Correspondence

3249.  Robert Bulwer Lytton to RB

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 19, 221–223.

[Florence]

[mid-August 1853] [1]

My dear Browning

I have just recd your letter and am quite at a loss to account for the non-appearance of the Magazine– I sent in newspaper fashion with a belt of paper about it, & stamped it with the stamp of the Legation; that is the way I always send Scarlett his newspapers, & they have always reached him safely. I will make enquiries at the Post Of: here.

Have you seen the Commet [sic]? [2] If not, pray look out for him—a magnificent fellow in the N. West Heavens, at angles, I shd think of abt 32 deg. above the horizon, to the naked eye—below the Great Bear, with a grand tail of fire—the eye to the earth, and the hair on end–

A frightful Tragedy has just taken place here, a woman murdered by her cook—who it seems—having a soul above cabbage could not stand to be badgered about and rowed any longer, and yesterday morning, turned, as ye worm is sd to do, when not properly trod upon, and cut his mistress’ throat with a carving knife– The unfortunate woman died on ye spot, & was buried the same evening; the man threw himself out of the window, as soon as he saw wt he had done, & was picked up a mangled mass—still living.

Whose acquaintance shd you think I have made, but that famous infamous Wm Bank[e]s, [3] of unfortunate celebrity. Circumstances brought me acquainted with him, but I see no very great virtue in throwing the stone at one’s neighbour[.] I have no doubt every man deserves to be hanged nine times a day for his idiosyncrasies. He is now an old man—such a blasted career! I find him full of learning—an astonishing knowledge & love of Art– There is blood & heat in his learning—he knew Byron & many celebrities, & was with the Dk of Wellington in many of his campai[g]ns—has great wit, great information—& almost genius—but looks a wretched wreck—like Cain with a mark on him– This is the only scrap of paper I have so I must say good bye, but soon I hope How d’ye do.

Yrs faty

R B Lytton

Pray remember me most kindly to Mrs Browning, & give my love to Master Penny.

The seal, was Scarlett’s. I had used it in a hurry. I am in hopes ye Magazine will turn up.

Publication: BBIS-10, pp. 39–40.

Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.

1. Approximate dating based on Lytton’s references to the comet (see note 2) and to William John Banks, who is also discussed in letter 3255.

2. Known as Comet Klinkerfues, it was discovered in June 1853. The Times of 23 August 1853 reported: “For some few evenings past a conspicuous comet has been visible a little above the N.W. horizon at dusk, and will continue so during the present week. … It is at present on the borders of Leo and Ursa Major … . The tail streams off directly from the head, without any appearance of division” (p. 7).

3. William John Bankes (1786–1855), Member of Parliament and antiquary, who had lost a celebrated libel case brought against him by James Silk Buckingham in 1826. But the “infamous” aspect that Lytton has in mind, as letter 3255 reveals, concerns the trial held on 2 December 1833 of “The King v. W.J. Bankes, Esq., and another” on the charge of “having met together for unnatural purposes” (The Times, 3 December 1833, p. 4). It was alleged that Bankes and a soldier named Flowers had arranged to meet in a public convenience beside St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster. They were discovered there by a night watchman and a constable. The prosecution failed to make its case, as there was no eyewitness proof that anything illegal had been engaged in, and the defendants were acquitted. Many important personages were called as character witnesses on Bankes’s behalf, including the Duke of Wellington, with whom the accused had served in Spain. The gossip that the trial generated never disappeared, and, consequently, Bankes did not run for his Dorset seat in the next general election. The circumstances of his leaving the country some eight years later were also a matter of public scrutiny. In early September 1841, he was arrested and charged with a similar offense. Released on bail of £200, he subsequently fled the country never to return, and eventually settled in Venice. The periodicals at the time questioned the prudence of granting so low a bail to a man of Bankes’s wealth. The Examiner of 11 September 1841 echoed the prevailing sentiment and referred to Bankes as “a man of large fortune” facing “a disgusting charge (for which he had once before been tried, and narrowly escaped conviction)” (p. 578).

___________________

National Endowment for the Humanities - Logo

Editorial work on The Brownings’ Correspondence is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This website was last updated on 3-29-2024.

Copyright © 2024 Wedgestone Press. All rights reserved.

Back To Top