2160. EBB to Mary Russell Mitford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 11, 287–289.
[London]
Tuesday [6 January 1846] [1]
I trust, my very dear friend, that the oysters reached you in time for your guests. They certainly did not loiter here as usual. But I do not hear a word from you, & you gave me “a sign in the heavens,” [2] remember, in the letter before, of there being a chance of my seeing you by especial grace & the railroad. To remind you too closely of such gracious promises, when nothing makes your fulfilment of them worthwhile for you, I have not courage—& yet a little, little humble reminder may be lawful .. & this long silence may, in any case, be protested against with a “divine legitimacy.”
Have you seen Mr Horne’s book [3] yet? There are good & strong things in it, to my mind, .. to wit, the corn law romance of the Swineshead Abbey-monks, which strikes me as full of character & significance, & the ‘Knights of Camelott,’ where there is a satyr-dance, & a giant wakes gigantically, & a wild sylvan creature swears “by his horn”. On the other hand I criticise other features in the book, & do not believe in the Elf of his child’s story; [4] and think that he succeeds less in these lyrical productions, which require rather a fine finger than a stalwart wrist .. or fist, say .., than in the ponderous blank verse rolling lines. You & I differ, dearest Miss Mitford, I know, on the power of the man .. which is in my creed, as a fact,—for I do recognize power in him: yet perhaps we may agree that he succeeds best with great materials .. which he would accept for praise, if he read this present writing. Well! but poor Mr Horne is not well—has been, indeed, very unwell, or ill even; & wrote to me the other day from his bed. I sent a line of enquiry two days since, which has had no answer! If he should be prevented from going to Ireland it will be terrible, .. for the prospects must be good, I should conclude, of the Irish correspondent of the Daily News. [5] I should not object if they would send me to Italy on the same terms—adopting you as a she-editor to be corresponded withal. What do you say to it?
By the way, I had a note from Miss Martineau a few days ago,—& it appears that she was silent through believing me to be in Italy, where I only ought to be, you know. She could scarcely accept Moxon’s evidence about England’s containing me still, & sent a note of pure interrogation, to precede her new work. [6] Very kind—too kind. And she is strong to the point of wonder, .. walks fifteen miles a day without being tired––which sounds exactly like a feat of “Three leagued boots” to me, who, when I was well, could just accomplish a two-miles walk at the risk of fainting afterwards. Then she practises magnetism, and sees the whole world through a rose-leaf. Happy Miss Martineau! I do like to hear people say “we are happy—happy.” It is the rarity, perhaps.
Alfred is well pleased with his situation, [7] & is to be advanced as he is found qualified for the work—your kindness asked a question about him. And as for labour, it is very light, & time is given for reading the newspapers & looking out of the window. Not that you must report this report of mine! Telling the secrets of the prison-houses & the workshops might be equally liable to objection.
Any more news of Balzac? ‘Les petits manéges’ I have read & thought excellent—but it is a continuation of that odious book .. ‘Les amours forçés’—‘Beatrix,’ remember. [8]
And I forgot quite to quarrel with you a little about Sir E Lytton Bulwer—because indeed I dislike his dissertation on cold water as much as anything I have read lately. [9] I know the Malvern Hills, you will be reminded—& when I think of that peculiar climate where people with delicate chests stand upon the mountain-slopes (such a beautiful country!) & breathe razors, .. or, to be more poetical, the arrows of the angel of death, .. I do marvel how any man of common sense can keep his countenance & recommend that situation as a substitute for Italy & Madeira to pulmonary patients. The truth, as I have heard it, is, that Bulwer himself having suffered in his body from leading a dissipated life .. just from that cause, .. revived as by a charm, when late hours & intemperate habits gave place to Preissnitz’s air, exercise, & cold water. [10] Strictly reasonable & natural such a recovery is,—but put me into the wet blankets instead of Sir Edward Lytton, & you are not likely to get the same results. You might dig my grave at the time, if you were in a hurry, .. for most assuredly it would be wanted! The Malvern medical men used to count on their fingers, to my knowledge, when they were talking statistics, the frequency of consumptive cases in that neighbourhood in comparison to other neighbourhood<s>—and any one breathing a few deep breaths of its pure piercing air, would understand how it could not be otherwise. If you have a strong chest, twenty to one but you have a coup de sang [11] in the head from the rarity of the air. You must be strong all over, to flourish at Malvern, .. & the strong grow stronger. You know the quality of mountain air? And then, there is a sympathy with it, in the water.
May God bless you, dearest Miss Mitford. Is it not a kind, gentle winter?—a winter for me?—saving me from the disgrace of going back to the sofa.
Your ever affectionate
EBB.
Publication: EBB-MRM, III, 150–153.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Conjectural dating based upon EBB’s reference to Miss Martineau’s letter which EBB had mentioned to RB in letter 2150.
2. Cf. Jeremiah 10:2.
3. Ballad Romances, just published.
4. “The Elf of the Woodlands: a Child’s Story.” EBB complained about it to RB in letter 2156, and to Horne himself in letter 2158.
7. In letter 2122 EBB had asked Miss Mitford if she would ask her friend Charles Russell “to give the weight of a word in behalf of my brother Alfred who is anxious to get employment on the great western railroad.” As Ronald Hudson points out, it is not clear exactly what position, if any, Alfred ever had at the Great Western Railway. His name was not on the payroll of the company, so he may have been serving as an apprentice (BIS, vol. 2, 1974, p. 136). Whatever his “labour,” Alfred apparently had time for drawing. An extant sketchbook (see Reconstruction, H101; now at Eton) contains drawings of young men identified as clerks in the Paddington accounts office.
8. Les Petits Manèges d’une Femme verteuse was the sequel to Béatrix ou les Amours forcés; it was serialized in Le Messager, commencing on 24 December 1844.
9. “Confessions and Observations of a Water-Patient” by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton had appeared in the September 1845 issue of The New Monthly Magazine, pp. 1–16. It was subsequently published in book form.
10. Vincenz Priessnitz (1801–51) was a practitioner and proponent of the water cure, or hydropathy, which he administered to patients on his farm in Silesia.
11. “Paralytic stroke.”
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