4982. Robert Bulwer Lytton to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 29, 248–250.
Vienna
23 Oct 1861.
I feel, my dearest Browning, that a long time has passed since I last wrote to you—and that a long letter now is the least amends I can make for this. But I will not attempt it– For I have caught an influenza wh makes me more stupid—if not more sad—than usual– I only write because I wd wish to forestal[l] or at least set aside any thought on yr part that my silence has been due to forgetfulness. Thank you very much indeed for sending on my letter to Isa– I have just heard from her– I am afraid, (& this grieves me very much) that she expected to hear from me sooner but owing to some misunderstanding I waited for her address– She tells me she is now close to you– [1] How do you think her looking? Knowing how very little she makes of her own ailments—& how seldom she even owns herself unwell—her letter, wh speaks of pain in the side—makes me anxious.
I suppose you have seen a good deal of Forster, who, according to his last letter to me, is now in Wales. [2] He tells me that he is about to make & publish a selection from your Works– [3] This leads me to speak of what I shd otherwise shrink from referring to– But since I believe that Isa showed or told you of the attempt I began at Florence to write something abt those works, [4] I am anxious that you shd not surmise from the delay wh has intervened in the execution of that attempt, that I have not been keeping to my work– The fact is—that after my entirely rewriting at Vienna what I began at Florence, Forster whose experience & judgement suggests further revision, is of opinion that the few words I have the temerity of wishing to say on the subject, shd be printed & published simultaneously with the work of selection wh he expects to have out at the end of the year– This, I believe, is the only reason of the delay– What are you doing? & how is Penny? & what is he doing? Who are near you & with you? I look anxiously for an Article in the next Edinbro, [5] wh I dare say you have already seen– I have heard nothing more of or about it—but that it is there—& I wait anxiously & eagerly to read it– Have I a chance of seeing you next Spring? To count upon that prospect will go far to keep out the Winter’s cold—which—here—has set in already, & promises to be bitter– I sit writing to you with my shins poked into a stove & am yet shivering– Mottley is expected here at the end of the month. Ld Clarendon I believe is coming on here from Berlin [6] —to advise (as I understand) those who will listen to no advice– You might as well advise Niagara not to fall– Odo Russel[l], I have been told, saw the Empr of th French when he passed thro’ Paris, & told H M. that .. it was in his power to settle the Roman Questn at once—he had only to withdraw his troops, & every one wd be satisfied—the Er replied ‘My dear Sir, It is in my power to open that window & throw myself out of it head foremost[.] And no doubt that wd afford satisfaction to a great many people– But it is also in my power not to do it– And I tell you that, if I were to withdraw my troops, the Pope wd be insulted—& the Cathc Population of France wd not stand that.’
What can I say of myself? Nothing new. At least nothing new that is worth saying– I have been reading Mill’s last Book with great admiration– [7] After 3 year’s search for it I have at last discovered my Baptismal Certificate, & find I am a year older than I thought [8] —30 years old next birthday! 30 years—nearly half a lifetime! & no great work done, no good wish realized still I try to work on & wish on—daily indeed the best of this world, & the best I can ever hope to do or be in it, seems less & less to me—and if this were all I shd be heart broken—but thank God I do believe in better things beyond.
I have written a version in verse of the story you told me at Florence—since I had yr permission to do so—& have sent it to Dickens for All round the year. [9]
I make no excuse for the inadequacy of this or any other letter to you– All the gain and comfort of our intercourse is mine—you need nothing I can give you—& no word of mine can make you happier or wiser—therefore if this thought, overweighed with me, the simple wish to say again & again how dear you are to me & how much revered & loved, there is no reason why I shd ever write to you– I remember that in one of yr last letters, [10] you told me I shd tell you more of that strange episode among the Convents– But the time that has passed over the recollection of it makes me feel embarrassed how to put on paper long details & explanations that I wd much rather make more fully when we next meet. Certainly a more disgraceful scene I never witnessed.
Good night my best & dearest Friend– I miss your presence—in every thing that is around me[.]
Your ever true & loving
R Lytton
Address, on integral page: Franco / Robt Browning Esqre / Care of John Forster Esqre / 46 Montagu Square / London.
Publication: BBIS-10, pp. 191–193.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
1. Isa Blagden moved into a house opposite 1 Chichester Road in early November and remained there for three months (see letter 4988, note 6).
2. See SD2530.
3. Selections from the Poetical Works of Robert Browning (1863), silently edited by John Forster and Bryan Waller Procter, was not issued by Chapman and Hall until December 1862.
4. In an early July letter, Isa asked Kate Field to “send Christmas Eve to Brecker’s—Lytton is going to try & write a review of Mr Browning’s poems & wants all” (see SD2460).
5. A lengthy review by William Stigand (1825–1915) of EBB’s last three works—Poems (1856), Aurora Leigh (1857), and Poems Before Congress (1860)—appeared in The Edinburgh Review for October 1861 (pp. 513–534). For the full text of this review, see pp. 333–341.
6. In mid-October, Lord Clarendon (1800–70) had been sent to Berlin to represent Queen Victoria at the coronation of Wilhelm I (1797–1888), King of Prussia, which took place at Königsberg on 18 October 1861. He left Berlin in early November and returned to England. A diplomatic visit to Vienna had been planned, but it was cancelled (see Herbert Maxwell, The Life and Letters of George William Frederick, Fourth Earl of Clarendon, 2 vols., 1913, II, 248–249).
7. John Stuart Mill’s Considerations on Representative Government (1861) was issued by Parker, Son, and Bourn in April.
8. Lytton, born in London, was baptised on 27 October 1834 in the “Spa Church,” Gloucester. A marginal note in the church baptismal record reads: “Born Nov. 8. 1831.”
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