Well, then, I am getting deeper and deeper into correspondence with Robert Browning, poet and mystic, and we are growing to be the truest of friends. If I live a little longer shut up in this room, I shall certainly know everybody in the world. Mrs. Jameson came again yesterday, and was very agreeable, but tried vainly to convince me that the 'Vestiges of Creation,' which I take to be one of the most melancholy books in the world, is the most comforting, and that Lady Byron was an angel of a wife. I persisted (in relation to the former clause) in a 'determinate counsel' not to be a fully developed monkey if I could help it, but when Mrs. J. assured me that she knew all the circumstances of the separation, though she could not betray a confidence, and entreated me 'to keep my mind open' on a subject which would one day be set in the light, I stroked down my feathers as well as I could, and listened to reason. You know--or perhaps you do _not_ know--that there are two women whom I have hated all my life long--_Lady Byron and Marie Louise_. To prove how false the public effigy of the former is, however, Mrs. Jameson told me that she knew _nothing of mathematics, nothing of science_, and that the element preponderating in her mind is the _poetical_ element--that she cares much for _my_ poetry! How deep in the knowledge of the depths of vanity must Mrs. J. be, to tell me _that_--now mustn't she? But there was--yes, and is--a strong adverse feeling to work upon, and it is not worked away. Then, I have seen a copy of a note of Lord Morpeth to H. Martineau, to the effect that he considered the mesmeric phenomena witnessed by him (inclusive, remember, of the _languages_) to be 'equally beautiful, wonderful, and _undeniable_' but he is prudent enough to desire that no use should be made of this letter ... And now no more for to-day. With love to Mr. Martin, ever believe me Your affectionate BA. [Footnote 127: A copy of the 1838 volume for which Mrs. Martin had asked.] _To John Kenyan_ Saturday, February 8, 1845.