SD1861. Joseph Milsand to William Henry Darley

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 21, 383 (in part).

Morey

Sunday 23. [September 1855]

My dear Darley

For exactly eight days I have been at my Chateau at Morey. … On the very eve of my departure from Paris, I received in galleys the first of Browning’s two volumes. I have read it and since Buloz can’t find any other translator to substitute for me, I have been trying (although without much success so far) to translate some extracts from them. One cannot say that this poetry is charming, but it is strangely striking-what a strong and extraordinary intellect is Browning’s. I cannot, however, help thinking that he has not chosen his true terrain. The pieces are kinds of dramatic monologues where he presents imaginary characters in order to reveal what he sees in human nature. I think him wrong not to present his own personality which is certainly his most fascinating side. His own ideas should have especially been related more explicitly. It is none the less true that such as they are, and just because of their singularity, his pieces have a kind of supernatural effect on me. …

Address: W. H. Darley / 37 rue Neuve / Versailles.

Docket, in recipient’s hand: recd 25 Sepr 1855 / answd same date.

Publication: None traced.

Manuscript: Armstrong Browning, Joseph Milsand Archive.

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