31 August 1843. Browning, Elizabeth Barrett to Mathews, Cornelius.

              50 Wimpole Street

August 31 1843.

My dear Mr Mathews,

I am afraid that a letter of mine has gone astray from you; which is of more consequence to me than to you, inasmuch as it may cause me to be “punished with your hard thoughts” for more carelessness & ingratitude than belong of right to me. I wrote immediately upon receiving your works in their reprint to acknowledge that kindness——I did not even wait to read a single number through. Pray believe at last, dear Mr Mathews, that I received them gratefully. Since then, I have read them with great attention & recognized the power & talent which are destined, I do not doubt, to develop themselves still farther & in more distinctive forms. There is an inclination to the grotesque which while it gives evidence of a ready fancy, disturbs the effect of the general impression to such readers as I am—and the very faithfulness to American manners & associations while I consistently applaud it, does nevertheless occasionally in spite of myself increase this disturbance. If the book had circulation in England, it might be called a little coarse perhaps in certain parts of it, by certain critics—and I think that the more serious papers would be more sure than the rest, of popularity. I like them best myself indeed—admitting as all readers, whether English or American, must do, the talent & vivacity in description, the varied talent & varied vivacity, of which proof is given both in jest & earnest. And now I wish much to know