1274. Benjamin Robert Haydon to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 7, 170–172.
London
June 6th 1843
I am determined I[’]ll never see you[.] I am resolved to communicate with an invisibility, our correspondence shall be literally & truly all Soul! You ought to be delighted with the imagination!—supposing I should leave my manuscripts to you—would it not be enchanting—to say in the preface—I never saw him—& therefore I can have no partialities—no Friendship I judge only of his works, & his thoughts—so if you leave yours to me I can say, the same!—besides the originality of the Idea is worth something. Tell me whoever thought of such a thing before—and if we meet the other side of the gulph—our minds will feel, we are the immortal Two—who in spite of the miserable physical enclosure of body—knew each other only by the Immortal! I maintain it[’]s glorious!—dont tell for that will spoil it—— I am sorry to say, I must descend to Mortality, for a twinge in my burnt foot, reminds me the Time is not yet come for the purely poetical–
I read Vasari, all day—yesterday[.] Why are Vasari’s lives so popular[—]why have they gone through so many Editions? [1] —because what is anecdotical & human is not sacrificed for the sake of the abstract & professional?—why has no modern painter[’]s life ever got to a Second Edn?, because the professional is maintained at the expense of the anecdotical—& people get sick of oil, & wax—lime, touch, tone, & color—naturally enough!– The fact that Michel Angelo was liable to head aches—is a Comfort! and when I read he had the cramp!—my dear, I rise an inch taller as I walk—admit the genius, but prove to us, he was Adam’s Son!– Fuzeli said no,—you have no business with that– I used to say we have– I hate your abstracts, your Grandisons in Genius [2] —by the bye did you ever read my history of art—(Whitakers) I wish you would read it—I sold the copy right. It is 6/– There is an Essay of Hazlitt[’]s attached!– [3]
50 Cartoons up to last night– I expect 50 more, by to-morrow the last day– I fear it will be an awful sight! [4]
My dear Sister has sent me a very curious Sonnet to John Haydon an ancestor, author of the Harmoney of the World 1662—who was fined by Oliver Cromwell [£]2000—for siding with the Royal party– I[’]ll bet he was an historical painter by the 2000 had it been 20—& Imprisonment because he could not pay it—no further evidence would be wanting of legitimate ascent– [5]
To the most excellent Philosopher & Lawyer John Haydon upon his so much desired work—Harmoney of the World
1662
A Public good must quell your private fear,
The profit of a writer’s industry,
Should be imparted to a general Ear
For Good is bettered by Community–
Nor may detraction, or the injury
Of some men’s censures dash what he doth write,
If but what pleaseth all men’s sight
No work could come to light, no work should come to light.
Through all the World ye [’]ave gather’d the several flowers
Of other Books into your Harmony.
Distill’d to spirit by you they’re wholy yours
So Honey suck’d from the variety
Of Flowers is yet the honey of the Bee
And tho’ in these last days miracles are fled
It brings back time that’s past, & gives
Life to the dead.
John Brown D. D. G C Oxon
Now is that not well done– I have never seen the Book—but will try at the Museum–
I leave you for Vasari—which with Shakespeare, Boswell & Bible are my favorite writers–
Ever yours visible or Invisible
B. R Haydon
My kind regard to M. Mitford & Miss James[.]
B. B.
My dear daughter varies—but is not worse–
Address: Miss B. Barrett / 50, Wimpole St.
Publication: EBB-BRH, pp. 109–112.
Manuscript: University of Vermont.
1. Giorgio Vasari (1511–74) published Delle vite de’ più eccelenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori in 1550. The British Library catalogue lists seven editions in Italian between 1550 and 1811; selections translated into English appeared in 1685 and 1719, but the first complete English edition was not published until 1850.
2. Sir Charles Grandison, in Richardson’s 1754 novel, was “a paragon of honour, wisdom, and all the virtues” (The Oxford Companion to English Literature).
3. Painting, and the Fine Arts (1838) comprised two articles, “The Fine Arts” by Hazlitt (pp. 1–63) and “Painting” by Haydon (pp. 65–227), being their contributions on these subjects to the seventh edition of The Encyclopædia Britannica. The book was published by Black, not Whittaker.
4. The exhibition catalogue listed a total of 140 entries.
5. John Heydon, astrologer and attorney, was imprisoned by Cromwell in 1655, allegedly for forecasting Cromwell’s death by hanging. In 1663 he was imprisoned again for debt, and 1667 found him once more incarcerated for treasonable practices. He wrote a large number of works in addition to The Harmony of the World.
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