1634. EBB to Mary Russell Mitford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 9, 23–25.
[London]
Wednesday. June 19 1844.
My ever dearest friend’s letter was like a shadow of her presence thrown back, .. & brought to mind so strongly all the pleasure I had had in the “dear Sunshine,” that the letter itself was for the moment annihilated … not thought of—! I thought of you too much. Oh, what a happy week for me! how full of dreams & gladnesses! Papa said .. “now that Miss Mitford is gone, I suppose you are too proud to talk to anybody else.” He said that laughing. I feel a great gap where you were! & wd give anything to live the week day by day, back again. Thank you my dearest, dearest Miss Mitford! You seem to grow more delightful & dear, the more you are known & listened to—and then your great, great goodness in letting yourself be dear to us, and in suffering yourself to be .. not displeased, .. by those slight outward expressions of a deep inward feeling, in our power to show, .. leaves us more grateful even than we are charmed. Now that the curtain is let down on you again, I look on to August .. or to some day before .. perhaps? who knows! Mr Kenyon came half an hour after our parting, & whether from the departure or some other cause, appeared so out of spirits that I cd’nt help saying very imprudently, … “I think you are tired with your breakfast.” You know it was as much as to say, “You are dull.” But the truth was, he seemed depressed & jaded, .. worse than if Miss Bayley had beaten him in a syllogism. Q.E.D. [1]
My dearest friend,—there was no mistake. I spoke afterwards to Wilson, & had all the details,—& there cd be no mistake. Momentary vanity there might have been,—still, it is not a promising feature of character in a personal attendant so fully trusted as your’s must always be. Nothing occurred besides, in the least degree suspicious,—except that she seemed to talk a little perhaps to excess. Wilson liked her at first exceedingly,—and ended,——not by disliking her, .. but by thinking her over-loquacious for a confidential maid. Under all this, there may be a great deal of good. The want of truth is my only hitch. If I were you & resolved to keep her, I should try to be observant, and not trust her implicitly until I had tried her fully. [2]
I conclude by persisting in being a little restless about the comedy, .. & by fearing (by fits) whether you may not have taken for granted Mr Chorley’s courtesy for a friend of yours, to be real cordial liking for the plan of my reading his work. [3] If I could suspect a ‘Pshaw’ in his aside when he sends the ms, I shd feel grievously mortified & abashed. And really it is too possible. I can quite fancy what you might say, & what he might say in reply—and those two sayings might agree literally with my imaginary conclusions, … and also with the generosity & courtesy of both of you. Well—never mind! Only if there shd be the slightest gesture of retreat, .. interpret it aright, & for my sake do not say a word more. My opinion, as an opinion, is worth nothing with regard to theatrical matters, you are well aware; and certainly it cannot be worth seeking.
Your kindness about the Fancyfair [4] has made Henrietta’s face the brighter,—& reminds us all of you, .. it is so like you!
I have had a note from Mr Horne, sealed with a seal he never used to me before, & which I apprehend to be new, .. an urn and flame ascending. [5] Is not this clearly an allusion? He is bringing out the second edition of the “New Spirits,” he says, rapidly—but is so evidently depressed at the cry of the critics, that I must entreat you not to say a word to him when you see him, about the paper on me. I meant to entreat this, face to face, & forgot it constantly. Say nothing my dearest friend. The kindest of intentions is visible from first to last in that paper, & my feeling is very unaffectedly grateful about it. If he cd have entered more fully on the poetry, praising it, .. according to his view of the truth, he wd have done so, I am confident. Be sure he is a truthful man! Therefore, not a word on the subject of that paper, if you love me! I wd rather personally, that you did not! and really poor Mr Horne has had stripes enough beyond his offences. He talks of going to Germany & Spain .. perhaps for oblivion of the Urn!
Oh Bessie Browne!—that she never had touched that subject with her pretty finger! Anything, except one thing, I cd learn to tolerate.
This is scarcely “a long letter,”—but I cant write a longer today, & you must hear from me tomorrow! May God bless you my beloved friend– Love me always & call me
Ba–
From everybody in the house, will you accept a union of regards & thanks & wishes?
Do write.
Address: Miss Mitford / Three Mile Cross / near Reading.
Publication: EBB-MRM, II, 416–418.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. “Quod erat demonstrandum” (“Which was to be proved”; Euclid, Elements, bk. I, theorem 2, proposition 5).
2. EBB’s comments refer to Jane, Miss Mitford’s new maid.
3. After reading Chorley’s new comedy Old Love and New Fortune in manuscript, Miss Mitford told him that “Between crying and excitement, I never closed my eyes all night, and can hardly see out of them today … and, as I would fain share all such troubled joys with one who dearly loves them, Miss Barrett, I have to entreat that you will let her see [the play]. She … will esteem it as it deserves. You could hardly have a reader of more true sensibility to beauty” (Henry Fothergill Chorley: Autobiography, Memoir, and Letters, comp. Henry G. Hewlett, 1873, II, 17–18). The play was not published until 1850.
4. We have been unable to clarify this reference.
5. The significance of this device is obscure; the editors of EBB-MRM took it to be a reference to the death of Miss Walter, but we believe it could equally well relate in some way to the reception of A New Spirit.
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