521. RB to André Victor Amédée de Ripert-Monclar
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 3, 165–168.
[London]
11 Janvier 1836
Voici un nouvel an—Puisse chacun de ses jours apporter le bonheur à mon cher Amédée, et puissent la plupart de ses mois m’apporter une lettre semblable à celle que je viens de recevoir, et qui arrive aussi de saison que le froid qu’il fait aujourd’hui … Il y a si longtem[p]s [1] qu’on n’avait entendu parler ici d’ami ou de gelée; mais en pareil cas la joie du retour fait si-tôt oublier les chagrins de l’absence, qu’on ne songe plus qu’à boucler ses patins, et qu’à griffonner ses remercîmen[t]s—ce que je fais en barbouillant du français, par-dessus le marché, et tout cela au préjudice d’un certain “Paracelse”, qui ne trouve pas du tout qu’il soit de son intérêt que M. de Monclar laissè perdre le fonds d’anglais qu’il doit avoir acquis à force de “piocher” dans cet ouvrage, vu que cet auteur n’est pas encore à sec, et qu’il ne tardera pas à soumettre d’autres travaux à l’ “analyse” de ce Monsieur. Mais où est-elle donc, cette analyse? [2] et qu’avez-vous fait du portrait, mon bon ami? Vous ne parlez pas des Statuts de l’Institut historique, et cependant je me trouve bien embarrassé sur ce point,—car j’ai là le diplôme, [3] et la lettre dont a bien voulu m’honorer M. le Secrétaire,—mais rien moins que les “règles” auxquelles il m’invite à adhérer, et auxquelles je m’empresserai de répondre aussitôt que je les aurai .. ce qui sera avant peu de tem[p]s, n’est-ce pas, Amédée?
Le récit que vous me faites du choléra est vraiment affreux: le silence des journaux sur ce fléau fait présumer qu’il s’est enfin rassasié, et je n’ai qu’à espérer bien vivement que vous n’ayez pas eprouvé de perte nouvelle depuis la date de votre lettre. Je vous porte une vrai[e] sympathie, mon cher Amédée, et d’autant plus que vous m’avez l’air d’entretenir des sentimen[t]s que je ne vous soupçonnais guère: si ce n’était pas attacher trop de prix à ce qui n’est peut-être qu’un accès passager de doute et d’abandonnement, je vous demanderais quelle doit être mon espérance à moi, si vous parlez de “jamais”, d’une “séparation qui n’a pas de terme connu,” etc, etc. comme “paroles d’un croyant”? —Et aujourd’hui, que les sceptiques commencent à demêler le vrai génie du scepticisme et à douter du doute même; certes il n’y a pas mince philosophie dans ce morceau de Shelley,
It is a modest creed, and yet
Pleasant, if one consider it,
To think that Death itself, must be
Like all the rest—a mockery. [4]
“Maître, oyez sur ce point, une âme détrompée.”
Et vous avez couru les Alpes, et n’avez rien fait? Je n’étais pas là, moi. Venez-vous enfin visiter Londres cette année? —Vous verrez des nouvelles. Londres et Gravesend seront liés ensemble avant peu par un chemin de fer qu’on bâtit sur un “viaduc” magnifique qu’on a déjà fait étendre de Londres jusqu’à Greenwich—ce qui est de 4 milles environ—sur à-peu-près mille arches de 22 pieds de hauteur, composés de brique, et dont chacune doit contenir une boutique à six chambres; quelle rue cela va faire! Après, on étendra ce chemin de Gravesend jusqu’à Douvres. Admirable, n’est-ce pas? Mais en revanche, ce pauvre “Greenwich Park” (vous l’avez vu, ce parc) sera traversé par ce viaduct comme le sein d’une femme par le bras d’un satyre. [5]
A propos de trajets et de chemins, n’oublions pas que vous faites mention d’un ouvrage par M. le marquis de Fortia sur Annibal que vous aviez l’intention de m’envoyer: je vous en remercie mille fois, mais mon père l’a déjà, ce livre, [6] depuis plusieurs années, grâce à mon oncle qui sait l’intérêt qu’il porte à la question du fameux passage des Alpes. Vous ai-je bien fait des complimen[t]s sur l’article dans la “Quotidienne” où il est question de vos travaux, et sur celui que vous avez inséré dans le “Nouveau Conservateur”? [7] Vous avez eu, aussi, la bonté de m’envoyer l’ “Essai sur l’immortalité de l’âme” et l’ “Examen d’un diplôme” par M. de Fortia. [8] Savez-vous, mon ami, qu’il ne me paraît pas absolument impossible de pouvoir vous dire de vive voix cette année ce que je pense de vous et de ces ouvrages? Je ferai ce que je pourrais, mais cela est si peu de chose: en attendant, soyez toujours le representant de votre Paris en resumant les belles qualités de ses habitués, parmis lesquelles se trouve, on le dit, la plus parfaite bonté envers les étrangers … ce que vous ferez en m’adressant au plus vite un compte rendu de vos nouvelles; mon père, ma mère et ma soeur auxquels j’ai communiqué les details de votre lettre vous remercient infinîment de vos aimables expressions et vous gardent bien de souvenirs; à vous de cœur et d’âme,
Robert Browning.
You would not have laughed so much at the above choice bit of composition, had you seen the “slapping pace” [9] at which I quill-drove.
Publication: None traced.
Source: Transcript at Yale University.
Translation:
Here is a new year. May each of its days bring happiness to my dear Amédée, and may most of its months bring me a letter similar to the one I just received, and which also arrives seasonably with the cold weather we are having today. It has been such a long time since we have heard here about friend or ice, but in such a case, the joy of their return makes one soon forget the pain of their absence, that all one thinks about is to buckle on the skates, and to jot down one’s thanks—that which I am now doing in scribbling French, into the bargain, and all that to the detriment of a certain “Paracelsus,” who doesn’t at all believe it to be in his interest that M. de Monclar loses the fund of English which he must have acquired through “digging” in that work, given that this author is not yet dried up, and that he won’t delay in submitting other works to the “analysis” of that Gentleman. But where then is that analysis? [2] and what have you done with the portrait, my dear friend? You don’t mention the Statutes of the Historical Institute, and in the meantime I find myself quite embarrassed on that point,—for here I have the diploma, [3] and the letter by which Mr. Secretary was kind enough to honour me,—but there is no trace of the “rules” which he invites me to follow, and to which I shall hasten to reply as soon as I have them .. which will be shortly, won’t it, Amédée?
The report you give me about the cholera is really shocking: the silence of the newspapers regarding this scourge lets one presume that it has at last subsided, and I only hope very keenly that you have not sustained another loss since the date of your letter. I really feel a true affinity for you, my dear Amédée, the more so that you seem to entertain feelings I scarcely suspected in you: if it weren’t attaching too great a price to that which perhaps may be only a passing attack of doubt and rejection, I would ask you what should my own hope be, if you talk about “never,” of a “separation whose end is unknown,” etc, etc. as “words of a believer”? — And today, when the sceptics are starting to discern the real genius of scepticism and to doubt even doubt itself; admittedly there is no small philosophy in this passage by Shelley,
It is a modest creed, and yet
Pleasant, if one consider it,
To think that Death itself, must be
Like all the rest—a mockery. [4]
“Master, hear at this point a disillusioned soul.”
And you roamed the Alps, and didn’t do anything? I wasn’t there, was I! Will you finally visit London this year? — You will see new things. London and Gravesend will be linked shortly by a railway which is being built on a magnificent “viaduct” which already extends from London to Greenwich—that is about 4 miles—on about a thousand arches, 22 feet high, made of brick, and which each will contain a shop of six rooms; what a street this will be! Later on, this route will be extended from Gravesend to Dover. Wonderful, isn’t it? But, on the other hand, that poor “Greenwich Park” (you have seen it, this park) will be crossed by that viaduct like a woman’s breast by the arm of a satyr. [5]
Apropos journeys and paths, let’s not forget that you mention a work by the Marquis de Fortia on Hannibal which you had intended to send me: thanks a thousand times, but my father has had that book [6] for several years, thanks to my uncle who knows of the interest he has regarding the matter of the famous passage over the Alps. Have I complimented you on the article in the “Quotidienne” which mentions your work, and the one you inserted in the “Nouveau Conservateur”? [7] You also were kind enough to send me the “Essai sur l’immortalité de l’âme” and the “Examen d’un diplôme” by M. de Fortia. [8] Do you know, my friend, that it doesn’t seem to me absolutely impossible that I may be able to tell you in person this year what I think about you and these works? I shall do what I can, but that is so little: meanwhile, be always the representative of your Paris, summarizing the noble attributes of its inhabitants, among which, I’m told, is the most perfect kindness towards foreigners … which you will fulfill by sending me as soon as possible an account of your news; my father, my mother and my sister with whom I shared the details of your letter thank you deeply for your kind words and keep you in their memories; yours with heart and soul,
Robert Browning.
You would not have laughed so much at the above choice bit of composition, had you seen the “slapping pace” [9] at which I quill-drove.
2. Monclar’s “analysis” of Paracelsus is printed in Appendix IV.
3. RB’s diploma from L’Institut Historique appears as H548 in Reconstruction, although the bookseller’s catalogue description copied there misdates the diploma, and suggests RB, Sr. as the recipient.
4. “The Sensitive Plant” (1820), lines 13–16 of the conclusion, slightly misquoted.
5. The Railway Magazine (October 1835, pp. 162–163) reported that the London and Greenwich Railway “is to proceed from near the foot of London Bridge, on a viaduct 22 feet high, supported by about 1000 arches, to Deptford and Greenwich … 575 arches already built. In the neighbourhood of London many of these arches will doubtless be let for offices, vaults and warehouses.” In its March 1836 issue, the magazine wrote (pp. 36–37): “We hear that Colonel Landmann, the engineer, was desired on Friday the 19th of February … to stake out the line he wished to take across the Park … For that contemplated portion of the viaduct, which it is intended shall cross the Royal Park at Greenwich, a design has been submitted for having niches at stated intervals between the massive piers which sustain it, wherein are to be placed the busts of our most celebrated by-gone admirals.” Happily, in its April issue, the magazine (p. 85) told its readers that, “Because of opposition … [the inhabitants of] the town of Greenwich will be left to that quietude which … they coveted.”
7. We have been unable to locate either of these articles.
8. Essai sur l’Immortalité de l’Âme (1835) and Examen d’un Diplôme, Attribué à Louis-le-Bègue, Roi de France (1833). Neither of these books survived to appear in Reconstruction.
9. Racing jargon denoting a particularly fast run.
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