1755. EBB to John Kenyon
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 9, 219–221.
50 Wimpole Street
November 8th 1844.
Thank you my ever dear cousin for the kind thought of sending me Mr Eagles’s letter,—& most, for your own note. You know we both saw that he could’nt have written the paper in question,—we both were poets & prophets—by that sign!—but I hope he understands that I shall gratefully remember what his intention was. As to his “friend” who told him that I had “imitated Tennyson,” .. why I can only say & feel that it is very particularly provoking to hear such things said, & that I wish people wd find fault with my “metre” in the place of them. In the matter of ‘Geraldine,’ I shall not be puffed up. I shall take to mind what you suggest. Of course if you find it hard to read, it must be my fault. And then, the fact of there being a story to a poem, will give a factitious merit, in the eyes of many critics, which could not be an occasion of vain-glory to the consciousness of the most vain-glorious of writers. You made me smile by your suggestion about the aptitude of critics aforesaid, for courting Lady Geraldines. Certes, .. however it may be, .. the poem has had more attention than its due.—oh—and I must tell you that I had a letter the other day from Mr Westwood (one of my correspondents unknown) referring to Blackwood, & observing on the mistake about Goethe– “Did you not mean ‘fell’ the verb,” he said—“or do I mistake?” [1] So, you see, some people in the world did actually understand what I meant. I am eager to prove that possibility, sometimes.
How full of life of mind, Mr Eagles’s letter is! Such letters always bring me to think of Harriet Martineau’s pestilent plan of doing to destruction half of the intellectual life of the world, by suppressing every mental breath breathed through the post office. She was not in a state of clairvoyance when she said such a thing. I have not heard from her—but you observed what the ‘Critic’ said of William Howitt’s being empowered by her to declare the circumstances of her recovery?– [2]
Again & again have I sent for Dr Arnold’s Life, and I do hope to have it today. [3] I am certain, by the extracts, besides your opinion, that I shall be delighted with it.
Why should’nt Miss Martineau’s apocalyptic housemaid tell us whether Flush has a soul, & what is it’s ‘future destination’? As to the fact of his soul, I have long had a strong opinion on it. The ‘Grand peutêtre,’ [4] to which ‘without revelation’ the human argument is reduced, covers dog-nature with the sweep of its fringes.
Did you ever read Bulwer’s ‘Eva or the unhappy marriage’? [5] That is a sort of poetical novel, .. with modern manners, inclusive—. But Bulwer, although a poet in prose, writes all his rhythmetical compositions somewhat prosaically .. providing an instance of that curious difference which exists between the poetical writer & the poet. It is easier to give the instance than the reason—but I suppose the cause of the rhythmetical impotence must lie somewhere in the want of the power of concentration. For is it not true that the most prolix poet is capable of briefer expression than the least prolix prose writer? Or am I wrong?
I have not heard from America because Messrs Wiley & Putnam have not unpacked,—but the vessel has arrived.
Flush asked Arabel for some cake two evenings ago. She said, “Go and tell Wilson to give you my slippers, .. & bring them to me; and then I will give you your cake.” Without a moment’s hesitation, he ran to Wilson, (my maid) who was at the other end of the room, performed the entreaty with due expressiveness, waited for the slippers & carried them to Arabel in his mouth. Of course he had his cake. And of course he has a soul. And, if I seemed to bear down somewhat abruptly on Flushie, with the ‘spiritual dicta’ & ‘acta’ of the clairvoyance, it was not, you see, without an exciting circumstance– It was all repeated yesterday,—so that there cd be no coincidence in the matter. But I was always persuaded that he understood language, & I did not jest in declaring it– Add to that, his moral sense, .. (knowledge of good & evil) his sense of property & justice .. his sense of ornament (say Beauty) .. his susceptibility of praise apart from love .. & love apart from praise .. and surely a very complete soul, as souls go, may be proved on him.
If I leave off verse to write in prose, it shall be a dissertation on the Souls of Dogs. I am afraid you will stay longer than your week at Hastings, as Miss Bayley is there to draw you.
Ever your affecte
EBB–
Address: John Kenyon Esqr / Orient Cottage / Hastings.
Publication: LEBB, I, 211–212 (in part).
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. See p. 360.
4. “Great perhaps.” Cf. “Je m’en vais chercher un grand peut-être.” “I go to seek a great perhaps.” (Attributed to François Rabelais on his death-bed.)
5. Eva; the Ill-omened Marriage, and Other Tales and Poems (1842).
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