2291. EBB to Mary Russell Mitford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 12, 209–210.
[London]
[4 April 1846] [1]
Dearest Miss Mitford, I have heard nothing as decisively as I would fain hear it, .. which keeps me from writing to you. Yet I have begged my brothers to enquire of friends of theirs—& I shall hear: & in the meanwhile, everyone seems agreed (tell your friend) that a hundred & fifty pounds will cover his expenses. [2] Will he mind very much having an open ‘carte’ [3] after sailing from England? has he spirits enough to bear the responsibility himself? Because, you see, there must be uncertainties, especially in relation to the sailing vessels. We might map down the steamers. It is the sailers that linger .. hasten .. do all by caprice, like a lady of fashion. Is he at all afraid of sea-sickness? I believe it is considered rather a safe malady in affections of the chest .. the irritation of the stomach-organs saving the lungs, but it is depressing .. & when a man is all alone, he is apt to be melancholy at the least temptation. Well—you shall hear. The delay is not my fault. If I could go myself & enquire .. but you shall hear: I shall succeed in getting the information.
For myself, you are very right my dearest friend—I should be soon strong so. I know it just as you do. But what of that? How much nearer does the conviction bring me? Wait—wait! We shall see. In the meanwhile I am getting strength fast, & shall get it much faster as we are nearer the sun. In the summer, as far as my health is concerned, I require nothing—it goes [‘]‘toute seule .. cette chere santé” [4] .. as De Kock[’]s ‘elegantes’ might express it. By the way, what a dreadful trial at Rouen! [5] The Athenæum moralizes this morning rather insultingly, but somewhere to the point, it must be confessed. And it is better to be didactic to a nation, than to attack the private character of women .. such as this Malle Julie, who is so imprudent, it appears, as to try to cure diseases by mesmeric means. She a foreigner & a woman!– Fie—Mr Dilke!–
I have read Isidora, [6] which is one of the weakest works of George Sand. Teverino is better .. vivid & vivacious, with thoughts beautiful & true—but as improbable as a giant & dwarf story. I read a little .. write a little .. & think & feel & dream a good deal. I am not industrious, in any sense of the word .. & yet not idle .., in the common sense of the word.
Your friends, dearest Miss Mitford, your London friends, will soon be consoled for the non-fulfilment of your Paris plans, if you really think of coming here instead. And when? Are we to have faith in you? Now wait for a day or two & you shall hear again. How are you?
Ever your affectionate
Ba–
Publication: EBB-MRM, III, 165–167.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Dated by EBB’s reference to The Athenæum article.
2. See letter 2206, note 2, as well as the final paragraph of letter 2257.
3. “Card,” or “ticket.” The exact meaning here is unclear, but the general idea is that his plans could not be definite.
4. “Clear sailing … this dear health.”
5. The Foreign Correspondence column of The Athenæum (4 April 1846, no. 962) reported the trial of M. de Beauvallon for the murder of Alexandre Dujarier, which occurred in a duel the previous spring (see letter 1869). In describing the facts brought out during the proceedings, The Athenæum correspondent wrote: “The scene of the quarrel—an orgie with all its accompaniments of loose women, gambling, &c. &c. … the nameless outrages addressed to the wretched defenceless women … the strange mixture of fine-sounding names … with the foulest and coarsest manners;—all this forms a combination which the corruptest imagination has not yet surpassed … Such, then,—oh, grief and shame!—such are ‘hommes de lettres’ and ‘artistes’; for these are the once glorious, but now dishonoured” (p. 350).
6. Published in three volumes in 1846.
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