1139. Benjamin Robert Haydon to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 6, 308–309.
London
Jan 27th 1843–
My dear Miss Barrett–
Your advice about Liz—shall be attended to [1] —or any other you will give—shall I divide into dates?—& years?——
I shall exchange your sketches shortly—to amuse you–
Yours ever
B R Haydon
(over)
I have been working with intense delight all day—& successfully– Heaven knows my fate! The world has a singular relish to thwart a Man when what he has sought all his life, is getting into his grasp– This Summer will settle it– I think you will like the Cartoons in the Spring or the Summer, when ever it be, you make your debut again[.]
I wrote Mary Mitford yesterday–
Dear Madam, what an affliction, it must have been to have so overwhelmed your soul—you did not see a last look– [2] There is nothing like it– There are two things, you are convinced are supernatural on Earth, a last look—& the thro[t]tled scream that launches another creature into this breathing world!– [3] There is nothing like that in heaven or Hell–
Good night—or I shall get poetical–
Address: Miss B. Barrett / 50– Wimpole S.
Publication: EBB-BRH, pp. 26–27.
Manuscript: University of Vermont.
1. It would seem that EBB had advised the excision of certain references in Haydon’s manuscript, but the published text contained extensive references to the young lady, “An attractive girl on the second floor of a house full of young men … She attached herself to the party, made tea for them, marketed for them, carved for them, went to the play with them, read Shakespeare with them … Her position was anomalous, but I fully believe it was innocent.... She was a girl with a man’s mind … as interesting a girl as you would wish to see” (Haydon, I, 54–55).
2. A reference to Bro’s death.
3. Haydon’s first child, Frank Scott Haydon, was born on 12 December 1822. In his diary, Haydon wrote: “Never to my dying day shall I forget the dull, throttled scream of agony, that preceded the birth, and then the infant cry that announced its completion.... Ah, who can disbelieve the tortures of damnation who has once heard the last, agonising, lengthened scream of a lovely Woman in Labour!” (Pope, II, 392.)
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