Letter from Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Jan 31, 1846
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Jan 31, 1846
Description
Robert Browning tells Elizabeth Barrett about seeing Cushman and her sister on stage, performing Romeo & Juliet: "I went last night, out of pure shame at a broken promise,-to hear Miss Cushman & her sister in "Romeo and Juliet"-the whole play goes .. horribly . . . Romeo goes whining about Verona by broad daylight."
Credit
Armstrong Browning Library - The Browning LettersCreator
Browning, Robert, 1812-1889
Source
Armstrong Browning Library, The Browning Letters, Digital Collection
Date
1846-01-31
Type
Reference
Letter Item Type Metadata
Text
[page 1] Saturday-
It is a relief to me this time to obey your wish, and reserve further remark on that subject till by and bye .. and, whereas some people, I suppose, have to lash themselves up to the due point of passion, and choose the happy minutes to be as loving in as they possibly can .. (that is, in expression,-the just correspondency of word to fact & feeling,-for it,-the love,-may be very truly there, at the bottom, when it is got at, and spoken out)-quite otherwise, I do really have to guard my tongue and set a watch on my pen .. that so I may say as little as can well be likely to be excepted to by your generosity: dearest, love means love, certainly, and adoration carries its sense with it-and so, you may have received my feeling in that shape-but when I begin to hint at the merest putting into practice one or the other profession, you "fly out"-instead of keeping your throne- So let this letter lie awhile, till my heart
[page 2] is more used to it, and after some days or weeks I will find as cold and quiet a moment as I can, and-by standing as far off you as I shall be able,-see more-"si minus propè stes, te capiet magis"- Meanwhile, silent or speaking, I am yours to dispose of as that glove-not that hand. I must think that Mr Kenyon sees, and knows, and .. in his goodness .. hardly disapproves-he knows I could not avoid,-escape you-for he knows, in a manner, what you are .. like your American; and, early in our intercourse, he asked me (-did I tell you?-) "what I thought of his young relative"-and I considered half a second-to this effect-"if he asked me what I thought of the Queen-diamond they showed me in the crown of the Czar,-and I answered truly-he would not return,-‘then of course you mean to try and get
[page 3] it to keep’"- So I did tell the truth in a very few words- Well, it is no matter. ___________________________________________________________ I am sorry to hear of poor Tennyson’s condition-the projected book,-title, scheme, all of it,-that is astounding:-and fairies!-if "Thropès [sic, for Thorpès] and barnes, sheep-pens and dairies-this maketh that there ben no fairies"-locomotives, and the broad or narrow guage must keep the very ghosts of them away- But how the fashion of this world passes,-the forms its beauty & truth take,-if we have the making of such! I went last night, out of pure shame at a broken promise,-to hear Miss Cushman & her sister in "Romeo and Juliet"-the whole play goes .. horribly,-"speak" bids the Poet, and so M. Walladmir moves his tongue and dispenses with his jaws: whatever is slightly touched in, indicated, to give relief to something actually insisted upon and drawn boldly
[page 4] .. here, you have it gone over with an unremitting burnt-stick,-till it stares black forever! Romeo goes whining about Verona by broad daylight: yet when a schoolfellow of mine, I remember, began translating in class Virgil after this mode, "sic fatur-so said Æneas,-lachrymans-a-crying" .. our pedagogue turned on him furiously-"D’ye think Æneas made such a noise-as you shall, presently?"- How easy to conceive a boyish half-melancholy, smiling at itself- Then Tuesday, and not Monday .. and Saturday will be the nearer afterward. I am singularly well to-day-head quite quiet-and yesterday your penholder began its influence and I wrote about half my last act. Writing is nothing nor praise, nor blame, nor living nor dying, but you are all my true life; May God bless you ever- RB.
[page 5]
It is a relief to me this time to obey your wish, and reserve further remark on that subject till by and bye .. and, whereas some people, I suppose, have to lash themselves up to the due point of passion, and choose the happy minutes to be as loving in as they possibly can .. (that is, in expression,-the just correspondency of word to fact & feeling,-for it,-the love,-may be very truly there, at the bottom, when it is got at, and spoken out)-quite otherwise, I do really have to guard my tongue and set a watch on my pen .. that so I may say as little as can well be likely to be excepted to by your generosity: dearest, love means love, certainly, and adoration carries its sense with it-and so, you may have received my feeling in that shape-but when I begin to hint at the merest putting into practice one or the other profession, you "fly out"-instead of keeping your throne- So let this letter lie awhile, till my heart
[page 2] is more used to it, and after some days or weeks I will find as cold and quiet a moment as I can, and-by standing as far off you as I shall be able,-see more-"si minus propè stes, te capiet magis"- Meanwhile, silent or speaking, I am yours to dispose of as that glove-not that hand. I must think that Mr Kenyon sees, and knows, and .. in his goodness .. hardly disapproves-he knows I could not avoid,-escape you-for he knows, in a manner, what you are .. like your American; and, early in our intercourse, he asked me (-did I tell you?-) "what I thought of his young relative"-and I considered half a second-to this effect-"if he asked me what I thought of the Queen-diamond they showed me in the crown of the Czar,-and I answered truly-he would not return,-‘then of course you mean to try and get
[page 3] it to keep’"- So I did tell the truth in a very few words- Well, it is no matter. ___________________________________________________________ I am sorry to hear of poor Tennyson’s condition-the projected book,-title, scheme, all of it,-that is astounding:-and fairies!-if "Thropès [sic, for Thorpès] and barnes, sheep-pens and dairies-this maketh that there ben no fairies"-locomotives, and the broad or narrow guage must keep the very ghosts of them away- But how the fashion of this world passes,-the forms its beauty & truth take,-if we have the making of such! I went last night, out of pure shame at a broken promise,-to hear Miss Cushman & her sister in "Romeo and Juliet"-the whole play goes .. horribly,-"speak" bids the Poet, and so M. Walladmir moves his tongue and dispenses with his jaws: whatever is slightly touched in, indicated, to give relief to something actually insisted upon and drawn boldly
[page 4] .. here, you have it gone over with an unremitting burnt-stick,-till it stares black forever! Romeo goes whining about Verona by broad daylight: yet when a schoolfellow of mine, I remember, began translating in class Virgil after this mode, "sic fatur-so said Æneas,-lachrymans-a-crying" .. our pedagogue turned on him furiously-"D’ye think Æneas made such a noise-as you shall, presently?"- How easy to conceive a boyish half-melancholy, smiling at itself- Then Tuesday, and not Monday .. and Saturday will be the nearer afterward. I am singularly well to-day-head quite quiet-and yesterday your penholder began its influence and I wrote about half my last act. Writing is nothing nor praise, nor blame, nor living nor dying, but you are all my true life; May God bless you ever- RB.
[page 5]
From
Browning, Robert, 1812-1889
To
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 1806-1861
Location (Recipient)
50 Wimpole St, London, UK
Geocode Recipient (Latitude)
51.5197315
Geocode Recipient (Longitude)
-0.149073
Social Bookmarking
Collection
Citation
Browning, Robert, 1812-1889, “Letter from Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Jan 31, 1846,” Archival Gossip Collection, accessed May 28, 2023, https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/605.