401. EBB to Lady Margaret Cocks
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 2, 284–286.
Hope End.
24th Feb. 1831.
My dearest Lady Margaret,
I have been at once anxious & unwilling to express to yourself how much my thoughts & feelings have been painfully interested about you. [1] If this letter seems a proof of my being too anxious, forgive it & me; for indeed I cannot any longer forbear offering to you an expression of the sympathy I have so deeply & strongly felt. It is natural for me to think now, of that time,—not very long past,—when your sympathy was a solace to me in the midst of sufferings similar to your present ones. And tho’ I well, very well, recollect all that you then said to me of truth & consolation, yet I am anxious to know from yourself whether God has enabled you to apply to your own case what you found applicable to mine. For indeed I know well, very well, too well, that to think & to feel are different things; and that it is difficult for the same mind to think about the causes of consolation, at the time when it is bitterly feeling its own sorrow. And when this is the case, for another mind, at leisure to think, to suggest such thoughts as are consolatory, may be & has been of use, sometimes. Therefore, dearest Lady Margaret, let me entreat you to let your mind rest on the shining parts of the late severe affliction with which it has pleased God to visit you. There are shining parts in most grief,—& yours has many. What comfort is there in recollecting that your love & care were felt to the last—that a blessed peace was witnessed by you at the last—the more blessed, in your memory, because never again can it be ruffled or injured or diminished! How much is still left to you to love, & be loved by! And for the sake of the blessing left to us, ought we not to forbid our feelings being too much absorbed (you have often blamed an absorption of feeling) by grief on account of a blessing taken away? Oh! let what is left to us be dearer, even by the dearness of what is taken; and because one link is struck off, instead of the other ends of the chain hanging down broken & useless & unconnected with each other, let us draw the remaining links more closely & firmly together!– Dear Lady Margaret! there is much & bitter sorrow upon earth—it were foolish to deny that: & when our tears fall fastest, we may wisely think that many of our fellow beings have greater cause for tears, than we. This is particularly & assuredly true when we are Christians: for then, you know,—we mourn, but not as those without hope. How blessed, not merely to think but to know, that our mourning is the mourning of the children of Him who ‘chasteneth’ because He ‘loveth’ [2] —and that He who is the chastener, has Himself chosen for one of His proper names, that of the Comforter! to know that in our darkness, Christ will be our light! that in “this barren & dry land where no water is” [3] He will be our guide & lead us by the still waters! [4] —that “neither life nor death” can separate us from His love!– [5] I know that He will not leave you comfortless: and I earnestly hope that before long you may be so indulgent to one who is really anxious about your state of mind, as to write a few lines in order to tell me so. I hope to hear not only that you are tranquil, but recovering some degree of chearfulness: for you know dear Lady Margaret, of how much value a chearful obedience is, among men; & we should not give less,—if we can help it, by His grace,—to God. “My Son, give me thy heart,” our Father has said! [6] and let us not offer Him an imperfect sacrifice—a broken & inactive heart!
Tell me particularly how Lord Somers is. And how is Mr Cocks? May God grant to them & you dear Lady Margaret, all com<fort. I> hope you are able to read a little, & employ your mind,—for tha<t will so>othe, & quiet it,—particularly when it is by nature a busy mind <like> your<s.> I have asked you to write; but now I will ask you not to write; if writing is likely to disturb you in any way: at any rate, do not, in that case, write now,—or till you are quite inclined to gratify me. Papa expresses in his letters, much interest about you all.
And now, I will say no more—except to beg your forgiveness of this long intrusion, & your belief of the truth & earnestness with which I am my dear Lady Margaret’s ever affectionate
E B Barrett.
My sister desires her kind regards to you. I do not remember Mr Cocks’ direction—but I will run the risk of sending this without it.
Address, on integral page: The Lady Margaret Cocks.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: James Hervey-Bathurst.
1. Lady Margaret’s mother, Countess Somers, died on 19 February 1831.
2. Hebrews, 12:6.
3. The Book of Common Prayer, Psalm 63:2.
4. Cf. Psalms, 23:2.
5. Cf. Romans, 8:38–39.
6. Cf. Proverbs, 23:26.
___________________
