Letter from Robert Browning to Isa Blagden, Nov 19, [1867]
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Robert Browning to Isa Blagden, Nov 19, [1867]
Subject
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
Blagden, Isabella "Isa", 1816?-1873
Hosmer, Harriet Goodhue, 1830-1908
Relationships--Networks
Description
Robert Browning complains that "neither of them [Charlotte Cushman or Harriet Hosmer] ever signify their presence to me, when they come to London: it don’t much matter."
Credit
Armstrong Browning Library - The Browning LettersCreator
Browning, Robert, 1812-1889
Source
Armstrong Browning Library, The Browning Letters, Digital Collection
Date
1867-11-19
Type
Reference
Letter Item Type Metadata
Text
[page 1] Dearest Isa,
I have left writing till a somewhat late hour, & shall have to be brief. I hope you won’t be caught in a corner, & found "homeless" when the cold winds come. I daresay you are quite in the right about your politics: I can’t bear to think of any part of the whole mass of lies & intrigues,—I like no one man engaged in the matter, the King & the Emperor not a bit more than Garibaldi: well, it seems ordained that if you believe in heroes you will be sorry for it, sooner or later. I have of course heard other versions of the thing, different from yours,—don’t know & hardly care which is the true, so bad is the best. When I wrote I told you Pen was just going to Oxford: he is doing particularly well there, the experiment turning out exactly as I hoped: the impulse gained by a glimpse, or rather good gaze into the life of young men with a purpose to study, has done
[page 2] him great good. He writes to me often,—enjoys himself much, having his own boat there. Indeed, people are only too kind to him, & the Magnates have him to breakfast &c in an unusual way. Did I—no, I did not tell you of the honor conferred on me,—seeing that the news came when your letter,—i.e, the letter to you,—was sealed or fastened: I was elected last month an Honorary Fellow of Balliol,—admitted to all the privileges,—minus the emoluments, of course. This is a very pretty compliment to me,—Pen at the college of which I am Fellow, is it not? I really don’t know what makes folks so kind all at once. I part from Chapman, pursuant to my resolution taken when you were last in England, and go to Smith & Elder—who bring out a new Edition presently. I have had strange offers for the Poem,—which I shall give to Smith in all probability. It will be out about May next—I trust: it won’t appear
[page 3] a day before it is ready if I wait another two or three years: but it will soon be ready now, I think: I have all my time to myself: not only do more but with infinitely greater freshness. I should have liked to have seen Miss Cushman, and Hatty too: neither of them ever signify their presence to me, when they come to London: it don’t much matter. I saw Story,—here to execute a statue of Peabody,—pleasant & kind he was. Here’s the hour. I end abruptly, but always with the one entire feeling of affectionateness for my dear Snake (—an image fresh in my mind from having a few minutes ago talked with dear Mat Arnold,—who is in the room somewhere.[)] Good bye, dearest Isa. God bless you Robert Browning.
[page 4] How is Cottrell? Layard reports him very ailing & weak, poor fellow. You don’t see Lytton’s new books, I suppose. Here they are, but I have not read them.
I have left writing till a somewhat late hour, & shall have to be brief. I hope you won’t be caught in a corner, & found "homeless" when the cold winds come. I daresay you are quite in the right about your politics: I can’t bear to think of any part of the whole mass of lies & intrigues,—I like no one man engaged in the matter, the King & the Emperor not a bit more than Garibaldi: well, it seems ordained that if you believe in heroes you will be sorry for it, sooner or later. I have of course heard other versions of the thing, different from yours,—don’t know & hardly care which is the true, so bad is the best. When I wrote I told you Pen was just going to Oxford: he is doing particularly well there, the experiment turning out exactly as I hoped: the impulse gained by a glimpse, or rather good gaze into the life of young men with a purpose to study, has done
[page 2] him great good. He writes to me often,—enjoys himself much, having his own boat there. Indeed, people are only too kind to him, & the Magnates have him to breakfast &c in an unusual way. Did I—no, I did not tell you of the honor conferred on me,—seeing that the news came when your letter,—i.e, the letter to you,—was sealed or fastened: I was elected last month an Honorary Fellow of Balliol,—admitted to all the privileges,—minus the emoluments, of course. This is a very pretty compliment to me,—Pen at the college of which I am Fellow, is it not? I really don’t know what makes folks so kind all at once. I part from Chapman, pursuant to my resolution taken when you were last in England, and go to Smith & Elder—who bring out a new Edition presently. I have had strange offers for the Poem,—which I shall give to Smith in all probability. It will be out about May next—I trust: it won’t appear
[page 3] a day before it is ready if I wait another two or three years: but it will soon be ready now, I think: I have all my time to myself: not only do more but with infinitely greater freshness. I should have liked to have seen Miss Cushman, and Hatty too: neither of them ever signify their presence to me, when they come to London: it don’t much matter. I saw Story,—here to execute a statue of Peabody,—pleasant & kind he was. Here’s the hour. I end abruptly, but always with the one entire feeling of affectionateness for my dear Snake (—an image fresh in my mind from having a few minutes ago talked with dear Mat Arnold,—who is in the room somewhere.[)] Good bye, dearest Isa. God bless you Robert Browning.
[page 4] How is Cottrell? Layard reports him very ailing & weak, poor fellow. You don’t see Lytton’s new books, I suppose. Here they are, but I have not read them.
From
Browning, Robert, 1812-1889
To
Blagden, Isabella "Isa", 1816?-1873
Location
Athenaeum
Social Bookmarking
Collection
Citation
Browning, Robert, 1812-1889, “Letter from Robert Browning to Isa Blagden, Nov 19, [1867],” Archival Gossip Collection, accessed April 19, 2024, https://archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/610.