Thursday-
People say of you & of me, dear Mr Browning, that we love the darkness & use a sphinxine idiom in our talk,-& really you do talk a little like a sphinx in your argument drawn from Vivian Grey. Once I sate up all night to read Vivian Grey,-but I never drew such an argument from him. Not that I give it up (nor you up) for a mere mystery. Nor that I can “see what you have got in you,” from a mere guess. But just observe! If I ask questions about novels, is it not because I want to know how much elbow-room there may be for our sympathies .. & whether there is room for my loose sleeves, & the lace lappets,
[1 May 1845]. Browning, Elizabeth Barrett to Browning, Robert.
Date - Search
1845-05-01
Author
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett
Recipient
Browning, Robert
Letter Text
Thursday-
People say of you & of me, dear Mr Browning, that we love the darkness & use a sphinxine idiom in our talk,-& really you do talk a little like a sphinx in your argument drawn from Vivian Grey. Once I sate up all night to read Vivian Grey,-but I never drew such an argument from him. Not that I give it up (nor you up) for a mere mystery. Nor that I can “see what you have got in you,” from a mere guess. But just observe! If I ask questions about novels, is it not because I want to know how much elbow-room there may be for our sympathies .. & whether there is room for my loose sleeves, & the lace lappets,