Tuesday. Oct. 11th.

Gent has gone for the letters: what will be in them? If Papa writes, we shall all be scolded I know, for our silence. Bro’s letter to him, shd. have gone on Friday instead of yesterday.

Today we are to dine at the Martins. A bore!— And yet Mrs. Martin lent me Dr. Channing’s treatise “On the importance & means of a national Literature”,[1] & I ought to be grateful to her. I have been reading it this morning. It is a very admirable, & lucidly & energetically written production. The style is less graceful than powerful. Indeed it has so much strength, that the muscles are by necessity, rather too obvious & prominent. But its writer is obviously & prominently an extraordinary man—& if he were to dine at Colwall today, I wd. go to meet him, without sighing … much!—

My love of solitude is growing with my growth. I am inclined to shun the acquaintance of those whom I do not like & love; on account of the ennui: & the acquaintance of those whom I might like & love,—on account of the pain!-- Oh the pain attendant on liking & loving, may seem a little cloud,—but it blots from us all the light of the sun!!—

B H & I went to Colwall in B’s carriage. The Commelines there—Miss C Miss L C & Mr. C Senior. Miss Commeline decides that half of me has vanished away in my thinness! Who can wonder at it? Mrs. Hill seems to me an amiable woman. She is said to have the talent of making friends. I do not envy her that. Has she the talent of keeping them?

Besides; the meaning which she attaches to the word friend, is probably not my meaning. Mr. Webb who sate next me at dinner, sang very well after dinner—with expression & spirit,—better than he talked. Mr. & Miss Peyton,[2] Mr. Deane, H, & I have settled the English form of government for next year. It is to be a parthenocracy. For Universal suffrage will include our sex,—the married people will neutralize each others votes by voting pro & con; & then how can the young men be uninfluenced by the young ladies? Impossible!— “What a happy people, you will be,” was my exclamation. Mr. D. asked me how Mr. Boyd was. Hearing his name in the midst of a crowd of people whom I cared nothing for, was like Robinson Crusoe’s detection of a man’s footprint in his desert!—

“He is as well as can be expected, considering the distress which he is now suffering in common with all good patriots”.

“But he shd. be consoled by reflecting, that tho’ the decision of the H of Lords has displeased him, it has pleased others”.

“Not at all! That reflection increases his suffering. He has to bewail not only his own want of felicity, but the want of wisdom in his fellowcreatures”. Mr. D is a goodnatured man.

Glad to get home!—

1. William Ellery Channing, The Importance and Means of a National Literature (London, 1830).

2. Nicholson Peyton (1783–1841), the son-in-law of Mrs. Griffith of Barton Court, and his sister.


National Endowment for the Humanities - Logo

Editorial work on The Brownings’ Correspondence is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This website was last updated on 3-28-2024.

Copyright © 2024 Wedgestone Press. All rights reserved.

Back To Top