Life and Letters of Robert Browning [36]
remember . . . when Mr. Browning entered the drawing-room,
with a quick light step; and on hearing from me that my father was out,
and in fact that nobody was at home but myself, he said:
"It's my birthday to-day; I'll wait till they come in,"
and sitting down to the piano, he added: "If it won't disturb you,
I'll play till they do." And as he turned to the instrument,
the bells of some neighbouring church suddenly burst out
with a frantic merry peal. It seemed, to my childish fancy,
as if in response to the remark that it was his birthday.
He was then slim and dark, and very handsome; and -- may I hint it --
just a trifle of a dandy, addicted to lemon-coloured kid-gloves
and such things: quite "the glass of fashion and the mould of form."
But full of ambition, eager for success, eager for fame, and, what's more,
determined to conquer fame and to achieve success.'
==
I do not think his memory ever taxed him with foppishness,
though he may have had the innocent personal vanity of an attractive young man
at his first period of much seeing and being seen; but all we know of him
at that time bears out the impression Mrs. Fox conveys,
of a joyous, artless confidence in himself and in life, easily depressed,
but quickly reasserting itself; and in which the eagerness for new experiences
had freed itself from the rebellious impatience of boyish days.
The self-confidence had its touches of flippancy and conceit; but on this side
it must have been constantly counteracted by his gratitude for kindness,
and by his enthusiastic appreciation of the merits of other men.
His powers of feeling, indeed, greatly expended themselves in this way.
He was very attractive to women and, as we have seen,
warmly loved by very various types of men; but, except in its poetic sense,
his emotional nature was by no means then in the ascendant: a fact
difficult to realize when we remember the passion of his childhood's love
for mother and home, and the new and deep capabilities of affection
to be developed in future days. The poet's soul in him was feeling its wings;
the realities of life had not yet begun to weight them.
We see him again at the `Ion' supper, in the grace and modesty
with which he received the honours then adjudged to him.
The testimony has been said to come from Miss Mitford, but may easily
have been supplied by Miss Haworth, who was also present on this occasion.
Mr. Browning's impulse towards play-writing had not, as we have seen,
begun with `Strafford'. It was still very far from being exhausted.
And though he had struck out for himself another line of dramatic activity,
his love for the higher theatrical life, and the legitimate inducements
of the more lucrative and not necessarily less noble form of composition,
might ultimately in some degree have prevailed with him
if circumstances had been such as to educate his theatrical capabilities,
and to reward them. His first acted drama was, however,
an interlude to the production of the important group of poems
which was to be completed by `Sordello'; and he alludes to this later work
in an also discarded preface to `Strafford', as one on which
he had for some time been engaged. He even characterizes the Tragedy
as an attempt `to freshen a jaded mind by diverting it to the healthy natures
of a grand epoch.' `Sordello' again occupied him during the remainder of 1837
and the beginning of 1838; and by the spring of this year
he must have been thankful to vary the scene and mode of his labours
by means of a first visit to Italy. He announces his impending journey,
with its immediate plan and purpose, in the following note:
==
To John Robertson, Esq.
Good Friday, 1838.
Dear Sir, -- I was not fortunate enough to find you the day before yesterday
-- and must tell you very hurriedly that I sail this morning for Venice --
intending to finish my poem among the scenes it describes.
I shall have your good wishes I know.
Believe me, in return,
with a quick light step; and on hearing from me that my father was out,
and in fact that nobody was at home but myself, he said:
"It's my birthday to-day; I'll wait till they come in,"
and sitting down to the piano, he added: "If it won't disturb you,
I'll play till they do." And as he turned to the instrument,
the bells of some neighbouring church suddenly burst out
with a frantic merry peal. It seemed, to my childish fancy,
as if in response to the remark that it was his birthday.
He was then slim and dark, and very handsome; and -- may I hint it --
just a trifle of a dandy, addicted to lemon-coloured kid-gloves
and such things: quite "the glass of fashion and the mould of form."
But full of ambition, eager for success, eager for fame, and, what's more,
determined to conquer fame and to achieve success.'
==
I do not think his memory ever taxed him with foppishness,
though he may have had the innocent personal vanity of an attractive young man
at his first period of much seeing and being seen; but all we know of him
at that time bears out the impression Mrs. Fox conveys,
of a joyous, artless confidence in himself and in life, easily depressed,
but quickly reasserting itself; and in which the eagerness for new experiences
had freed itself from the rebellious impatience of boyish days.
The self-confidence had its touches of flippancy and conceit; but on this side
it must have been constantly counteracted by his gratitude for kindness,
and by his enthusiastic appreciation of the merits of other men.
His powers of feeling, indeed, greatly expended themselves in this way.
He was very attractive to women and, as we have seen,
warmly loved by very various types of men; but, except in its poetic sense,
his emotional nature was by no means then in the ascendant: a fact
difficult to realize when we remember the passion of his childhood's love
for mother and home, and the new and deep capabilities of affection
to be developed in future days. The poet's soul in him was feeling its wings;
the realities of life had not yet begun to weight them.
We see him again at the `Ion' supper, in the grace and modesty
with which he received the honours then adjudged to him.
The testimony has been said to come from Miss Mitford, but may easily
have been supplied by Miss Haworth, who was also present on this occasion.
Mr. Browning's impulse towards play-writing had not, as we have seen,
begun with `Strafford'. It was still very far from being exhausted.
And though he had struck out for himself another line of dramatic activity,
his love for the higher theatrical life, and the legitimate inducements
of the more lucrative and not necessarily less noble form of composition,
might ultimately in some degree have prevailed with him
if circumstances had been such as to educate his theatrical capabilities,
and to reward them. His first acted drama was, however,
an interlude to the production of the important group of poems
which was to be completed by `Sordello'; and he alludes to this later work
in an also discarded preface to `Strafford', as one on which
he had for some time been engaged. He even characterizes the Tragedy
as an attempt `to freshen a jaded mind by diverting it to the healthy natures
of a grand epoch.' `Sordello' again occupied him during the remainder of 1837
and the beginning of 1838; and by the spring of this year
he must have been thankful to vary the scene and mode of his labours
by means of a first visit to Italy. He announces his impending journey,
with its immediate plan and purpose, in the following note:
==
To John Robertson, Esq.
Good Friday, 1838.
Dear Sir, -- I was not fortunate enough to find you the day before yesterday
-- and must tell you very hurriedly that I sail this morning for Venice --
intending to finish my poem among the scenes it describes.
I shall have your good wishes I know.
Believe me, in return,