6055. Thomas Forbes Kelsall to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 32, 314–315.
Fareham
May 14 1868
My dear Sir,
You will now, I think, admit that, when I proposed yr keeping Beddoes’ mss. as many ‘months’ as you might like, I was not so far out in my estimate of the time you wd find, if not indispensable, yet most agreeable for their inspection. It is now 6 months since I had the pleasure of meeting you & of consigning my treasures to your charge, & I am getting a little solicitous to hear something, not of their welfare, which I feel no doubt about, but of your opinions & inclinations as to the new matter they contain. You will not, I hope, think I am expecting too much if I ask you, as I now do, to tell me frankly whether any, & which, of my omissns & variations in print from the mss. are regret[t]able—especially in Death’s Jest-book. My own idea of the prose tales is not favourable to their publication[.] They are crude & stiff & in the comic portions rather disagreeable, and, at the best, so much below his performances in verse, that one result of their publication, however it might gratify that small circle of readers which would not willingly lose any, the poorest, fruit of a fine tree, would certainly be to lower, not sustain the general estimate of the author or his writings. I shod be very glad to know whether you agree with me in this. I believe, tho’ I am not sure, that Procter is not acquainted with the ‘Ivory Gate’—& I cannot fancy his putting much value in it. You have probably talked with him about these & the other mss. & can set me right if mistaken. One thing I feel pretty certain of, viz that he would not encounter the task of decypherg. so much crabbed ms—which indeed I can well believe has acted as a sedative on even yr fresher enthusiasm. You must have been however much interested by his earlier verse mss in the 2 books, which are more legible—giving many of his fine conceptions as fresh & rapidly they sprang into existence. There seems to me a great advance in power from the boyish portions of the mss to those of later date, both so clearly distinguishable by the difference in penmanship—& I do not suppose that I have left unpublished any verse, which you wod care to see in print. On this, as on any other point, relating to my friend’s compositions, I shod be very well pleased to have your opinions to the furthest extent for which you can find leisure & inclination.
You are very welcome to keep the mss—all or any—a good dea[l] longer—only some intimation [of] your intercourse with them, & its results would be very gratifying to me.
Believe me,
My dear Sir,
Very truly yours
Thos F. Kelsall
Robert Browning Esqr
May I repeat my unanswered inquiry as to the selection from Shelley, so long promised in your name by Moxon? [1]
Address: Robert Browning Esq / 19 Warwick Crescent / Upper Westbourne Terrace / London W.
Publication: Donner, pp. 99–100.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
1. See letter 5549, note 4, and the end of the following letter.
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