Life and Letters of Robert Browning [103]
past; but she loses very much.
I returned to London last night. . . .'
==
During his hurried journey to Paris, Mr. Browning was mentally
blessing the Emperor for having abolished the system of passports,
and thus enabled him to reach his father's bedside in time.
His early Italian journeys had brought him some vexatious experience
of the old order of things. Once, at Venice, he had been mistaken
for a well-known Liberal, Dr. Bowring, and found it almost impossible
to get his passport `vise'; and, on another occasion,
it aroused suspicion by being `too good'; though in what sense
I do not quite remember.
Miss Browning did come to live with her brother, and was thenceforward
his inseparable companion. Her presence with him must therefore be understood
wherever I have had no special reason for mentioning it.
They tried Dinard for the remainder of the summer; but finding it unsuitable,
proceeded by St.-Malo to Le Croisic, the little sea-side town
of south-eastern Brittany which two of Mr. Browning's poems
have since rendered famous.
The following extract has no date.
==
Le Croisic, Loire Inferieure.
`. . . We all found Dinard unsuitable, and after staying
a few days at St. Malo resolved to try this place, and well for us,
since it serves our purpose capitally. . . . We are in the most delicious
and peculiar old house I ever occupied, the oldest in the town --
plenty of great rooms -- nearly as much space as in Villa Alberti.
The little town, and surrounding country are wild and primitive,
even a trifle beyond Pornic perhaps. Close by is Batz,
a village where the men dress in white from head to foot,
with baggy breeches, and great black flap hats; -- opposite is Guerande,
the old capital of Bretagne: you have read about it in Balzac's `Beatrix',
-- and other interesting places are near. The sea is all round our peninsula,
and on the whole I expect we shall like it very much. . . .'
Later.
`. . . We enjoyed Croisic increasingly to the last -- spite of three weeks'
vile weather, in striking contrast to the golden months at Pornic last year.
I often went to Guerande -- once Sarianna and I walked from it
in two hours and something under, -- nine miles: -- though from our house,
straight over the sands and sea, it is not half the distance. . . .'
==
In 1867 Mr. Browning received his first and greatest academic honours.
The M.A. degree by diploma, of the University of Oxford,
was conferred on him in June;* and in the month of October
he was made honorary Fellow of Balliol College. Dr. Jowett allows me
to publish the, as he terms it, very characteristic letter in which
he acknowledged the distinction. Dr. Scott, afterwards Dean of Rochester,
was then Master of Balliol.
--
* `Not a lower degree than that of D.C.L., but a much higher honour,
hardly given since Dr. Johnson's time except to kings
and royal personages. . . .' So the Keeper of the Archives
wrote to Mr. Browning at the time.
--
==
19, Warwick Crescent: Oct. 21, '67.
Dear Dr. Scott, -- I am altogether unable to say how I feel as to the fact
you communicate to me. I must know more intimately than you can
how little worthy I am of such an honour, -- you hardly can set
the value of that honour, you who give, as I who take it.
Indeed, there ARE both `duties and emoluments' attached to this position, --
duties of deep and lasting gratitude, and emoluments through which
I shall be wealthy my life long. I have at least loved learning
and the learned, and there needed no recognition of my love on their part
to warrant my professing myself, as I do, dear Dr. Scott,
yours ever most faithfully,
Robert Browning.
==
In the following year he received and declined the virtual offer
of the Lord Rectorship of the University of St. Andrews,
rendered vacant by the death of Mr. J. S. Mill.
He returned with his sister to Le Croisic for
I returned to London last night. . . .'
==
During his hurried journey to Paris, Mr. Browning was mentally
blessing the Emperor for having abolished the system of passports,
and thus enabled him to reach his father's bedside in time.
His early Italian journeys had brought him some vexatious experience
of the old order of things. Once, at Venice, he had been mistaken
for a well-known Liberal, Dr. Bowring, and found it almost impossible
to get his passport `vise'; and, on another occasion,
it aroused suspicion by being `too good'; though in what sense
I do not quite remember.
Miss Browning did come to live with her brother, and was thenceforward
his inseparable companion. Her presence with him must therefore be understood
wherever I have had no special reason for mentioning it.
They tried Dinard for the remainder of the summer; but finding it unsuitable,
proceeded by St.-Malo to Le Croisic, the little sea-side town
of south-eastern Brittany which two of Mr. Browning's poems
have since rendered famous.
The following extract has no date.
==
Le Croisic, Loire Inferieure.
`. . . We all found Dinard unsuitable, and after staying
a few days at St. Malo resolved to try this place, and well for us,
since it serves our purpose capitally. . . . We are in the most delicious
and peculiar old house I ever occupied, the oldest in the town --
plenty of great rooms -- nearly as much space as in Villa Alberti.
The little town, and surrounding country are wild and primitive,
even a trifle beyond Pornic perhaps. Close by is Batz,
a village where the men dress in white from head to foot,
with baggy breeches, and great black flap hats; -- opposite is Guerande,
the old capital of Bretagne: you have read about it in Balzac's `Beatrix',
-- and other interesting places are near. The sea is all round our peninsula,
and on the whole I expect we shall like it very much. . . .'
Later.
`. . . We enjoyed Croisic increasingly to the last -- spite of three weeks'
vile weather, in striking contrast to the golden months at Pornic last year.
I often went to Guerande -- once Sarianna and I walked from it
in two hours and something under, -- nine miles: -- though from our house,
straight over the sands and sea, it is not half the distance. . . .'
==
In 1867 Mr. Browning received his first and greatest academic honours.
The M.A. degree by diploma, of the University of Oxford,
was conferred on him in June;* and in the month of October
he was made honorary Fellow of Balliol College. Dr. Jowett allows me
to publish the, as he terms it, very characteristic letter in which
he acknowledged the distinction. Dr. Scott, afterwards Dean of Rochester,
was then Master of Balliol.
--
* `Not a lower degree than that of D.C.L., but a much higher honour,
hardly given since Dr. Johnson's time except to kings
and royal personages. . . .' So the Keeper of the Archives
wrote to Mr. Browning at the time.
--
==
19, Warwick Crescent: Oct. 21, '67.
Dear Dr. Scott, -- I am altogether unable to say how I feel as to the fact
you communicate to me. I must know more intimately than you can
how little worthy I am of such an honour, -- you hardly can set
the value of that honour, you who give, as I who take it.
Indeed, there ARE both `duties and emoluments' attached to this position, --
duties of deep and lasting gratitude, and emoluments through which
I shall be wealthy my life long. I have at least loved learning
and the learned, and there needed no recognition of my love on their part
to warrant my professing myself, as I do, dear Dr. Scott,
yours ever most faithfully,
Robert Browning.
==
In the following year he received and declined the virtual offer
of the Lord Rectorship of the University of St. Andrews,
rendered vacant by the death of Mr. J. S. Mill.
He returned with his sister to Le Croisic for