The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-12

a
an old book, am inserting, a spirited
passage from new one, says T. P.s
Weekly. By kind permission of
Messrs. Macmillan l give Mr.. G. K.
Chesterton's extremely interesting ac-
count of the elopement of Elizabeth
Barrett Moulton Barrett with Robert
Browning, in his mastery volume,
Robert Browning" which is the lat
est edition to the English Men of Let
ters series.
Brought into correspondence by the
curiosity each felt in the others mind,
they took flame at once and were low
ers. The problem for Browning became
this: How to love and marry Eliza
beth Barrett in spite of her selfish and
tyrannical father
Browning's proposals were, of course,
as matters stood, of a character to
dismay and repel all those who sur
rounded Elizabeth Barrett. 1t was not
only a matter of the fancies of her
father. The whole of her family, and
most probably the majority of her med
ical advisers, did seriously believe at
this time that she was unfit to be
moved, to say nothing of being mar
Il6u3 anu l1ldl d lll6 pdoSGu USlWSSu a
bed and a sofa, and avoiding too fire.
quent and abrupt transitions even
from one to the other, was the only
life she could expect on this earth.
Almost alone in holding another opin-
ion, and in urging her to a more Wig
orous view of her condition. stood
drowning himself. But you are bet
ter" he would say; you look so and
speak So"
Which of the two opinions was right
is, of course, a complex medical mat
ter into which a book like this has
neither the right nor the need to en-
ter But this much may be stated as
a mere question of fact. In the sum-
mer of 1876 Elizabeth Barrett was
still living under the great family con-
vention which provided her with moth
ing but an elegant deathbed, forbid
den to move; forbidden to see proper
daylight, forbidden to receive a friend
lest the shock should destroy her sud-
denly. A year or two later, in Italy,
as Mrs. Browning, she was being drag
ged up hill in a wine hamper, toiling
up to the crests of mountains at
O'Clock in the morning, riding for five
miles on a donkey to what she calls
IAN inaccessible volcanic ground not
far from the stars" 1t is perfectly in
credible that any one so i'll as her fam
lily believed her to be should have
lived this life for twentyfour hours.
Something must be allowed for the in
toxication of new tie and a new in
terest in life. But such exaltations
can in their nature hardly last month.
and Mrs. Browning lived for fifteen
years afterward in infinitely better
health than she had ever known be-
fore.
Miss Barrett's Hysteria.
In the light of modern knowledge it
is not very difficult or very presump-
tuous of us to guess that she had been
in her fathers house to some extent
inoculated with hysteria, that strange
affection which some people speak of
as if it meant the absence of disease,
but which is in truth the most terrible
of all diseases. 1t must be remember
ed that in 1876 little or nothing was
known of spine complaints, such as
that from which Elizabeth Barrett suf-
fered, less still of the nervous condi-
tions they create, and least of all of |
historical phenomena. In our day
she would have been ordered air and
sunlight and activity, and all the things
the mere idea of which chilled the Bar |
retts with terror. In our day, in short, |
it would have been recognized that she |
was in the clutch of a form of neuro-
sis, which exhibits every fact of a dis |
ease except it's origin, that strange pos
session which makes the body itself |
hypocrite.
Those who surrounded Miss Barrett |
knew nothing of this and Browning |
knew nothing of it; and probably II he |
knew anything, knew less than they did. |
Mrs. Orr says, probably with a great |
deal of truth, that of ill-health and it's |
sensations he remained pathetically |
ignorant" to his dying day. But de- |
void as he was alike of expert knowl- |
edge and personal experience, without |
a shadow of medical authority, almost
without anything that can be formally |
called a right to his opinion, he was,
and remained, right. He at least saw, |
he indeed alone saw, to the practical |
center of the situation. He did not |
know anything of hysteria or neurosis, |
or the influence of surroundings, but |
he knew that the atmosphere of Mr.. |
Barrett's house was not a fit thing for
any human being. alive, dying, or dead.
His stand upon this matter has really |
a certain human interest. since it is
an example of a thing which will from
time TO time occur-the interposition
of the average man to the confounding
of the experts Experts are undoubt-
edly right nine times out of ten. but
the tenth time comes. and we find in
matters an Oliver Cromwell
who will make every mistake known to
strategy and yet win all his battles;
and in medical matters a Robert |
Browning whose views have not a
technical leg to stand on, and are en-
tirely correct.
But while Robert Browning was thus
standing alone I'm his view of the mat
ter; while Edward Barrett had, to all