Letters and Essays Author:Elizabeth Barrett Browning Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: XXV. "October 5th, 1843. "Here I send you one of the ' Spirits of the Age,' strongly recommending it to a place on your frontispiece. It is Flush's portrait, ... more »I need scarcely say ; and only fails of being an excellent substitute for mine through being more worthy than I can be counted. " Ah, my dear Mr. Horne, your application made me smile — a little with pleasure and pride that you should think of ' illustrating ' your book with my darkness, and a little with self-mockery at the idea of it. No, no, no, — to 'recline' for any set of publishers in the world, even for yours, surpasseth the vanity that is in me. You know Mrs. B told you that I was 'modest,' and neither you nor I would believe a word of it; and here is the first proof that either of us ever had of it — unless (which is my opinion) it prove to be an instinct of seif-preservation instead. The last time I ' reclined ' for my p'icturc was for a miniature by Mrs. Carter, just before I left Devonshire; and I did it for love's sake and papa's. And yet, although she was so obliging as to paint a very pretty little girl with unexceptionable regularity of features, ho was ungrateful enough to throw it down with a pshaw! and deny the likeness altogether. There is no portrait of me at all which is considered like — except one painted in my infancy, where I appear in the character of a fugitive angel, which papa swears by all his gods is very like me to this day, and which perhaps may be like — about the wings. In conclusion, you see, I both can't and won't send you a picture for such a purpose — it is a superfluity of negation! 'Won't,' would have done very well for a woman — now would it not ? ' Beseech your grace ' do not be angry with me. It seems to me an ultra- impossibility to send my portrait to a publisher for...« less