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Life and Letters of Robert Browning-Part12_Mrs.Sutherland Orr(1828-1903)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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You have no idea of the ignorance and obstinacy of the whole set,

with here and there an exception; think of his having to write out the meaning



of the word `impeachment', as some of them thought it meant `poaching'.'

==



On the first night, indeed, the fate of `Strafford' hung in the balance;

it was saved by Macready and Miss Helen Faucit. After this they must have



been better supported, as it was received on the second night with enthusiasm

by a full house. The catastrophe came after the fifth performance,



with the desertion of the actor who had sustained the part of Pym.

We cannot now judge whether, even under favourable circumstances,



the play would have had as long a run as was intended;

but the casting vote in favour of this view is given by the conduct



of Mr. Osbaldistone, the manager, when it was submitted to him.

The diary says, March 30, that he caught at it with avidity,



and agreed to produce it without delay. The terms he offered to the author

must also have been considered favourable in those days.



The play was published in April by Longman, this time

not at the author's expense; but it brought no return



either to him or to his publisher. It was dedicated

`in all affectionate admiration' to William C. Macready.



We gain some personal glimpses of the Browning of 1835-6;

one especially through Mrs. Bridell-Fox, who thus describes



her first meeting with him:

==



`I 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 rebelliousimpatience of boyish days.



The self-confidence had its touches of flippancy and conceit; but on this side

it must have been constantly" target="_blank" title="ad.经常地；不断地">constantly counteracted by his gratitude for kindness,



and by his enthusiasticappreciation 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




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