1310. EBB to Cornelius Mathews
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 7, 217–219.
50 Wimpole Street.
July 3. 1843–
My dear Mr Mathews I have a multitude of thanks to thrust within the narrow limits of this paper; & so you must assist me by believing in my cordiality. In the first place I had from you an excellent & in some passages eloquent pamphlet on the copyright,—the two copies of which, left by you to my disposition, I sent to Mr Serjeant Talfourd the advocate of the cause in our House of Commons, and to Mr Dilke the editor of the Athenæum. The numbers (two of them) of the re-publication of your works, I have received, but so lately that I have not yet had a moment to do more than peep between the leaves. [1] I thank you much for all your kindness, & wish earnestly that I had it in my power to command the kindness of all England towards you. The truth of things however is, that my power is very slight. You will understand me when I explain that I have no personal acquaintance with a single editor of any sort of periodical—nothing like influence anywhere—& that if I made an effort in behalf of any one, crying out “Show favor, my masters,” the retort wd probably be, “What have we to do with thee, O thou writer of ballads”? I might myself, as all the Muses know, be executed on the first fine morning, without the power of appeal: & the Quarterly did once come nigh upon quartering me [2] —although, to be sure, the editor meant to be doing the civilest thing in the world by me all the time, & the publisher sent me the critique. Well, but you see how it is—I am impotent .. as you think in your secret soul that a woman ought to be. All that I could do wd be what Messrs Wiley & Putnam could do as well & with more fitness & dignity, .. viz. send copies of your works to the various editors, & leave them to that supreme judgment. The New Monthly has changed editors since I wrote for it; & the Athenæum, the only periodical with which I have occasional literary communication, is particularly jealous, I have heard, of any influence being privately attempted,—a degree of critical virtue which we all must commend, though it be in the parenthesis of making a complaint against it. Therefore I shd advise you to charge Messrs Wiley & Putnam to send, according to the usual English form, copies of your works to our editors of the Athenæum, Literary Gazette, Westminster Review, New Monthly Magazine &c &c– [3] It is the most direct way & the most desirable .. & the most likely to obtain for you that broad access which you so naturally covet. Were you ever in England, Mr Mathews? Do you dream ever of coming? I am about to send to you thro’ Messrs Wiley & Putnam, Mr Horne’s new epic, & also a volume of desecrations of Chaucer, which I conspired with others (Wordsworth himself presiding over the machinations) to produce—so that if you come or not, England will go to you .... by very small instalments.
The bright sunshine is reviving me, & I seem to be putting out leaves withou<t doubt> to drop them probably as the summer goes. Sometimes when I am very reasonable indeed, I wish for such a thing as a perpetual summer, … I build summers in the air .. & waken like Alnaschar, in a violent gust of east wind. [4] Leaving you to do the moral of this, I go on to tell you of Mr Horne’s epic, which he positively advertized to be sold for a farthing; & for a farthing, sold three large editions of it. A rush of buyers almost carried the publisher off his feet .. the public fell into an epical ecstasy, & bought poetry in its sleep .. a thing it very seldom does awake! and now the poet brings out his fourth edition for a shilling (which the public buys too, because it is not yet wide awake) & promises a fifth for half a crown in a few days. This mode of publication adopted for Orion, is very curious .. & has made everybody very curious—and I think that when you get the poem you will be of opinion that it is noble enough to be a proper subject of much talk apart from the commercial singularity. I will send you two copies—one for Graham’s Miscellany. [5] It is not every day that an epic grows up in England, & although I consider it rather a spiritual epic than an Homeric one, yet there is broad evidence of power in it, & we cannot but call it (whatever else we dont!) a noble poem. Now, if you please, you will cover over the last Chuzzlewit with this epic of Orion, & forget for a moment, put out of sight & beyond scorn, .. the offences of Charles Dickens. [6] You must be angry I fancy—for I am so myself. While I was reading that last number I quite shrank & writhed—it is not, no, it is not indeed, good, or generous, or grateful in him—he to whom so many cordial hands were stretched out a year since!
Ever sincerely yours, dear Mr Mathews
Elizabeth B Barrett.
Thank you for the justification of Mrs Sigourney! Are you aware that Mrs Southey positively instigated the Story-teller? What are we to say of her? [7]
Address, on integral page: Cornelius Mathews Esqr / 14 Pine Street / New York / United States.
Publication: The Collector, December 1891, pp. 52–53.
Manuscript: University of Texas.
1. i.e., those promised in letter 1194.
2. EBB doubtless refers to its review of The Seraphim (see vol. 4, pp. 413–416).
3. We have not found reviews of Mathews’ works in any of these magazines.
4. Alnaschar accidentally destroyed his only hope of realizing his dreams (see letter 528, note 3).
5. A brief review of Orion appeared in the January 1844 issue (p. 46).
7. The Story-Teller, in the issues of May, June and July, gave space to the controversy over Mrs. Sigourney’s publication of a private letter from Mrs. Southey. The July number included the phrase: “we must again state that our authority for the original charge against Mrs. Sigourney was in Mrs. Southey’s own handwriting.”
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