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Elizabeth Barrett Barrett
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Robert Chambers : Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
Elizabeth Barrett to John Kenyon, 3 January 1845: 'I send back your "Vestiges of Creation". The writer has a certain power in tying a knot -- -- (in mating a system) -- but it is not a love-knot, & it appears to me that I have read in my life few more melancholy books -- Did the thought ever strike you of [italics]Mr. [Andrew] Crosse having anything to do with the writing[end italics]? I understand that Sir Richard Vivian [sic] denies it determinedly -- & his brother, who visits here, does it for him besides, by all manner of oaths.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Eugene Sue : Le Juif errant
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 18 March 1845: 'I have been so low, and weary, & tired of life [...] Yesterday, I went to bed at four o'clock -- & even the ninth volume of the "Juif" would not animate me as it should.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Raymond Brucker and Michel Masson : Le macon
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 18 March 1845: 'Do you know "Le macon" by Michel Raymond --? It is not as vivid as most of these books from France, -- nor as passionate, -- but it is interesting as a picture of the life of the people in Paris & I have read it with pleasure.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
John Clare : unknown
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 26 May 1845: 'Thank you, thank you, for letting me see the pencilled lines by poor Clare! -- How strangely melancholy, that combination is -- of mental gifts & mental privations! Poor Clare! --'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Manuscript: Unknown
Robert Browning : 'Garden Fancies: I, The Flower's Name; II, Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis'
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, letter postmarked 21 July 1845, following remarks on Browning's reading of her published juvenile writings: 'I leave my sins & yours gladly, to get into the Hood poems which have delighted me so -- & first to the St Praxede [sic] which is of course the finest & most powerful .. & indeed full of the power of life .. & of death [...] The "angel & child," with all its beauty & significance! -- and the "Garden Fancies" [...] with that beautiful & musical use of the word "meandering," [...] It does so mate with your "[italics]simmering[end italics] quiet" in Sordello, which brings the summer air into the room as sure as you read it [...] And the Laboratory is hideous as you meant to make it: -- only I object a little to your tendency .. which is almost a habit [...] of making lines difficult for the reader to read .. see the opening lines of this poem.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Serial / periodical
Robert Browning : 'The Tomb at St. Praxed's (Rome, 15----.)'
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, letter postmarked 21 July 1845, following remarks on Browning's reading of her published juvenile writings: 'I leave my sins & yours gladly, to get into the Hood poems which have delighted me so -- & first to the St Praxede [sic] which is of course the finest & most powerful .. & indeed full of the power of life .. & of death [...] The "angel & child," with all its beauty & significance! -- and the "Garden Fancies" [...] with that beautiful & musical use of the word "meandering," [...] It does so mate with your "[italics]simmering[end italics] quiet" in Sordello, which brings the summer air into the room as sure as you read it [...] And the Laboratory is hideous as you meant to make it: -- only I object a little to your tendency .. which is almost a habit [...] of making lines difficult for the reader to read .. see the opening lines of this poem.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Serial / periodical
Robert Browning : 'The Laboratory (Ancien Regime)'
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, letter postmarked 21 July 1845, following remarks on Browning's reading of her published juvenile writings: 'I leave my sins & yours gladly, to get into the Hood poems which have delighted me so -- & first to the St Praxede [sic] which is of course the finest & most powerful .. & indeed full of the power of life .. & of death [...] The "angel & child," with all its beauty & significance! -- and the "Garden Fancies" [...] with that beautiful & musical use of the word "meandering," [...] It does so mate with your "[italics]simmering[end italics] quiet" in Sordello, which brings the summer air into the room as sure as you read it [...] And the Laboratory is hideous as you meant to make it: -- only I object a little to your tendency .. which is almost a habit [...] of making lines difficult for the reader to read .. see the opening lines of this poem.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Serial / periodical
Edgar Allan Poe : 'The Raven'
Elizabeth Barrett to Thomas Westwood, 6 September 1845: 'I shd. have written long since to you, if but to thank you for Edgar Poe's ballad .. of which [...] [italics]two[end italics] copies were lying by me when yours came, .. one from some anonymous American, & one from the author himself [...] For the ballad [...] I do not exactly know how to make up my mind to a conclusion about it. There is a certain power in it, no doubt, -- but if the writer had been mad .. professedly mad you know .. I shd. have appreciated the power better. It is not the madness of [italics]passion[end italics], I think .. it is as of an intellect dis[t]raught. There is a ludicrousness which tickles me through & through the melancholy. The "Sir or Madam" for instance! -- how do you bear [italics]that[end italics]?'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Newspaper
Percy Bysshe Shelley : Posthumous Poems
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, letter postmarked 19 September 1845: 'I began to write last saturday to thank you for all the delight, I had in Shelley [...] Besides the translations, some of the original poems were not in my copy & were, so, quite new to me. "Marianne's Dream" I had been curious about to no end -- I only know it now.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Percy Bysshe Shelley : 'Marianne's Dream'
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, letter postmarked 19 September 1845: 'I began to write last saturday to thank you for all the delight, I had in Shelley [...] Besides the translations, some of the original poems were not in my copy & were, so, quite new to me. "Marianne's Dream" I had been curious about to no end -- I only know it now.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Percy Bysshe Shelley : St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian: A Romance. By a Gentleman of the University of Oxford
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, letter postmarked 1 October 1845: 'I have read to the last line of your Rosicrucian; & my scepticism grew & grew through Hume's process of doubtful doubts, & at last rose to the full stature of incredulity .. for I never could believe Shelley capable of such a book, (call it a book!) not even with a flood of boarding-school idiocy dashed in by way of dilution. Altogether it roused me to deny myself so far as to look at the date of the book, & to get up & travel to the other end of the room to confront it with other dates in the "Letters from Abroad" [...] & on comparing these dates in these two volumes before my eyes, I find that your Rosicrucian was "printed for Stockdale" in [italics]1822[end italics], & that Shelley [italics]died in the July of the same year[end italics]!! And unless the "Rosicrucian" went into more editions than one, & dates here from a latter one [...] the innocence of the great poet stands proved -- now does'nt it? For nobody will say that he published such a book in the last year of his life, in the maturity of his genius, & that Godwin's daughter helped him in it!'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Robert Browning : 'Oh to be in England'
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, 4 October 1845: 'Your spring-song is full of beauty as you know very well [...] so characteristic of you [...] that I was sorely tempted to ask you to write it "twice over," .. & not send the first copy to Mary Hunter notwithstanding my promise to her. And when you come to print these fragments, would it not be well if you were to stoop to the vulgarism of prefixing some word of introduction, as other people do, you know, .. a title .. a name? You perplex your readers often by casting yourself on their intelligence in these things [...] Now these fragments ... you mean to print them with a line between .. & not one word at the top of it .. now dont you? And then people will read '"Oh, to be in England" & say to themselves .. "Why who is this? .. who's out of England?" Which is an extreme case of course, -- but you will see what I mean .. & often I have observed how some of the very most beautiful of your lyrics have suffered just from your disdain of the usual tactics of writers in this one respect.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Manuscript: Sheet
Honore de Balzac : Les Paysans
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 27 October 1845: 'Balzac's "Paysans" in its one volume, (for [italics]I[end italics] have only seen that one volume) is another proof of the pressure of the times towards sympathies with the people [...] he is Balzac still in "Les Paysans" -- but story there is none, & so no interest -- & no unity, as far as that first volume indicates: & I found it rather hard reading, despite the human character, & the scenic effects. As to "Le Juif" I have done with him, and am not sorry to have done. The last volumes fall off step by step.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Eugene Sue : Le Juif errant
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 27 October 1845: 'Balzac's "Paysans" in its one volume, (for [italics]I[end italics] have only seen that one volume) is another proof of the pressure of the times towards sympathies with the people [...] he is Balzac still in "Les Paysans" -- but story there is none, & so no interest -- & no unity, as far as that first volume indicates: & I found it rather hard reading, despite the human character, & the scenic effects. As to "Le Juif" I have done with him, and am not sorry to have done. The last volumes fall off step by step.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Robert Browning : Luria (Act I)
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, 12 November 1845: 'I read Luria's first act twice through before I slept last night, & feel just as a bullet might feel [...] shot into the air & suddenly arrested & suspended. It ("Luria") is all life [comments in detail upon specific passages and phrases] [...] I am snatched up into "Luria" & feel myself driven on to the ends of the poet, just as a reader should.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Manuscript: Unknown
Henry Fothergill Chorley : Pomfret
Elizabeth Barrett to Henry Fothergill Chorley, ?14 November 1845: 'I have read your three volumes of "Pomfret" with interest & moral assent, & with great pleasure in various ways: -- it is a pure, true book without effort, which, in these days of gesture & rolling with the eyes, is an uncommon thing [...] The best character in the book I take to be "Rose" [...] He is so lifelike, with the world's conventional life, that you hear his footsteps when he walks'.
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Astolphe Louis Leonard Marquis de Custine : Le Monde comme il est
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 1 December 1845: 'I have been loitering over "Le monde comme il est" & think your thoughts of it. Good things, excellent things, admirable things are in it, but one cannot call it a success.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Lydia Sigourney : Scenes in my Native Land
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, letter postmarked 20 December 1845: 'Mrs. Sigourney has just sent me, .. just this morning .. her "Scenes in my native land" -- &, peeping between the uncut leaves, I read of the poet Hillhouse, of "sublime spirit & Miltonic energy," standing in "the temple of Fame" as if it were built on purpose for him! -- I supppose he is like most of the American poets .. who are shadows of the true .. as flat as a shadow, as colourless as a shadow, as lifeless & as transitory.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Richard Hengist Horne : 'The Monk of Swineshead Abbey'
Elizabeth Barrett to Roberrt Browning, 4 January 1846: 'When you get Mr. Horne's book you will understand how, after reading just the first & last poems, I could not help speaking coldly a little of it [...] I did think & do, that the last was unworthy of him, & that the first might have been written by a writer of one tenth of his facility. But last night I read the "Monk of Swineshead Abby" & the "Three Knights of Camelot" & "Bedd Gelert" & found them all different stuff, better[,] stronger, more consistent, & read them with pleasure & admiration.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Richard Hengist Horne : 'The Three Knights of Camelott: a Fairy Tale'
Elizabeth Barrett to Roberrt Browning, 4 January 1846: 'When you get Mr. Horne's book you will understand how, after reading just the first & last poems, I could not help speaking coldly a little of it [...] I did think & do, that the last was unworthy of him, & that the first might have been written by a writer of one tenth of his facility. But last night I read the "Monk of Swineshead Abby" & the "Three Knights of Camelot" & "Bedd Gelert" & found them all different stuff, better[,] stronger, more consistent, & read them with pleasure & admiration.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Richard Hengist Horne : 'Bedd Gelert'
Elizabeth Barrett to Roberrt Browning, 4 January 1846: 'When you get Mr. Horne's book you will understand how, after reading just the first & last poems, I could not help speaking coldly a little of it [...] I did think & do, that the last was unworthy of him, & that the first might have been written by a writer of one tenth of his facility. But last night I read the "Monk of Swineshead Abby" & the "Three Knights of Camelot" & "Bedd Gelert" & found them all different stuff, better[,] stronger, more consistent, & read them with pleasure & admiration.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Honore de Balzac : Les Petits Menages d'une Femme verteuse
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 6 January 1846: 'Any more news of Balzac? "Les petits maneges" I have read & thought excellent -- but it is a continuation of that odious book .. "Les amours forces" -- "Beatrix," remember.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Serial / periodical
Edward Bulwer Lytton : 'Confessions and Observations of a Water-Patient'
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 6 January 1846: 'I forgot quite to quarrel with you a little about Sir E Lytton Bulwer [sic] -- because indeed I dislike his dissertation on cold water as much as anything I have read lately. I [italics]know[end italics] the Malvern Hills, you will be reminded -- & when I think of that peculiar climate where people with delicate chests stand upon the mountain-slopes (such a beautiful country!) & breathe razors [...] I do marvel that any man of common sense can keep his countenance & recommend that situation as a substitute for Italy & Madeira to pulmonary patients [comments further on same subject].'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Serial / periodical
Geraldine Endsor Jewsbury : Zoe: The History of Two Lives
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, ?7 January 1846: 'Zoe [...] I have been reading at last. An extraordinary book certainly. I should take the author to be a free-thinker, by a copious interpretation of the word. The power, & liberty of utterance, are undeniable generally -- but parts of the book are very inferior.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Thomas Paine : The Age of Reason
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, 15 January 1846: 'Papa used to say .. "Dont read Gibbon's history -- it's not a proper book -- Dont read "Tom Jones" -- & none of the books on [italics]this[end italics] side, mind -- So I was very obedient & never touched the books on [italics]that[end italics] side, & only read instead, Tom Paine's Age of Reason, & Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, & Hume's Essays, & Werther, & Rousseau, & Mary Woolstonecraft [sic] .. books, which I was never suspected of looking towards, & which were not "on [italics]that[end italics] side" certainly, but which did as well.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Voltaire : Philosophical Dictionary
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, 15 January 1846: 'Papa used to say .. "Dont read Gibbon's history -- it's not a proper book -- Dont read "Tom Jones" -- & none of the books on [italics]this[end italics] side, mind -- So I was very obedient & never touched the books on [italics]that[end italics] side, & only read instead, Tom Paine's Age of Reason, & Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, & Hume's Essays, & Werther, & Rousseau, & Mary Woolstonecraft [sic] .. books, which I was never suspected of looking towards, & which were not "on [italics]that[end italics] side" certainly, but which did as well.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
David Hume : Essays
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, 15 January 1846: 'Papa used to say .. "Dont read Gibbon's history -- it's not a proper book -- Dont read "Tom Jones" -- & none of the books on [italics]this[end italics] side, mind -- So I was very obedient & never touched the books on [italics]that[end italics] side, & only read instead, Tom Paine's Age of Reason, & Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, & Hume's Essays, & Werther, & Rousseau, & Mary Woolstonecraft [sic] .. books, which I was never suspected of looking towards, & which were not "on [italics]that[end italics] side" certainly, but which did as well.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : The Sorrows of Young Werther
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, 15 January 1846: 'Papa used to say .. "Dont read Gibbon's history -- it's not a proper book -- Dont read "Tom Jones" -- & none of the books on [italics]this[end italics] side, mind -- So I was very obedient & never touched the books on [italics]that[end italics] side, & only read instead, Tom Paine's Age of Reason, & Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, & Hume's Essays, & Werther, & Rousseau, & Mary Woolstonecraft [sic] .. books, which I was never suspected of looking towards, & which were not "on [italics]that[end italics] side" certainly, but which did as well.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Jean-Jacques Rousseau :
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, 15 January 1846: 'Papa used to say .. "Dont read Gibbon's history -- it's not a proper book -- Dont read "Tom Jones" -- & none of the books on [italics]this[end italics] side, mind -- So I was very obedient & never touched the books on [italics]that[end italics] side, & only read instead, Tom Paine's Age of Reason, & Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, & Hume's Essays, & Werther, & Rousseau, & Mary Woolstonecraft [sic] .. books, which I was never suspected of looking towards, & which were not "on [italics]that[end italics] side" certainly, but which did as well.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
Mary Wollstonecraft :
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, 15 January 1846: 'Papa used to say .. "Dont read Gibbon's history -- it's not a proper book -- Dont read "Tom Jones" -- & none of the books on [italics]this[end italics] side, mind -- So I was very obedient & never touched the books on [italics]that[end italics] side, & only read instead, Tom Paine's Age of Reason, & Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, & Hume's Essays, & Werther, & Rousseau, & Mary Woolstonecraft [sic] .. books, which I was never suspected of looking towards, & which were not "on [italics]that[end italics] side" certainly, but which did as well.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
William King : Political and Literary Anecdotes of His Own Times
Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning, on childhood religious beliefs and practices, 15 January 1846: 'As to the [classical] gods and goddesses, I believed in them all quite seriously, & reconciled them to Christianity [...] As soon as I began to doubt about my goddesses, I fell into a vague sort of general scepticism, .. & though I went on saying "the Lord's prayer" at nights & mornings, & the "Bless all my kind friends" afterwards, by the childish custom .. yet I ended this liturgy with a supplication wihch I found in "King's memoirs" & which took my fancy & met my general views exactly .. "O God, if there be a God, save my soul, if I have a soul".'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Print: Book
John Kenyon : 'Sacred Gipsy Carol'
Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Mary Russell Mitford, 2 October 1849: 'I saw the "Amba[r]valia" reviewed somewhere -- I fancy in the Spectator -- and was not much struck by the extracts. They may however have been selected without much discriminaton [...] I am very glad that you like the Gipsey Carrol [sic] in dear Mr Kenyon's volume, because it is, & was in M.S., a great favorite [sic] of mine.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Manuscript: Unknown
: The French Stage and the French People, as illustrated in the Memoirs of M. Fleury
Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Mary Russell Mitford, 22 May 1845: 'The "Memoires de Fleure," was made into an agreeable English book, with certain abbreviations, by Theodore Hook, -- & I read it a few years ago under the title of "The French stage," & something more, or something else'.
