455. EBB to Hugh Stuart Boyd
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 3, 29–32.
[Hope End]
[July 1832] [1]
My dearest friend,
Indeed you are not just. Do you not recollect that I ascertained from my aunt & told you, that every plan was unsettled? Therefore you are unjust in making that reproach,—and if my heart were open before you, together with my words & actions ever since I knew you, you would agree with me, that from you I deserve no reproach. Have I not asked again & again about going to see you, whenever there seemed the slightest chance of my receiving a favourable answer? And is it likely, for my own sake, that I would at any time omit asking any question, if I had not very strong reasons for believing that the answer would not bring me nearer to you? Do you not think in your heart that I lost more pleasure, in not going to see you, than you did?—& that it gives me more pain at this moment to feel that I cannot see you, than it gives you?——
When you were at Malvern I made it clear to you that if you lived at a distance from us, I should not be able to go & see you. You immediately take a house at a distance, & ask me to go & see you, and then because I say “it is impossible”, appear more than half displeased with me. And you,—who have, not unwisely, judged that the consideration of which is the cheapest way to take a house, outweighed the consideration of living near me,—expect me to displease the person, who loves me better than any person in the world loves me, for the sake of visiting you for a week or two!! Indeed this is not just!—and if it were, I have no “spirit & resolution” [2] for doing it. All that I have of those qualities, is expended in bearing up against the different deprivations under which I suffer,—without my having it in my power to give voluntary & unmerited pain to the few who care for me.
You say that I “appear rather vexed” at your having taken a house. If rather vexed means very sorry, I will not deny that natural feeling; but if it means at all angry I appeared to be what I was not. If you have taken a house for a year, or more, upon the decision of your judgment & inclination, & without reference to me, you have done right. I do assure you, I am convinced you have done right & wisely,—and I ought not even to regret it. I am at least reconciled to it,—and satisfied that if I am not to see you again, it is for some just & wise reason. I had a strong impression on my mind before you left Malvern, that it would be so; and I have therefore suffered no disappointment. May you be only half as happy as I have wished you to be, altho’ that happiness should blot me from your recollection. But if you do think of me, be just in your thoughts, —& do not blame me for occasioning directly or indirectly, by word or deed, or by neglect of word or deed, a separation, to prevent which, I would have done anything—to prevent which, I have done & said more than I can quite excuse to myself now. Why should we write one additional word on this subject? There is no use in it—and there is pain in it—at least to me. I have written about it today, because I could not be silent after reading your letter, or even wait until you answered mine which went to the post only two hours before yours came from it. Dont forget or refuse to answer that letter in the way I begged you to do. And recollect! Mr Curzon has brought no accusation against you, to me. In my letter to him, I gave him to understand that I did not wish any part of the business to be mentioned to Papa,—& I believe he is to be trusted. Yet I shall be anxious until you take the high ground, of forgiving—anxious for your sake—& that proves how anxious I am!——
It may not be of any consequence now, as far as you are concerned, whether we remain here or go to the other side of England,—yet I do not like writing another letter without mentioning Hope End. We are still in the dark. Mr Heywood gives out at Malvern that the place belongs to him, [3] —& on the other hand, Papa has not heard a word of it, from London. It is “absolutely impossible” to know what to think,—but the general belief in the neighbourhood is, that Mr Heywood’s account is the accurate one. If it is, I am not dissatisfied.
I have read Hebrew regularly every day since I told you of my beginning Genesis,—and I am now more than half thro’ Genesis, & begin to relax a little from the lexicon. From its being a primitive language it is very interesting in a philosophical point of view. I like to find the roots of words & ideas at the same time. The syntax seems to be simple; & there is apparently no copiousness in synonyms & expletives, as is the case in Greek—yet it is an expressive language. I am glad I thought of having recourse to it, for if it had no other advantage, it has at least given a kind of change of air to my mind. I have been reading besides, two Italian novels,—one by Manzani [sic], entitled the Betrothed, [4] which, tho’ heavy enough sometimes, is very well written & very amiably written. The other is a continuation of the story, by a different & an unequal writer, .. Both works have had a great run on the continent, & are tolerably well known, I believe, in England.
Poor Sir Walter Scott! You have heard that he is dying,—that he has lost even consciousness. [5] The other night Papa read a passage from the Lady of the Lake to me; and I did not like to hear it. It sounded like something unnatural—as if you were looking at a broken instrument, & hearing its sweetest music at the same time. The poetry so glowing & animated—and the poet so silent & insensible!—and the idea of each, forced at once upon your mind! You know I am not an admirer of poor Sir Walter’s poetry. [6] It never appeared to me as animated as it did the other night, & never gave me as little pleasure; and contrast accounts for both circumstances. For a long time after Lord Byron’s death, I hated to read his poetry—but then in his case, the poet & his poetry are quite identified, and you could not at any time, read one, without thinking of the other.
It appears now that the House of Commons is not to be actually reformed until the spring. Mr Robert Biddulph has come forward for Hereford in the place of Lord Eastnor resigned,—so that there will probably be two reform members for that city. In Ledbury there are only three anti reformers!—in the whole town!—— Occyta says, he supposes the reform bill has “done away the cholera”, but the cholera seems to resist everything, & we have heard so much lately of its ravages, that I cannot help thinking rather anxiously about you. Bath Hampton is quite unconnected with Bath—is it not? I hope that if it is not, or that even if it is, you will go farther into the country for two or three months, in the case of the disease appearing in Bath. To make use of those means of safety which Providence has placed within our reach, is not flying from Providence, notwithstanding the foolish expressions of some people. Lady Smith an acquaintance of ours, would stay in Dublin, & died there. [7] You know there is no occasion for you to be alarmed now. Only be cautious at the proper time. May God bless & preserve you! We have seen the Cliffes lately, oftener than we used to do,—& my aunt & Henrietta were invited to a dinner party of sixteen which Mrs Cliffe has fixed for next Wednesday. Henry & Daisy & Arabel have had the chicken pox,—but they are all well except Arabel who has not yet shown herself down stairs, tho’ a headache is her only unpleasant feeling. I am finishing this letter which I began on Tuesday, on Wednesday morning; and I believe there is not much more to tell you, or room to tell it in. You cannot think how very glad I was to hear, from Mrs Boyd’s letter to Arabel, that you have less heaviness in your head than you used to have at Malvern. Give my love to her.
Ever yours affectionately
E B Barrett.
Do mention your book. [8] You never do.
Address, on integral page: H S Boyd Esqr / Bath Hampton / Near Bath.
Publication: EBB-HSB, pp. 180–183.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. EBB’s reading of Genesis places this letter after 453 and before 456.
2. Cf. King John, V, 1, 53.
3. The new owner of Hope End, Thomas Heywood, acquired most of the property by private treaty. Edward Moulton-Barrett retained ownership of a considerable acreage, principally woodland, until his death.
4. I Promessi Sposi by Alessandro Manzoni (1785–1873) was published in 1827, followed by the first English translation in 1828. It had a profound influence on novelwriting and was much imitated; it is thus difficult to identify the “different and unequal” author of the second novel read by EBB.
5. On 9 June, while travelling in Europe, Scott was stricken with apoplexy and was temporarily paralyzed. He returned to England by stages, and left London for Abbotsford on 7 July. He died on 21 September.
6. EBB’s lack of enthusiasm for Scott’s poetry was shared by Boyd, who penned these unkind lines:
On the durability of Sir W Scott’s fame as a Poet.
As sure as pinioned birds can’t fly,
As sure as lead is lead,
The name of Scott will never die,—
For ’tis already dead.
Reply.
Why say, as sure as lead is lead
The sacred name of Scott is dead?
It will exist in future ages
Immortalized – – – – on Byron’s pages.
7. We have not identified Lady Smith, but The Dublin Times of 1 June 1832 reported that, of 3,092 persons stricken by cholera, 876 had died.
8. Probably the preparation of The Fathers Not Papists, published in 1834.
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