1754. EBB to John Kenyon
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 9, 217–219.
50 Wimpole Street
November 5. 1844
Well, but am I really so bad? ‘Et tu’—! [1] Can you call me careless? Remember all the altering of manuscript & proof—& remember how the obscurities used to fly away before your cloud-compelling, when you were the Jove of the criticisms!– That the books (I wont call them our books when I am speaking of the faults) are remarkable for defects & superfluities of evil, I can see quite as well as another—but then I wont admit that “it comes” of my carelessness, & refusing to take pains. On the contrary, my belief is, that very few writers called ‘correct,’ who have selected classical models to work from, pay more laborious attention than I do habitually, to the forms of thought & expression. ‘Lady Geraldine’ was an exception in her whole history. If I write fast sometimes (and the historical fact is that what has been written fastest, has pleased most) I am not apt to print without consideration– I appeal to Phillip sober, [2] if I am! My dearest cousin, do remember!– As to the faults, I do not think of defending them, be very sure. My consolation is, that I may try to do better in time, if I may talk of time. The worst fault of all, as far as expression goes, (the adjective-substantives, whether in prose or verse, I cannot make up my mind to consider faulty–) [3] is that kind of obscurity which is the same thing with inadequate expression. Be very sure, .. try to be very sure, .. that I am not obstinate & self-opiniated .. beyond measure. To you in any case, who have done so much for me, & who think of me so more than kindly, I feel it to be both duty & pleasure to defer & yield– Still, you know, we could not, if we were ten years about it, alter down the poems to the terms of all these reviewers—. You would not desire it, if it were possible– I do not remember that you suggested any change in the verse on Æschylus. The critic mistakes my allusion, which was to the fact that in the acting of the Eumenides, when the great tragic poet did actually “frown as the gods did”, [4] women fell down fainting from the benches. I did not refer to the effect of his human countenance “during composition” [5] – But I am very grateful to the reviewer whoever he may be—very—& with need– See how the “Sun” shines in response to Blackwood (thank you for sending me that notice!) when previously I had had but a wintry ray from the same quarter!– [6] No! if I am not spoilt by your kindness, I am not likely to be so by any of these exoteric praises, however beyond what I expected or deserved. And then, I am like a bird with one wing broken. Throw it out of the window,—& after the first feeling of pleasure in liberty, it falls heavily. I have had moments of great pleasure in hearing whatever good has been thought of the poems—but the feeling of elation is too strong or rather too long for me.
This is egotism enough for even you to find more than enough to listen to. I do wish (which is not leaving off the egotism!) that you were coming home on Friday instead of going to Hastings– Ah—and at Hastings you will stay at least a week, so that there will be no chance of seeing you for nine or ten other days! Your kind consideration in respect to our friends the Martins, in the meantime, I & they thank you for,—& Mrs Martin begged me yesterday to say so,—but intimate friends of their intimate friends are residents at Dover, & there will be no occasion to take advantage of the offer you make.
Mr Reade is staying in Miss Mitford’s neighbourhood,—& she sent me a note of his the other day, explaining how it was that he could’nt keep his engagements. The reason is, that he is engaged every day of his life in changing the “pyramid” of “Italy” into a “Greek column”,—an improved edition of the poem being about to appear before long– [7]
Can it be true that Mr Newman has at last joined the Church of Rome? If it is true, it will do much to prove to the most illogical minds the real character of the late movement—it will prove what the point of sight is,—as by the drawing of a straight line. Miss Mitford told me that he had lately sent a message to a R. Catholic convert from the English Church, to the effect .. “you have done a good deed, but not at a right time.” [8] It can but be a question of time indeed, to the whole party, .. at least to such as are logical .. and honest.
Such a fog, we have had all day today! an undeniable London fog—but yesterday on your own principle, that “hearts have their weather,” it was all clear, .. because we had a letter from our Ægyptians, through the pilot who took them from Malta: & very well & in great spirits they appear to be. <***>
Publication: LEBB, I, 209–211 (in part).
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Julius Caesar, III, 1, 77.
2. The proverbial appeal of an old woman “to Philip, but to Philip sober.” Cf. “provacarem ad Philippum, sed sobrium” (Valerius Maximus, Facta et Dicta Memorabilia, VI, ii).
3. From the review of Poems (1844) in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine (for the text, see p. 352).
4. “A Vision of Poets,” lines 301–303.
5. James Ferrier was the author of the review in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine; for the text, see pp. 350–363. EBB’s assertion regarding Æschylus is supported by the tradition that “when he composed, his countenance betrayed the greatest ferocity; and according to one of his scholiasts, when his Eumenides were represented, many children died through fear, and several pregnant women actually miscarried in the house, at the sight of the horrible masks that were introduced” (Lempriere’s Classical Dictionary, p. 19).
7. Reade’s Italy was published in 1838. A new edition appeared in 1845. Reade was also the author of A Record of the Pyramids (1842).
8. We have not located the source of this quotation.
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