Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 29 March 1844:
'Really, [Paul de Kock] is very bad -- he is very [italics]nasty[end italics] -- he splashes the
dirt about him, like a child in a guttter [...] Twice I tried books of his, & sent them back again,
.. feeling them to be to bad to read. The third time, they sent me a book of his in mistake for
another which I had asked for -- & I went through with it, -- & saw so much (getting used to
the filth) to like & recognise for picture & faculty, .. that I took courage, -- & have read most
of his forty or fifty volumes, I do believe [goes on to discuss author further]'.
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Print: Book
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 18 January 1845:
'Paul [de Kock] is the writer of farce, .. broad farce ..: and for impulsive gaiety, he has not his peer. I think the more of him just now, because they sent me, a few days since, by a mistake for another work, from the library, "Mon ami Piffard," which is not his best work, & yet set me laughing most cordially. It's a farce rolled out into the narrative form, -- neither more nor less-- A little nasty, of course, to mark, not exactly the [talics]hoof[end italics] of Paul, but his snout. -- But what particuarly struck me [...] was the impulse, the can't-help-myself joyousness of the book [...] I hope it isn't the indecency which I take so kindly in him'.
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Print: Book
