The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Volume I Part 31

My dear Mrs. Jameson,--I receive your letter, as I must do every sign of your being near and inclined to think of me in kindness, gladly, and a.s.sure you at once that whenever you can spend a half-hour on me you will find me enough myself to have a true pleasure in welcoming you, say any day except next Sat.u.r.day or the Monday immediately following.

As soon as I heard of your return to England I ventured to hope that some good might come of it to me in my room here, besides the general good, which I look for with the rest of the public, when the censer swings back into the midst of us again. And how good of you, dear Mrs.

Jameson, to think of me there where the perfumes were set burning; it makes me glad and grand that you should have been able to do so. Also the kind wishes which came with the thoughts (you say) were not in vain, for I have been very idle and very _well_; the angel of the summer has done more for me even than usual, and till the last wave of his wing I took myself to be quite well and at liberty, and even now I am as well as anyone can be who has heard the prison door shut for a whole winter at least, and knows it to be the only English alternative of a grave. Which is a gloomy way of saying that I am well but forced to shut myself up with disagreeable precautions all round, and I ought to be gratified instead of gloomy. Believe me that I _shall_ be so when you come to see me, remaining in the meanwhile

Most truly yours, ELIZABETH BARRETT.

_To Mrs. Martin_ Friday [about December 1845].

I am the guilty person, dearest Mrs. Martin! You would have heard from Henrietta at least yesterday, only I persisted in promising to write instead of her; and so, if there are reproaches, let them fall. Not that I am audacious and without shame! But I have grown familiar with an evil conscience as to these matters of not writing when I ought; and long ago I grew familiar with your mercy and power of pardoning; and then--and then--if silence and sulkiness are proved crimes of mine to ever such an extreme, why it would not be unnatural. Do you think I was born to live the life of an oyster, such as I _do_ live here? And so, the moaning and gnas.h.i.+ng of teeth are best done alone and without taking anyone into confidence. And so, this is all I have to say for myself, which perhaps you will be glad of; for you will be ready to agree with me that next to such faults of idleness, negligence, silence (call them by what names you please!) as I have been guilty of, is the repentance of them, if indeed the latter be not the most unpardonable of the two.

And what are you doing so late in Herefords.h.i.+re? Is dear Mr. Martin too well, and tempting the demons? I do hope that the next news of you will be of your being about to approach the sun and visit us on the road. You do not give your wisdom away to your friends, all of it, I hope and trust--not even to Reynolds.

Tell Mr. Martin that a new great daily newspaper, professing '_ultraism_' at the right end (meaning his and mine), is making 'mighty preparation,' to be called the 'Daily News,'[138] to be edited by d.i.c.kens and to combine with the most liberal politics such literature as gives character to the French journals--the objects being both to help the people and to give a _status_ to men of letters, socially and politically--great objects which will not be attained, I fear, by any such means. In the first place, I have misgivings as to d.i.c.kens. He has not, I think, _breadth_ of mind enough for such work, with all his gifts; but we shall see. An immense capital has been offered and actually advanced. Be good patriots and order the paper. And talking of papers, I hope you read in the 'Morning Chronicle' Landor's verses to my friend and England's poet, Mr. Browning.[139] They have much beauty.

You know that Occy has been ill, and that he is well? I hope you are not so behindhand in our news as not to know. For me, I am not yet undone by the winter. I still sit in my chair and walk about the room.

But the prison doors are shut close, and I could dash myself against them sometimes with a pa.s.sionate impatience of the need-less captivity. I feel so intimately and from evidence, how, with air and warmth together in any fair proportion, I should be as well and happy as the rest of the world, that it is intolerable--well, it is better to sympathise quietly with Lady--and other energetic runaways, than amuse you with being riotous to no end; and it is _best_ to write one's own epitaph still more quietly, is it not?...

And oh how lightly I write, and then sigh to think of what different colours my spirits and my paper are. Do you know what it is to laugh, that you may not cry? Yet I hold a comfort fast.... Your very affectionate

BA.

[Footnote 138: The first number of the _Daily News_ appeared on January 2l, 1846, under the editors.h.i.+p of Charles d.i.c.kens.]

[Footnote 139: The well-known lines beginning, 'There is delight in singing.' They appeared in the _Morning Chronicle_ for November 22, 1845.]

_To Mrs. Martin_ Sat.u.r.day [February-March 1846].

My dearest Mrs. Martin,--Indeed it has been tantalising and provoking to have you close by without being able to gather a better advantage from it than the knowledge that you were suffering. So pa.s.ses the world and the glory of it. I have been vexed into a high state of morality, I a.s.sure you. Now that you are gone away I hear from you again; and it does seem to me that almost always it happens so, and that you come to London to be ill and leave it before you can be well again. It is a comfort in every case to know of your being better, and Hastings is warm and quiet, and the pretty country all round (mind you go and see the 'Rocks' _par excellence_)! will entice you into very gentle exercise. At the same time, don't wish me into the house you speak of. I can lose nothing here, shut up in my prison, and the nightingales come to my windows and sing through the sooty panes. If I were at Hastings I should risk the chance of recovering liberty, and the consolations of slavery would not reach me as they do here. Also, if I were to set my heart upon Hastings, I might break it at leisure; there would be exactly as much difficulty in turning my face that way as towards Italy--ah, you do not understand! And _I do, at last_, I am sorry to say; and it has been very long, tedious and reluctant work, the learning of the lesson....

Did Henrietta tell you that I heard at last from Miss Martineau, who thought me in Italy, she said, and therefore was silent? She has sent me her new work (have you read it?) and speaks of her strength and of being able to walk fifteen miles a day, which seems to me like a fairy tale, or the 'Three-leagued Boots' at least.

What am I doing, to tell you of? Nothing! The winter is kind, and this divine 'muggy' weather (is _that_ the technical word and spelling thereof?), which gives all reasonable people colds in their heads, leaves _me_ the hope of getting back to the summer without much injury. A friend of mine--one of the greatest poets in England too--brought me primroses and polyanthuses the other day, as they are grown in Surrey![140] Surely it must be nearer spring than we think.

Dearest Mrs. Martin, write and say how you are. And say, G.o.d bless you, both the yous, and mention Mr. Martin particularly, and what your plans are.

Ever your affectionate BA.

[Footnote 140:

Beloved, them hast brought me many flowers Plucked in the garden, all the summer through, And winter, and it seemed as if they grew In this close room, nor missed the sun and showers.

_Sonnets from the Portuguese_, xliv.]

_To Mrs. Martin_ Tuesday [end of June 1846].

So, my dearest Mrs. Martin, you are quite angry with all of us and with me chiefly. Oh, you need not say no! I see it, I understand it, and shall therefore take up my own cause precisely as if I were an injured person. In the first place, dearest Mrs. Martin, when you wrote to me (at last!) to say that we were both guilty correspondents, you should have spoken in the singular number; for I was not guilty at all, I beg to say, while you were on the Continent. You were uncertain, you said, on going, where you should go and how long you should stay, and you promised to write and give me some sort of address--a promise never kept--and where was I to write to you? I heard for the first time, from the Peytons, of your being at Pau, and then you were expected at home. So innocent I am, and because it is a pleasure rather rare to make a sincere profession of innocence, I meant to write to you at least ten days ago; and then (believe me you will, without difficulty) the dreadful death of poor Mr. Haydon,[141]

the artist, quite upset me, and made me disinclined to write a word beyond necessary ones. I thank G.o.d that I never saw him--poor gifted Haydon--but, a year and a half ago, we had a correspondence which lasted through several months and was very pleasant while it lasted.

Then it was dropped, and only a few days before the event he wrote three or four notes to me to ask me to take charge of some papers and pictures, which I acceded to as once I had done before. He was constantly in pecuniary difficulty, and in apprehension of the seizure of goods; and nothing of _fear_ suggested itself to my mind--nothing.

The shock was very great. Oh! I do not write to you to write of this.

Only I would have you understand the real case, and that it is not an excuse, and that it was natural for me to be shaken a good deal. No artist is left behind with equal largeness of poetical conception! If the hand had always obeyed the soul, he would have been a genius of the first order. As it is, he lived on the _slope_ of greatness and could not be steadfast and calm. His life was one long agony of self-a.s.sertion. Poor, poor Haydon! See how the world treats those who try too openly for its grat.i.tude! 'Tom Thumb for ever' over the heads of the giants.

So you heard that I was quite well? Don't believe everything you hear.

But I am really in _a way_ to be well, if I could have such suns.h.i.+ne as we have been burning in lately, and a fair field of peace besides.

Generally, I am able to go out every day, either walking or in the carriage--'_walking_' means as far as Queen Anne's Street. The wonderful winter did not cast me down, and the hot summer helps me up higher. Now, to _keep in the sun_ is the problem to solve; and if I can do it, I shall be 'as well as anybody.' If I can't, as ill as ever. Which is the _resume_ of me, without a word more....

Your ever affectionate BA.

[Footnote 141: He committed suicide on June 22, under the influence of the disappointment caused by the indifference of the public to his pictures, the final instance of which was its flocking to see General Tom Thumb and neglecting Haydon's large pictures of 'Aristides'

and 'Nero,' which were being exhibited in an adjoining room of the Egyptian Hall.]

_To H.S. Boyd_ June 27, 1846 [postmark].

Dearest Mr. Boyd,--Let me be clear of your reproaches for not going to you this week. The truth is that I have been so much shocked and shaken by the dreadful suicide of poor Mr. Haydon, the artist, I had not spirits for it. He was not personally my friend. I never saw him face to face. But we had corresponded, and one of his last acts was an act of _trust_ towards me. Also I admired his genius. And all to end _so_! It has naturally affected me much.

So I could not come, but in a few days I _will_ come; and in the meantime, I have had the sound of your voice to think of, more than I could think of the deep melodious bells, though they made the right and solemn impression. How I felt, to be under your roof again!

May G.o.d bless you, my very dear friend.

These words in the greatest haste.

From your ever affectionate ELIBET

CHAPTER V

1846-1849

It is now time to tell the story of the romance which, during the last eighteen months, had entered into Elizabeth Barrett's life, and was destined to divert its course into new and happier channels. It is a story which fills one of the brightest pages in English literary history.

The foregoing letters have shown something of Miss Barrett's admiration for the poetry of Robert Browning, and contain allusions to the beginning of their personal acquaintance. Her knowledge of his poetry dates back to the appearance of 'Paracelsus,' not to 'Pauline,'

of which there is no mention in her letters, and which had been practically withdrawn from circulation by the author. Her personal acquaintance with him was of much later date, and was directly due to the publication of the 'Poems' in 1844. Chancing to express his admiration of them to Mr. Kenyon, who had been his friend since 1839 and his father's school-fellow in years long distant, Mr. Browning was urged by him to write to Miss Barrett himself, and tell her of his pleasure in her work. Possibly the allusion to him in 'Lady Geraldine's Courts.h.i.+p' may have been felt as furnis.h.i.+ng an excuse for addressing her; however that may be, he took Mr. Kenyon's advice, and in January 1845 we find Miss Barrett in 'ecstasies' over a letter (evidently the first) from 'Browning the poet, Browning the author of "Paracelsus" and king of the mystics' (see p. 236, above).

The correspondence, once begun, continued to flourish, and in the course of the same month Miss Barrett tells Mrs. Martin that she is 'getting deeper and deeper into correspondence with Robert Browning, poet and mystic; and we are growing to be the truest of friends.' At the end of May, when the return of summer brought her a renewal of strength, they met face to face for the first time; and from that time Robert Browning was included in the small list of privileged friends who were admitted to visit her in person.

How this friends.h.i.+p ripened into love, and love into courts.h.i.+p, it is not for us to inquire too closely. Something has been told already in Mrs. Orr's 'Life of Robert Browning;' something more is told in the long and most interesting letter which stands first in the present chapter. More precious than either is the record of her fluctuating feelings which Mrs. Browning has enshrined for ever in her 'Sonnets from the Portuguese,' and in the handful of other poems--'Life and Love,' 'A Denial,' 'Proof and Disproof,' 'Inclusions,'

'Insufficiency,'[142] which likewise belong to this period and describe its hesitations, its sorrows and its overwhelming joys. In the difficult circ.u.mstances under which they were placed, the conduct of both was without reproach. Mr. Browning knew that he was asking to be allowed to take charge of an invalid's life--believed indeed that she was even worse than was really the case, and that she was hopelessly incapacitated from ever standing on her feet--but was sure enough of his love to regard that as no obstacle. Miss Barrett, for her part, shrank from burdening the life of the man she loved with a responsibility so trying and perhaps so painful, and refused his unchanging devotion for his sake, not for her own.

[Footnote 142: _Poetical Works_, iv. 20-32.]

The situation was complicated by the character of Mr. Barrett, and by the certainty--for such it was to his daughter--that he would refuse to entertain the idea of her marriage, or, indeed, that of any of his children. The truth of this view was absolutely vindicated not only in the case of Elizabeth, but also in those of two others of the family in later years. The reasons for his feeling it is probable he could not have explained to himself. He was fond of his family after his own fas.h.i.+on--proud, too, of his daughter's genius; but he could not, it would seem, regard them in any other light than as belonging to himself. The wish to leave his roof and to enter into new relations was looked upon as unfilial treachery; and no argument or persuasion could shake him from his fixed idea. So long as this disposition could be regarded as the result of a devoted love of his children, it could be accepted with respect, if not with full acquiescence; but circ.u.mstances brought the proof that this was not the case, and thereby ultimately paved the way to Elizabeth's marriage.