SD1661. Mary Russell Mitford to Digby Starkey

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 19, 369 (in part).

[Swallowfield]

June 2, 1853.

Never dream of apologizing to me, dear Mr. Starkey, for fits of silence. … Mrs. Browning tells me that Robert Owen of Lanark has been converted to a belief in the immortality of the soul by these spirit rappings. Now knowing Robert Owen, I think that he would most assuredly have been converted without them, for he, in spite of his crotchets, is a thoroughly kind and honest man, who has no interest in disbelieving a future state. Well, I doubt if you be rapping in Dublin, but of course you are table-turning. All the world is so employed, and that great fait accompli flourishes pre-eminently in Swallowfield. …

Text: L’Estrange (1), II, 259–262.

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