P.S.—I shall bring the ‘Vita Nuova’—it is not so difficult as the
‘Paradiso’—and I shall be happy to help you with a few of the earlier
sonnets.
* * * * *
_From Mrs. Casaubon to Mrs. Forth_.
June 5.
DEAR LADY,—You will be surprised at receiving a letter from a stranger!
How shall I address you—how shall I say what I ought to say? Our
husbands are not unknown to each other, I may almost call them friends,
but we have met only once. You did not see me; but I was at Magdalen a
few weeks ago, and I could not help asking who you were, so young, so
beautiful; and when I saw you so lonely among all those learned men my
heart went out to you, for I too know what the learned are, and how
often, when we are young, we feel as if they were so cold, so remote.
Ah, then there come _temptations_, but they must be conquered.—We are not
born to live for ourselves only, we must learn to live for others—ah! not
for _Another_!
Some one {133} we both know, a lady, has spoken to me of you lately. She
too, though you did not know it, was in Magdalen Walk on Sunday evening
when the bells were chiming and the birds singing. She saw you; you were
not alone! Mr. Rivers (I am informed that is his name) was with you.
Ah, stop and think, and hear me before it is too late. A word; I do not
know—a word of mine may be listened to, though I have no right to speak.
But something forces me to speak, and to implore you to remember that it
is not for Pleasure we live, but for Duty. We must break the dearest
ties if they do not bind us to the stake—the stake of all we owe to all!
You will understand, you will forgive me, will you not? You will forgive
another woman whom your beauty and sadness have won to admire and love
you. You _will_ break these ties, will you not, and be free, for only in
Renunciation is there freedom? He _must not_ come again, you will tell
him that he must not.—Yours always,