The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-27

side letter. each In It's consecutive order. and
numbered on the envelope by his own hand.
MY father destroyed all the rest Of his corre-
spondence. and not long before his death he
said, referring to these letters; There they
are; do with thom ns you please when / am
dead and gone"
There are always some people who object to
such tributes Of posthumous affection by the
relatives OF tho great, as giving their most In
inmate words to the world. But ~ ever Il Is
justified surely It is in these Browning letters.
Nowhere do two people come out OF the ordeal.
Tor such 1t is, with such increased ndmi-
ration for both as these letters mako one feel
Tor Mr.. and Mrs. Browning. Little wonder
that their son rejected the alternative Of burn
ing them. The story they unfold Ia Of tho sim
plcst. not even a lovers quarrel over the whole
twenty months. The letters begin on Jan. 10.
lo4o. when Miss Barrett was an invalid, only
from time to time receiving her few intimate
friends, and II was not till May 20 that she
could allow Browning to come to see her. But
In tho interval their friendship. founded on
genuine mutual admiration. had become very
close. In his very first letter Browning speaks
OF this true thankful Joy and pride with which
l feel myself yours ever faithfully" By August
he calls her my one friend without an
other till soon we slip into dearest" and
his claiming her love. and this touching an
swer from Miss Barrett:
Il will say, l must say. that your words in
this letter have done me good and made me
happy. " that l thank and bless you for
them, " and that to receive such a proof
OF attachment from you not only o%verpowers
every present evil. but seems to me q full and
abundant amends for the merely personal SUI
ferinRs OF my whole life. When I had read
that letter last night l did think 30. / looked
round and round for the small bitternesses
which for several days had been bitter to me.
and l could not find one Of them. The tear
marks went away in the moisture Of new.
happy tears. Why. how else could l have felt
How else do you think i could2 How would
any woman have felt . " " who could feel
at all = " = hearing such words said Though
in a dream. indeedl by such a speaker?
And now listen to me In turn. You have
touched me moro profoundly than l Thought
even you could have touched me; my heart
was full when you came here to-day.
Henceforward l am yours for everything but
to do you harm. and l am yours too much, in
my heart, ever to consent to do you harm in
that way. II l could consent to do it, not only
should l DO less loyal = y but in one sense
less yours. l say this to you without draw
back and reserve. because 1t is all l am able to
say. and perhaps all l shall be able to say.
However this may be. a promise goes to you in
it that none except God and your will shall in
terpose between you and mo. mean
that II He should free me within a moderate
time from the trailing chain OF this weakness,
l will then be to you whatever at that hour you
shall choose = y " whether friend or more
than friend = " = a friend to the last in any
case
This nobility and lovableness OF her charac-
ter is in all her letters. Her mind and her
heart stand revealed in them with a clearncss
that will make oil men reverence her. The
strength OF the impression left by all the cor
rcspondence is doubtless due partly to the re-
markable powers Of expression enjoyed by
both writer's. especially by Elizabeth Barrett.
all of whose sentences are rellucid. and many
OF them beautiful in form. You are Iaracei-
sus and / am u rcclnsc." is the burden of some
Of her earlier letters. with nerves that have
been all broken on the rack
"AnG what you say OF society draws me on
to many conf arative thoughts Of your life and
mine. You seem to have drunk of the cup OF
life full. with tho sun shining on 1t, l have
lived only inwardly or with sorrow for o strong
emotion. Before this seclusion OF my illness. l
was secluded still. and there are few Of the
youngest women in the world who have not
seen more. heard more. known more Of society
than /. who nm scarcely to be called young
now. l grew up In the country-had no social
opportunities, had my heart in books and
poetry and my experience in reveries. My
sympathics dropped toward the ground like
an unframed honeysuckIc-and but for one. in
my own house-but OF this | cannot speak. 1t
was q lonely life. growing green like the grass
around it. Books and dreams were what | lived
in-and domestic life only seemed to buzz
gently around. like the bees about the grass"
After he saw her In May he seems to have
written a too glowing letter, 1t has been de-
stroyed. Her reply gives the clue to its con-
tents:
You have said some Incorporate things
= = y fancies-which you will not say over
again, nor unsay. but forget at once. and for
ever. having said at oil and which will die out
between you and me alone. like a misprint be-
tween you and the printer. And this you will
do for my sake, who am your friend land you
have none truerl-an ! this | ask, because it is
u condition necessary to our future liberty Of
intercourse. You remember-surely you do
that / am In the most exceptional Of positions;
and that. Just because OF it, l am able to receive
you as l did on Tuesday; and that, for me TO
listen to unconscious Congregations Is as un-
becoming to the l.umilities of my position, as
unpropitious (which is OF moro consequence
to the prosper'ties Of yours. Now. If there
should be one word OF answer attempted to
this: or Of reference: / must not y ' = l
will not sec you a%gnin-and you will justify me
later in your heart"
She had her bitter hour OF trial in the death
Of her brother Edward. She had gone to win
ter at Torquay. the doctors having told her she
could n OF live in London. Edward had followed
her and had taken out a boat In Babbicombe
Bay. and was never more seen. Henceforth
the letters speak boldly of love.
81 never dreamed OF winning your love-
writes Browning: Il can hardly write this
word. so homogeneous and impossible does 1t
seem such a change OF our places does It I'M
pIy-nor. next to that, though long after. would
l, II | could, s~upplant one OF any Of the affec-
tions that / know TO have taken root In you-that
great and solemn one. for instance. feel that
II l could get myself remade. as If turned to
gold. / would not even then desire to become
moro than the mere setting to that dlamond
you must always wear"
But there was an obstacle before them which
to her was insuperable. In September she
wrote:
But something worse than even a sense OF
unworthiness God has put between us! and
.,loo ,,o,,rualf ~ In heat your IhOuRhtS against