178. Edward Moulton-Barrett (brother) to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 1, 176–177.
[London]
April 19th 1823.
My ever dearest Bazy,
I am sorry to say that the boy who I told you of in one of my former letters as having fallen down and had leg cut open, died on Wednesday morning of a lock jaw, [1] but it turns out instead of having fallen down, one of the big boys had pushed him down and occasioned his death by cutting the pan of the knee completely open, the poor fellow is now however perfectly miserable, he hardly ever speaks, eats very little, and will sit with his eyes fixed upon the ground for a few minutes and will then burst into tears. Chapman [2] in whose house the boy was in has also been crying almost ever since, and did not come into school till yesterday evening, in short the whole school has been very melancholy ever since it happened. How do you think we came home today, by no less a conveyance than the Paddington coach[.] Brookes, [3] another boy who came with him Sam and myself formed a very cozy little party. Here is Mr Mc Swiney determined not to be laughed at again for his parson like appearance for he is looking quite smart in a new smock coat lined throughout with silk & white waistcoat, he has been swearing against the house of Commons, and cursing all the ministers one by one, he says, Canning is as great a rascal as ever lived, and those who spoke for the Catholicks are the only honest men in the house. [4] Mr Robinson [5] has sent twice to know where Papa is now, he wrote to him and has not recieved an answer he wishes to know if he is at Bath or not if there what direction will find him. Mr Mc enquired at Drury lane at [sic, for and] finds that your share [6] in Papa’s name and to make the ticket pay, he must fill it up. Granny will send it up by the first opportunity. Good bye my dearest Bazy believe me
your affectionately attached
Brozy. —
Granny knows nothing of the book which you say she sent you, and you must be indebted to some other friend for it.
Address, on integral page: Miss Barrett / Hope End / Ledbury / Herefordshire.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Eton College Library.
1. The Charterhouse Registers identify this boy as the Hon. John Howard, 3rd son of Thomas, 16th Earl of Suffolk. He entered Charterhouse in May 1822 and died on 14 April 1823, ten days after his 12th birthday, as a result of an accident during a game some weeks earlier.
2. The Rev. William Herbert Chapman (1782–1861) was admitted to Charterhouse as a scholar in 1794, and returned as Assistant Master in 1812 after taking his degree at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
3. George Brooks (1809–54), son of a Jamaican landowner, who was at Charterhouse from September 1822 until May 1823.
4. One of the current issues in Parliament and the country was “the Catholic question.” By law, Catholics were still unable to vote for Parliamentary candidates or to stand for election themselves, and repeal of the penal statues still affecting Catholics was being hotly debated. EBB’s poem “Visions” (see letter 91) shows that McSwiney was himself a Catholic.
5. A letter from James Scarlett to Edward Moulton-Barrett of 19 September 1808 (SD114) speaks of a Mr. Robinson, of Richmond, Yorkshire, “a very respectable & steady man of business,” undertaking negotiations on behalf of Samuel Moulton-Barrett. This reference is probably to the same man.
6. EBB wrote to R.H. Horne [ca. 1841] (Checklist, 41:1) that she had “something to do with the proprietorship of Drury Lane, by virtue of five shares given to me when I was a child.”
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