2154. EBB to Benjamin Robert Haydon
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 11, 275–276.
50 Wimpole Street
Jany. 2. [1846] [1]
My dear Mr Haydon
Other work has pressed itself in between your note [2] & the wish I felt of replying to it immediately,—but I hope you have not had time to conclude, in these few days of silence, that I could possibly be vexed at your not knowing by inspiration & special revelation that my brother George was my brother George,—indeed I am not so unreasonable. He told me of having had the pleasure of dining in your company, & I thought of him & of you, & not at all of myself, I do assure you. It was very good of you to think of me at last,—& very natural of you not to think of me at first—& I thank you much for your kind note which is the most supererogatory of courtesies.
It is pleasant to hear, for the rest, of your unflagging energies. I have been very well & very idle (both in an extreme for me) throughout the summer, & am now in my fortified castle from a fear of the east wind.
From dear Miss Mitford I hear not unfrequently, & she seems in great spirits, & holding her levees as usual,—living far more in a crowd, among the trees at Three Mile Cross, than we do here among the chimneypots.
I suppose you are delighted at ‘the Duke’s’ emerging again, [3] just as all the world fancied that he had gone down,—& I did not care very much, for my own part. There seems to me scarcely more difference, between a whig & conservative government, than between the front & back wheel of the same ‘slow waggon’. You know I prefer travelling by the railroad, & the express train.
With my repeated thanks for your cordial note, & every earnest wish of the season to you & yours, believe me, dear Mr Haydon,
very sincerely your friend
Elizabeth B Barrett
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Eton College Library, Michael Meredith Collection.
1. Year provided by EBB’s reference to the Duke of Wellington.
2. EBB is responding to his letter of 9 December 1845 (see List of Absent Letters). EBB’s “work” primarily consisted of reading and commenting on Luria for RB.
3. Peel’s Tory administration fell on 6 December 1845, and many thought this would mean the end of Wellington’s participation in government. However, when the Whigs were unable to form a cabinet, Peel was recalled by Victoria on 20 December, thus extending Wellington’s political life.
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