548. EBB to Hugh Stuart Boyd
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 3, 209–211.
[London]
Thursday. [Postmark: 15 December 1836]
My dear Mr Boyd,
Dont be very much frightened when the size of this sheet is described to you. It does not mean any harm,—only to give you a paragraph in the Morning Chronicle of today–
To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle.
Sir,
I have recently received from my learned correspondent, Dr Friedemann, [1] the following lines, which may interest some of your readers, if you think proper to insert them.
I am, Sir,
Respectfully yours
E. H. Barker.
London. Dec. 6th
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Rule Britannia
On the sea, and in the air.
“Expertus vacuum Dædalus [2] aera
Pennis non homini datis.
Nil mortalibus arduum est.
Cælum ipsum petimus.” horat: [3]
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Carolo Greenio [4] Britanno,
Artifici peritissimo et clarissimo.
Olim Blanchardus [5] nostras delapsus ad oras
Insolita clarum nomen ab arte tulit.
Sed breve per spatium. Mœno Taunoque relicto
Finis erat celeris Vilinaburga viæ.
Nunc post lustra decem, majus quid Greenius ausus,
A Tamesi ad Lanan deproperavit iter.
Per mare, per fluvios, montes transgressus et urbes,
Nec noctis tenebras horruit impavidus.
Cedite, Romani, Graii quoque,—cedite, Galli;
Dædaleam laurum Greenius unus habet. [6]
Auctor Friedemann.
And so all the Greeks are to yield to Mr Green! What you mean to do, I dont know, but certainly I shall do no such thing. There was such a glorious admixture of wax & presumption in our Dædalus,—and I take upon myself to say, that he never affronted the sun, by approaching it with a chicken under one arm, & a coffee pot under the other!!—— To think of comparing Mr Green with Dædalus! And to talk besides of transferring Dædalus’s laurels to Mr Green!!! Why Dædalus had the cypress for all his laurels, & stood in good need of the shadow of it. Mr Green’s laurels may be as green as greens—but let him enjoy the lustre of them in Covent Garden Market,—without their being scorched with the thought of our Greeks!——
You see, Mr Barker is in London!—or at least was, a few days ago!– But little recks he, of either you or me!—which is extemporary, & quite (I dare say you will observe) in my style.
Two mornings since, I saw in the paper, under the head of literary news, that a change of Editorship was taking place in the New Monthly Magazine,—& that Theodore Hook was to preside in the room of Mr Hall. I am so much too modest & too wise to expect the patronage of two Editors in succession, that I expect both my poems in a return cover, by every two penny post. Besides what has Theodore Hook to do with Seraphim? So, I shall leave that poem of mine to your imagination,— which wont be half as troublesome to you as if I asked you to read it,—begging you to be assured,—to write it down in your critical rubric,—that it is the very finest composition you ever read, next (of course) to the beloved De virginitate of Gregory Nazianzen.
Mr Stratten [7] has just been here. I admire him more than I ever did, for his admiration of my doves. By the way, I am sure he thought them the most agreeable of the whole party,—for he said, what he never did before, that he could sit here an hour!—— Our love to Annie—& forgive me for Baskettizing a letter to you. I mean of course, as to size,—not type. [8]
Yours affectionately
E B Barrett.
Is your poem printed yet?
Address, on integral page: H S Boyd Esqr / 3 Circus Road / St John’s Wood.
Publication: EBB-HSB, pp. 218–219 (in part).
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Friedrich Traugott Friedemann (1793–1853), author of various works relating to the Greek and Latin classics, was the principal of a regional college in Weilburg, Germany.
2. Dædalus, the father of Icarus, made wings of feathers and wax, by means of which the two of them essayed flight. Icarus disobeyed his father’s instructions, flying too close to the sun, and the wax melted, causing Icarus to fall to his death. Dædalus flew from Crete to Cumae and built a temple to Apollo on the site where he landed.
3. “Dædalus essayed the empty air on wings denied to man. Nought is too high for mortals, Heaven’s very self we storm” (Odes, I, iii, 34–35, 37–38).
4. Charles Green (1785–1870), aeronaut. These lines celebrate his balloon flight, with two companions, from London to a landing in Weilburg, Germany. They ascended from Vauxhall Gardens at 1.30 p.m. on 7 November 1836, dropped a letter as they passed over Dover, and landed at Weilburg at 6.30 a.m. the next morning, having travelled about 480 miles in 17 hours.
5. Jean Pierre Blanchard (1753–1809) in 1785 made the first ever balloon crossing of the English Channel.
6. To Charles Green, the Briton, a most skilled and famous craftsman.
Once Blanchard reached our shores, he earned a well-known
reputation from an uncommon skill.
But in a short while, having left Main and Taunus, the destination
of his quick trip was Weilburg.
Now after 50 years, Green having dared something greater,
has hurried from the Thames to Lahn.
Having crossed over the sea, over rivers, over mountains and cities,
fearless he did not dread the darkness of night.
Yield, Romans, Greeks, too,—yield, Frenchmen; one man, Green,
possesses the laurel wreath of victory of Daedalus.
7. The Rev. James Stratten (1795–1872) officiated at Paddington Chapel, which the Barretts attended. He had been invited by the congregation to assume the pastorate in 1818, at the early age of 23; he held that office for almost 42 years, until ill-health forced him to relinquish it in 1860. EBB spoke of him as having “a heart of miraculous breadth & depth,—loving further than he can see, pitying beyond what he can approve, having in him a divine Christian spirit … How that man is beloved by his congregation” (letter to RB, 30 August 1846).
8. Boyd possessed the imperial folio (1716–17) of John Baskett’s Bible.
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