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The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, Vol. 1 (of 2) 1845-1846 By: Robert Browning (1812-1889) |
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OF ROBERT BROWNING AND ELIZABETH BARRETT BARRETT 1845 1846
WITH PORTRAITS AND FACSIMILES
IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I.
FOURTH IMPRESSION LONDON SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 1900
[Illustration: Robert Browning from an oil painting by Gordigiani]
NOTE
In considering the question of publishing these letters, which are all
that ever passed between my father and mother, for after their
marriage they were never separated, it seemed to me that my only
alternatives were to allow them to be published or to destroy them. I
might, indeed, have left the matter to the decision of others after my
death, but that would be evading a responsibility which I feel that I
ought to accept. Ever since my mother's death these letters were kept by my father in a
certain inlaid box, into which they exactly fitted, and where they
have always rested, letter beside letter, each in its consecutive
order and numbered on the envelope by his own hand. My father destroyed all the rest of his correspondence, and not long
before his death he said, referring to these letters: 'There they are,
do with them as you please when I am dead and gone!' A few of the letters are of little or no interest, but their omission
would have saved only a few pages, and I think it well that the
correspondence should be given in its entirety. I wish to express my gratitude to my father's friend and mine, Mrs.
Miller Morison, for her unfailing sympathy and assistance in
deciphering some words which had become scarcely legible owing to
faded ink. R.B.B. 1898.
ADVERTISEMENT
The correspondence contained in these volumes is printed exactly as it
appears in the original letters, without alteration, except in respect
of obvious slips of the pen. Even the punctuation, with its
characteristic dots and dashes, has for the most part been preserved.
The notes in square brackets [] have been added mainly in order to
translate the Greek phrases, and to give the references to Greek
poets. For these, thanks are due to Mr. F.G. Kenyon, who has revised
the proofs with the assistance of Mr. Roger Ingpen, the latter being
responsible for the Index.
ILLUSTRATIONS
PORTRAIT OF ROBERT BROWNING Frontispiece
After the picture by Gordigiani FACSIMILE OF LETTER OF ROBERT BROWNING To face p. 578
THE LETTERS OF ROBERT BROWNING AND ELIZABETH BARRETT BARRETT 1845 1846 R.B. to E.B.B. New Cross, Hatcham, Surrey.
[Post mark, January 10, 1845.] I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett, and this is
no off hand complimentary letter that I shall write, whatever else,
no prompt matter of course recognition of your genius, and there a
graceful and natural end of the thing. Since the day last week when I
first read your poems, I quite laugh to remember how I have been
turning and turning again in my mind what I should be able to tell you
of their effect upon me, for in the first flush of delight I thought I
would this once get out of my habit of purely passive enjoyment, when
I do really enjoy, and thoroughly justify my admiration perhaps even,
as a loyal fellow craftsman should, try and find fault and do you some
little good to be proud of hereafter! but nothing comes of it all so
into me has it gone, and part of me has it become, this great living
poetry of yours, not a flower of which but took root and grew Oh, how
different that is from lying to be dried and pressed flat, and prized
highly, and put in a book with a proper account at top and bottom,
and shut up and put away ... and the book called a 'Flora,' besides!
After all, I need not give up the thought of doing that, too, in time;
because even now, talking with whoever is worthy, I can give a reason
for my faith in one and another excellence, the fresh strange music,
the affluent language, the exquisite pathos and true new brave
thought; but in this addressing myself to you your own self, and for
the first time, my feeling rises altogether... Continue reading book >>
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