Page:Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Ingram, 5th ed.).djvu/81

Rh. He accused me of the Athenæum paper, and convicted me against my will; and when I could no longer deny, and began to explain and 'pique myself upon my diplomacy,' he threw himself back into his chair and laughed me to scorn as the least diplomatic of his acquaintance. 'You diplomatic!

In her correspondence with Horne generally the topics discussed were literary, and frequently referred, to projects in which one or both were co-operating. The following letter from her, dated August 31st, is, however, more relative to her personal affairs than usual:—

Ah, my dear Mr. Horne, while you are praising the weather—stroking the sleek sunshine—it has been, not exactly killing me, but striking me vigorously with intent to kill. It was intensely hot, and I went out in the chair, and was over excited and over tired, I suppose; at least, the next day I was ill, shivering in the sun, and lapsing into a weariness it is not easy for me to rally from. Yet everybody has been ill, which—in the way of pure benevolence—ought to be a comfort to me; and now I am well again. And the weather is certainly lovely and bright by fits, and I join you in praising the beauty and glory of it; but then, you must admit that the fits, the spasmodic changes of the temperature from sixty-one degrees to eighty-one, and back again, are trying to mortal frames, more especially to those conscious of the frailty of the "native mud," in them. If I had the wings of a dove, and could flee away to the South of France, I should be cooing, peradventure, instead of moaning. Only I could not leave everything, even then! I must stay, as well as go, under any circumstances, dove or woman.

By the way, two of my brothers are on the Rhine at this moment. They have gone, to my pain and pleasure, to see Geneva, and come home at the end of six weeks, by Paris, to re-plunge (one of them) into law.

It pleases me to think of dear Miss Mitford reading my "House of Clouds" to you, with her "melodious feeling" for poetry, and the sweeter melody of her kindliness; and it moreover pleased mo to know that you liked it in any measure. Mr. Boyd told me that "He had read my papers on the Greek Fathers with the more satisfaction