332. Unidentified Correspondent to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 2, 181–184.
Feby 1829
To the Author of “The Essay on Mind”
_________
Pendant le temps, les femmes cultivent leur Esprit, et le Sentiment et la Reverie, conservent dans leur Ame l’image de tout ce qui est Noble et Beau. La destinée des femmes reste toujours le meme, c’est leur Ame seule qui la fait; les circonstances politiques n’y influent en rien. [1]
_________
When first th’ Eternal in his grace designed
To link gross matter with the viewless mind,
Where both in one enjoined might fatly prove
Their Maker’s glory and proclaim his love:
Then man came forth, obedient to the call
Of Him whose power had formed earth’s rolling ball.
[“]Lord of the earth”—his form to God allied,
Shows forth his kindred—while a conscious pride
Sate on his brow. His figure, mien & height
Announced a being of the world of light!
Stands he on earth, unequalled and alone?
No; one in beauty far more radiant shone—
God’s last, best gift——revealed in woman fair,
Whose eye can tell that mind is living there[.]
_________
Hail, lovely woman!——man to thee must owe
His all of solace—as his all of woe!
Tis thine, with mind superior to that grief,
Which makes man seek destruction as relief—
To give thine aid, and like that lovely flower,
Which shuns the sheen—yet blooms in tempests hour—
Thy balm t’impart and show thy tenderness
More pure in anguish—dearer in distress—
And prove to man—thy mind—thy beauty’s power
More strong—more bright—in woe’s than pleasures hour.
_________
Ask you for proof—behold thro’ every age
By prince as peasant—by the fool as sage—
Woman by all—in every place adored,
By polish’d nation, and by savage horde,
To her, the pole star of their hopes they turn,
For her—wild transports in their bosoms burn;
For her—their harps sweet melodies prolong,
Th’ inspirer she—the subject of their song.
_________
But say, can woman claim no holier fire
Than that of love?—— Strike she no nobler lyre
Than that which breathes of passion?—— Yes, her hand,
Her soul oft themes full nobler—loftier planned;
Full oft she swept the lyre’s resounding strings,
And sought th’ Empyrean on triumphant wings,
And thence descending, to this world has given
Full proofs of mind inspired alone by Heaven.
_________
Seek you examples? Go! inspect the page,
Which history gives thro’ each succeeding age;
Behold her record on each leaf appears,
A radiance gleaming o’er the gloom of years.
For virtue—honor—constancy and truth—
In age as reverenced, as beloved in youth.
_________
And live there those who deem fair woman given,
“A Soulless toy”——all—all unmeet for heaven!
Yes! such are found who seem as tho’ from earth
Their souls—as bodies—had derived their birth.
Like to the brutes, their sensual, tasteless forms,
Dull as that lake [2] which sleeps beneath the storms.
From such, the Muse abhorrent turns away
To climes where woman sheds her loveliest ray.
All-glorious Albion!—in thy matchless isle,
Muses—as Graces—woo thy fair ones’ smile.
In thee—the sex can range all unconfined,
The boundless regions of the immortal mind;
O’er them her mantle heaven-born flings—
In thee—a H______s and a B_______t [3] sings!
_________
Immortal B________t! The bright task was thine
To prove thy title to the gift divine,
Whose varied talent and extensive lore
Launch’d thy bold vessel for Mind’s arduous shore;
And boldly ventured on that boundless sea
Whose chart is Time—whose shore, Eternity.
Tis thine to bring “high musings” [4] in thy track;
Tis thine to call “the days of childhood” [5] back,
And, with thy sounds of magic minstrelsy,
Recal the memory of past times to me.
When hope was young, and o’er me learning stole
With magic powers—while throbbing pulse and Soul
Would burn to make the actions of the free
Who kept thy pass—renowned Thermopylae–
_________
Years have rolled on—oh, there are memories
Of blasted hopes—and mine is one of these.
_________
For thee, bright Songstress, may each varying day
Behold o’er Mind thy classic sceptre’s sway,
Till History consecrate thy hallowed name
And Albion’s Fair ones emulate thy fame,
Till its bright halo gladden every scene,
And show “Creation where thy steps have been” [6]
Alfieri–
B___________ T__________
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. “All the while, women improve their Spirit and Sensibility and Musing, keeping in their Soul the image of all that is Noble and Beautiful. The fate of women always remains the same, it is their Soul alone that makes it; political events influence it not at all.”
2. The writer placed an asterisk here, and another at the bottom of the page with the explanation “The Dead Sea.”
3. Probable reference to English poetess Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1793–1835), and certainly to EBB.
4. An Essay on Mind, line 825.
5. Op. cit., line 826.
6. Cf. An Essay on Mind, line 1262.
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