5317. Robert Browning, Sr. to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 31, 7–8.
Paris
[mid-] January 1864 [1]
Dear Robert,—Of every hundred of Mr. Taylor’s readers, ninety-nine lay the book [2] down fully persuaded that Junius was silenced by government with an enormous bribe … When Mr. Parkes’ book comes out, [3] that opinion will be classed among one of our vulgar errors, and I for one shall feel happy in having that important question settled, which I have hitherto looked upon as a disgraceful compounding of felony. My father [4] was in London during the period of Junius. [5] I have heard him say that, when a Junius was out, so eager was everyone to know the contents that in every coffee-house, &c. when Woodfall’s paper came in, [6] some gentleman, standing upon a chair or a table, read it aloud to the company, so impatient were all to hear it. I have always considered Calcraft [7] to have been “the exulting demon of this storm,” [8] and feel conviction that he was perfectly acquainted with every particular respecting it. For although, from his want of a liberal education, he could not possibly be the writer, yet he possessed all that keen observation and shrewd cunning so frequently observable in that rank of life from which he originally rose. The most popular account we have of him is to be found in Miss Bellamy’s “Memoirs,” [9] which may be picked up everywhere.
Text: Joseph Parkes and Herman Merivale, Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis, K.C.B., London, 1867, II, 402.
1. Date suggested by reference to SD2671, which was probably written soon after RB gave this letter to Joseph Parkes.
2. The Identity of Junius, with a Distinguished Living Character Established. Including the Supplement (1818) by John Taylor (1781–1864), publisher and writer. RB, Sr.’s copy of this book sold in Browning Collections, lot unspecified; see Reconstruction, A2260, where the publication date is given as 1817, and the title contains a slight mistake.
3. Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis, K.C.B. (2 vols., 1867) “commenced” by Joseph Parkes (1796–1865), election reformer and the father of Bessie Rayner Parkes, and “completed and edited” by Herman Merivale (1806–74).
4. Robert Browning (1749–1833), RB’s paternal grandfather (see letter 5088, note 7).
6. The Public Advertiser, printed and edited by Henry Sampson Woodfall (1739–1805), where the Junius letters appeared from 1769 to 1772.
7. John Calcraft (see letter 5303, note 9).
8. Cf. Edward Whitfield, “Kenilworth” (1830), line 119.
9. An Apology for the Life of George Anne Bellamy (5 Vols., 1785), “Written by Herself,” [edited by Alexander Bicknell]. George Anne Bellamy (née O’Hara, 1733?–1785) was an Irish actress. She had two illegitimate children with Calcraft.
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