The times., 1899-03-05
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! lar case Of hero Of Frederic Soulie's. who il
! tie coulsa oi an emotion. takes chair mp. .un
consciously. aud breaks it into very small pieces
and then proceeds with his soliloqIy. Well. tho
! ccarcst idea this cNcitcs in me is the low con
Z dition in Paris Of moral government and o
/ upholstery. BeCause-iust consider for yourself
hos you woud succeed in breaking to pieces
even thrccl legged stool il it were properly put
/ icEcther. stools are in England-just yourself
! without hammer and a screw You might
8 WORK at II comme qiJtre. and find II hard &c
. finish, ! imagine. And then 4 demonstration
child Of six wears old might demonstrate just
I 20 lin his sphere, and be whipped according
May God bless YOU. dearest of all! | thought
Of you Thursday hut did not speak of you,
even when Miss Milford called Hood the greatest
poet Of the ago-she had been dcpTcciating Car.
lyh-so l let You lie and wait ON the same
leyel-that shelf Of the rock which is above
Miss Milford sees the whole world in stripes
OF black and white-it is her way. ] feel very
affectionately toward heT-love her sincerely. She
i aeclionate TO beyond Still,
always feel that il | were 10 vex her the lower
deep below the lowest deep would not be low
enough for me. | always feel that. She would
, advertise me directly for a wretch proper.
She Is a Mrs Paine who lives at Farnham
and learns Greek and writes to me such over
coming letters that at last, and in 4 moment
Of inpTudent reaction from ungrateful dis
! courtesy on my part, agreed TO see her if she
ever to London. Dearest, she
came just with the sort Of face which child
might take TO see a real, alive lioness at the
Geological Gardens-she Just safe down on a
chair, and stared. How people do such
things in this year of grace, when they are
aboishing the corn laws, ! wonder? For my
part it was so unlike anything civilized that
i had ever been used TO that | felt as ii my
voice and breath went together. 1t would have
saved me TO he able 10 stare back again, but
that was ont of my power. So l endured-and.
after pause, ran violently down a steep place
into SgFf of
The readers of these letters will find
| light thrown upon at least two of Mrs.
Brownings poems. Everyone will remember
| the exquisite apostrophe, ITO Flush, My
Dog" and this same Flush figures in many
of the letters just as il he were a human
person. A short time before the marriage
of his mistress he was stolen by member
of regularly organized society of thieves
which existed at that time in London, and
was only recovered after much tribulation
on the part of the household. The other
poem here explained is that beginning:
81 have name, little name,
Cncadenced TO the ear
and the name turns out, on investigation,
TO be "Ba." II seems to have been invent
ed by its owner for herself in babyhood
and kept in use first by the family and then
by her lover.
AS is generally known the family of Miss
Barrett opposed her marriage, the most
violent objection coming from her father,
who seems to have been man OF strong.
stubborn, and peculiar character. In the
letters which she writes to her lover just
before the marriage (which took place
without her fathers knowledge she alludes
frequently to the fact that she is by this
action cutting herself off from her family
and former friends; and 1t may be added
that the income anticipated by the young
couple was small, though certain. Two
or three quotations from these later let
tiers may be of interest as picturing the
character Of Edward Moulton- Barrett and
the feeling OF his daughter toward him.
Nav your father. indeed. be able to love me
little, for my father Will never love me again.
Speaking of the minister of Paddington
Chapel, she says:
Once l could not help writing to put our af-
faiTs into his hands to settle them for us-but
that would be wrong-because papa would for
bid Arabel's going 10 the chapel or communi
eating with his family. and ii would be de-
priying her Of a comfort she holds dear. .
To hear the voice of my father, and meet his
eye makes shrink back-to talk TO my broth
ers leaves my nerves all trembIng-and even
to receive the sympathy OF my sisters turns into
sorrow and fear, lest they should suffer through
their affection for
How / felt tonight when ! saw him at :
O'clock this after her marriagel for the
first time since Friday and the event of Satur-
day. He spoke kindly, too, and asked me how
! was Once heard Of his saying of me that
/ was 'the purest woman he ever kncw-which
made me smile at the moment, laugh 1 be-
ieve, outright, because l understood perfectly
what he meant by that. viz: that | had not
troubled him with the iniquity OF love affairs,
or any impropriety Of seeming to think about
laHHHgf WHaH s.rfT
down with me to the perdition of faith in any
Of us. But We viii submit, dearest.
Will put myself under his feet, 10 be forgiven
httle-enough TO be taken up again into his
arms. ] love him-he is my father-hc has good
and high qualities, after all. Surely. /
may say to him: with The exception OF this
act. / have submitted 10 the least Of your
wishes all my life long. Set the life against
daughter you once loved" Surely, / may say
that-and then remind him Of the long suffer
ing / have suffered-and entreat him to pardon
the happiness which has come at last.
And he viii wish in return that / had died
years ago!
This sounds more as II the writer were
meditating an elopement with a married
man than a marriage with a perfectly
honorable and highly gifted poet suited
to her in every way, loving her with all
the strength of a nature capable OF the
most chivalrous devotion, and belonging
TO a family against whom nothing could
be said. II should also be remembered that
the daughter who thus dreaded her faith
ers anger was not a child but a woman of
thirty-seven, and had suffered for years
from an illness which her great love seems
almost to have cured; that on one occa-
sion she imperiled her own health by
iourneying TO London in order to give her
father the comfort of her presence; that
al har ha had ha
been obedieDt and submissive as he could
wish, and that Browning had constantly
been received at his house. Such state
of things sounds more like fiction than real
life, but 1t appears to have been nothing
very uncommon in English life at that
! time. No wonder runaway matches oc-
CURED now and then under less honorable
conditions than these,
But in spite of all obstacles, the lovers
were married at last, in Marylebone
Church. day or two after the wedding,
which was kept secret until the Brownings
were safely out of England, the newly
made wife writes note in which this ex-
! quisite passage occurs:
Dearest, in the emotion and confusion Of yes.
ierday morning there yet room in me foi
| one thought which not a feeling-for
| thought that Of the many, many women
| who have stood where ! stood and 10
| the same end, not one Of them all, perhaps
| since this building church, has had rea
| sons strong as mine for an absolute trust and
/ devotion toward the man she marTied-not one!
And then / both thought and felt that it wa,
! only Just for thcm--thos. women who We're les,
| happy-to have that affectiOnate sympathy anC
support and presence Of their nearest relations
| parent or sister which failed 10 me-needing il
| less through being happier.
| And with the last hurried missives re-
| lating 10 things connected with the jour
ney, the correspondence ends, and the hon
| o,.rnnnn hnnine Snntcnhor On 1SAG Nan