, not to give him a slice of my cake, a part of my pleasure, when under similar circumstances he has remembered me. Dear Mr Kenyon! Scandal about Mr Kenyon! Why who cd dream of such a thing? Nobody, that I ever heard. Whatever I gossipped about the fair double mystery he carried with him, [2] was for joke’s sake! There might as well be scandal about your double dahlias!– Very elderly intelligent women I understand they were—one of them, the Miss Baillie, but no relation to “Queen Joanna”, [3] said to be, said by Mr Kenyon to Papa to be, the deepest thinker for a woman, he ever met with!– There is no marrying or giving in marriage [4] in question any more than in heaven—neither marrying nor gossipping my dearest friend!–
The scandal referred to other parties altogether—& I am sorry almost I referred to it. [5] Some of it is so bad that I reject the belief of it on the ground of the badness. I shd not like to write down the least odious of it—but when we meet, I will give you a shadow by which to measure the pyramid!–
I understand that Lady Blessington is ill with dropsical symptoms. Not that she is a party!–
Dearest, dearest Miss Mitford, I am punished for my not writing to you by not hearing! When shall I hear you best,—face to face?– When? You are to listen to all the voices in Wimpole Street, Papa’s loudest, through the voice of this letter,—& all saying “Come”—but all saying besides, my dearest friend, that we cant & wont have you (except by an effort & with a lessening of pleasure) unless you will condescend & consent to one night’s rest at least, under this roof. Oh will you? Will dear Dr Mitford spare you to us? Is there no friend, if society is necessary to him, who wd take your place in some imperfect way, for a day or two?– I tremble to count on. I fear to presume on your affection even with mine. Speak what your real wish is, & I will try to keep my wishes silently within the bound. I have no right I feel, to pray for even half an hour beyond the time you first spoke of—& perhaps I shd scarcely have courage if it were not my persuasion that to come & return as quick as thought & steam would be too great a fatigue for you, as well as a disturbed delight to me!– I told you once, we had a full house. Nevertheless I deny myself now. There is full room for you—there is indeed!– Full room!– Papa’s only fear is, our quietness—[‘]‘How will she be amused?” You know, you celebrated authors pass over our heads in such an awful roll of thunder, that we are afraid sometimes to look up! How afraid I was to see you the first time!– And I observe that gentlemen are not the less afraid when the celebrities are feminine, but the more!—— Nevertheless the associations connected with your name are so many & various—so dear, as well as so distinguished—the writer is so, not sunk, but, softened in the friend, & in the thought of that beloved friend’s kindness to one undeserving of such except by love—that every heart here will spring out to welcome you whether you please to care for the welcoming or not.
And now, dearest dearest Miss Mitford, tell me what my destiny is! Is the being spared possible? I mean your being spared by dear Dr Mitford?——
I have not heard from Mr Horne since he wrote to me of Martinuzzi .. A friend of mine, Mrs Orme (who lived once with us as my governess & my sisters’,) promised to procure for me from Dr Stone [6] a copy of Martinuzzi which he had marked the margin of, with “great laughter”, “peals of laughter”, as the spectators laughed where they ought to have cried. [7] This copy I shd like to show you as well as myself. It was a transcript of the impressions of the first night. Now the English Opera House is, I hear, no longer the authors’ theatre—the “good floundering beginning” having floundered to a bad end!–
I was quite sure that you wd like the canadian workman in his tarpaulin hat, [8] .. & liking him as much as you do, I doubt as little that Mr Horne himself heros his tale. He has resolute energies in all things—and what is rare, can suffer bravely as well as act. On the first night of the “floundering”, when the audience was in fits (of laughter) & a friend of his, a lady, sent a message to him praying his presence to conversation then & supper afterwards, his reply was that he cd not stir or speak the whole night long,—& there he sate side by side with the poor author, they two together in a conspicuous box, the only two in the theatre, with grave faces!
Mr Stephens [9] is a man of some fortune I believe, & can afford his losses.
There is no time to speak of the books for which I thank you. There is much that is interesting in them!
Dearest friend, may God bless you.
Say how you both are. Give my love to Dr Mitford & beg him not to begin to hate me because I want to steal you away.
Ever your EBB–
Everybody’s kind regards– Believe it of them!–
How Arabel thanks you for the introductions. [10] Will you believe it of her that she has not yet delivered them. But she has had some swelling in the face—the cold which is making the circuit!——
Address: Miss Mitford / Three Mile Cross / near Reading.
Publication: EBB-MRM, I, 283–285.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Esther, 4:3.
2. i.e., Kenyon’s two female companions, mentioned in letters 845 and 847.
3. See letter 845, note 8.
4. Matthew, 24:38.
5. The reference to the scandal is not clear; it may have related to an amplification of EBB’s remarks about Miss Garrow’s lack of popularity, mentioned in letter 847.
6. Thomas Stone (d. 1854), a physician, was a friend of Horne.
7. For comments on the audience’s inappropriate laughter, see letter 854, note 7.
8. Horne’s hat, “preserved as a trophy,” is referred to in more detail in the following letter.
9. Stephens was the author of the ill-fated Martinuzzi.
10. To Haydon and Lucas, furnished by Miss Mitford with letter 857.
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