You will wonder at a paragraph from the 'Athenaeum,' which Robert thought
out of taste until he came to understand the motive of it--that there
had been (two days previous to its appearance) a brutal attack on the
_will_, to the effect that literary persons had been altogether
overlooked in the dispositions of the testator, in consequence of his,
being a disappointed literary pretender himself. Therefore we were
brought forward, you see, together with Barry Cornwall and Dr. Southey,
producing a wrong impression on the other side--only I can't blame the
'Athenaeum' writer for it; nor can anyone, I think. The effect, however,
to ourselves is most uncomfortable, as we are overwhelmed with
'congratulations' on all sides, just as if we had not lost a dear,
tender, faithful friend and relative--just as if, in fact, some stranger
had made us a bequest as a tribute to our poetry. People are so obtuse
in this world--as Robert says, so '_dense_'; as Lord Brougham says, so
'_crass_.'

Whatever may be your liking or disliking of 'Aurora Leigh,' you will
like to hear that it's a great success, and in a way which I the least
expected, for a fortnight after the day of publication it had to go to
press for the second edition. The extravagances written to me about that
book would make you laugh, if you were in a laughing mood; and the
strange thing is that the press, the daily and weekly press, upon which
I calculated for furious abuse, has been, for the most part, furious the
other way. The 'Press' newspaper, the 'Post,' and the 'Tablet' are
exceptions; but for the rest, the 'Athenaeum' is the coldest in praising.
It's a puzzle to me, altogether. I don't know upon what principle the
public likes and dislikes poems. Any way, it is very satisfactory at the
end of a laborious work (for much hard working and hard thinking have
gone to it) to hear it thus recognised, however I must think, with some
bitterness, that the beloved and sympathetic friend to whom it was
dedicated scarcely lived to know what would have given him so much
pleasure as this.

Dearest Mrs. Martin, mind you tell me the truth exactly. I should like
much to have pleased you and Mr. Martin, but I like the truth _best_ of
all from you....

Dearest friends, keep kind thoughts of

Your affectionate
BA.

* * * * *

_To Miss Browning_

[Florence: January 1857.]

My dearest Sarianna,--A great many happy years to you, and also to the
d