1176. EBB to Cornelius Mathews
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 7, 6–7.
50. Wimpole St. London.
March 14– 1843
My dear Mr Mathews,
I wrote a long letter to you very lately, [1] under an envelope which covered besides several poems for ‘Graham[’]s Miscellany’—and altho’ it was directed somewhat negligently to New York, with an omission of the Pine Street, I hope it will reach you. While it travels, another letter from yourself is placed in my hands—& I would briefly acknowledge the kindness of it. And I wd moreover explain to you, dear Mr Mathews, that however I may appreciate your American liberal going before my services by proposing to pay me for my mere determination of writing for the Miscellany, (… “If you have determined to write for it you are at liberty to draw &c &c”) [2] I cannot possibly set such a price on my good resolutions, & can be comfortable only by the more reasonable arrangement of the editor consenting, upon the receipt of my poems, to direct Messrs Wiley &c to send me the pecuniary acknowledgement, .. either more or less frequently, as may suit best his own convenience. Do you understand? And will you suffer it to be arranged so? will you explain the “way of it” to the persons concerned—and how I set my face against the other way? Indeed I give you a great deal of trouble—but you cast yourself into it headlong, .. kindness forwards!
In regard to your advice about the magazines, I am ready to take it thankfully,—and if I shd be tempted towards other magazine-writing, .. which perhaps is not likely, for I do not prefer it even in England, .. I promise myself to consult you, who are my first practical friend in America, & act by your counsel– Was I wrong (.. do you think? ..) in agreeing to Mr Lowell’s proposition? He was about to establish a periodical in Boston, he said: and I was pleased with the tone of his letter [3] —and I had been pleased with the poetical sense of his book, which he sent me long ago, [4] .. notwithstanding the Ten[n]ysonianisms of it. Why do not men remember that every mind must be original if it delivers frankly its individual impressions? God made every mind original. And each wd appear so, if it had enough strength & enough truth– But the ‘Year’s Life’ was a youthful publication, .. and its poet will probably live long enough to be himself– You observe with how much frankness I write to you Mr Mathews, “unsight unseen”! taking no heed of the “old wi<ves’ ta>les” [5] which confabulate around me, about your having a trick, you Americans, of publishing on the house top whatever is whispered to you in the confessional! Well! and I have a trick besides! And that lies in placing confidence where I receive kindness! And I cannot help my trick—and I will not believe in yours.
Before all this, I shd have told you that I have heard from Mr Tennyson, & that he uses in speaking of the newspapers, these words .. “The criticism is on the whole friendly & genial, and I have every reason to be obliged to the writer”– [6]
I am sure you will sympathize with many English hearts in my dear friend Miss Mitford’s distressing embarrassment as the public prints bring it to your knowledge—and I can scarcely be wrong in telling you that her appeal to the tenderness of her friends & the gratitude of her readers, has been answered here with a liberality adequate to our expectations. She is admirable in domestic life .. admirable in literature—and woman-kind may be doubly proud of her—& the fortune shd be worthy of the merit!
I will not write to you any more today—you will lose your patience with me for ever if I do.
Most truly yours
Elizabeth B Barrett.
Address, on integral page: Cornelius Mathews Esqr / 14 Pine Street / New York / United States / America.
Publication: The Collector, December 1891, p. 51.
Manuscript: The New-York Historical Society.
3. The magazine was The Pioneer; see letter 1088.
4. A Year’s Life (1841), sent with letter 937.
5. Cf. I Timothy, 4:7.
6. Mathews had sent American reviews of Tennyson’s Poems (1842) with letter 1103, suggesting that EBB convey them to Tennyson.
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