1781. Harriet Martineau to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 9, 267–268.
Tynemouth.
Decbr 10th [1844] [1]
Dear Miss Barrett
It is a sin now to indulge in writing to my friends: so far beyond my leisure & abilities to answer all the demands of the sick & their guardians. But I must just send you my blessing for your precious note, & assure you that you may be quite easy & happy about me. I do hope not to be discomposed by any of the results of the cure & its publication wh I was aware of <them> [2] as inevitable from the beginning. I took my part deliberately,—knowing privacy to be impossible, & making up my mind to entire publicity as the only course faithful to truth & human welfare. I cannot tell you how the thought of Godiva has sustained & inspired me. Her century was not the only time, nor Coventry the only place, for the exercise of her spirit. — But to facts. The extent of the practice of Mesmerism is beyond what any one conceives of who has not any reason to know it. We are planning to bring into communication all the many respectable doctors who have written to me, (—each believing himself alone,—) their cases of successful Mesmeric practice in desperate cases. A world of good will come out of my recovery. My good doctor is compelled to a publicn of the case, (in some Medical Journal) in self-defence,—the angry Faculty imputing to use all manner of diseases, & of course, impugng his treatment. He has been in no way wrong; & his accounts will show this. — Meantime, be assured I am strong & tranquil. My days are crowded with useful & blessed fullness, & I sleep through the whole of every night. I walk far every day,—have no pain or ailment,—& my deafness is giving way. I am less deaf than for 20 years past. The totally deaf ear is recovering hearing. — We have much company, (& of a high order) from far & near, to see our somnambule; (every one of whom is convinced for life) & all this tires me not in the least. Moreover, my doctor has “taken leave of the case” in a final examinn wh was very satisfactory. The displacement of internal parts is all but rectified, & must soon be so entirely, all tenderness & pressure gone, & every function healthy. The tumour is not wholly absorbed, we know; but it is past all danger of relapse. Bless you! Your 2 tomes are music to my soul, many a time, in my hard work–
H.M.
Address: Miss Barrett / 50. Wimpole St / London.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Yale University.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. The word in angle brackets was written above the line.
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