1810. Mary Russell Mitford to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 10, 16–17.
Three Mile Cross,
Jan. 7, 1845.
I have often wondered, my very dear love, how people can be so foolish, after publishing good works, as to put forth bad ones. It is true that posterity remembers only the good; but how often does it happen that the immediate public, looking at the new bad, forgets or is ignorant of the old good! Just this occurred to me in reading Lamartine’s dull piece of extravagance, “La Chute d’un Ange.” [1] Nothing but your recommendation could have induced me to read another line of his writing. Now, I have gone through “Jocelyn;” and, although I dislike the story—the heroine in man’s clothes, and the hero made a priest, Heaven knows how—I have yet been delighted with the general feeling and beauty of the poem, particularly with one portion full of toleration, and another about dogs. In short, if I could but have forgotten “La Femme de Quarante Ans”—that inimitable story which is as indelible as “Don Quixote,” or “Gil Blas” [2] —I should enter into “Jocelyn” with real affection. Lamartine is Wordsworthian, certainly; but his sympathies are far wider—I should say far truer. He would never have written the “Letter on Railways.” [3] Thank you, dear love, for recommending “Jocelyn.” There are no inspirations, like “Le Roi s’amuse;” [4] no exquisite thoughts, exquisitely finished, as in Béranger; still it is a tender, graceful, gracious poem—one that accounts for the feeling expressed towards the writer by his brother authors. By-the-way, Charles de Bernard follows up his attack by another in “Un Homme Sérieux,” but so good-humouredly and so lightly touched that nobody can be offended. Still his arrows stick. There is no looking at the closed volumes of “Jocelyn” without thinking of the lover on duty, reading a portion to his mistress to solace her migraine, or repeating her favourite lines whilst looking at his star. Those books will live; they are so true, so full of character, and so cheerful. A laugh has a long echo. I agree with you as to “Un Homme Sérieux.” [5] A happy conclusion has an even infinite advantage over a tragical one.
Heaven bless you!
Ever your own,
M. R. Mitford.
Text: L’Estrange (2), III, 191–192.
2. Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane (1715) is the picaresque romance by Alain René Le Sage (1668–1747). EBB had mentioned La Femme de quarante ans by Charles de Bernard in letter 1779.
3. Miss Mitford is referring to Wordsworth’s controversial opposition to railroads being built in the Lake District (see letter 1788, note 7).
4. Hugo’s play was published in 1832.
5. Miss Mitford recommended Bernard’s novel in letter 1796, and EBB said in letter 1797 (and again in letter 1833) that she had tried unsuccessfully to obtain it; however, her comments in letter 1885 indicate that she finally received and read it.
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