SD1419. Mary Russell Mitford to Charles Boner

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 16, 293 (in part).

Three Mile Cross,

April 7, 1850

I cannot tell you, dear friend, how glad I was to get your letter, and to find that you had received mine. …

Of poetry he [Carlyle] is intolerant—at least two friends of mine, Elizabeth Barrett and Mr. Bennett, each sent him a present of their works, and received answers so nearly alike (I saw both of them), that it seemed to me a set form, kept for the purpose. He praised the powers of both lady and gentleman, but deprecated the use made of them, and advised both parties “to say rather than to sing,” which advice being construed, meant, I suppose, to take to prose instead of verse. …

Text: Memoirs and Letters of Charles Boner, ed. R.M. Kettle (London, 1871), I, 179–182.

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