293. EBB to Hugh Stuart Boyd
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 2, 122–123.
Hope End.
Saturday Night. [Docket: April 1828]
My dear Sir,
I have an opportunity of sending a few lines to you tomorrow morning, & therefore will write them now, in order to relieve my mind,—which is afraid of your attributing my alibi to some wrong motive. The horse was harnessed to the carriage today, when in consequence of the treachery of my driver & the weather, I was sent back again to my Patience—the shadow of her former self, thro’ frequent disappointments! If I were philosophical enough to be amused by my own misfortunes, I could not help being amused by the variety of abundance & extempore readiness of these obstacles, which have sometimes made me think of your omen. Twice during the present week, I have been on the very point of getting into the carriage; &, every day, for the last ten days, has been successively fixed upon for the purpose. The Furies seem to have taken upon themselves, the office of the Fates—but will certainly have exhausted all their malice in their attack on this first visit, & must allow me to pay every other, upon which I venture to calculate, without opposition. I only hope that you may not have taken my proposal of proving “my desire of your acquaintance, by my actions,” quite as literally as I, at first, wished you to do. When I can please myself, you may be sure of my not displeasing myself—the interpretation of which is, that when I can visit you, I will not delay doing so. I have been supplying the place of your conversation as well as I could, by reading over again, the book, you made me so proud, by sending. You know how much delighted I was with this book, from the first—& it is impossible to speak of having read it again, without thanking you for more delight! Your translation is certainly very eloquent, & never throws cold water on the fire of your authors. You do not let us see them thro’ a mist,—but give us the open sky,—παντα δε τ᾽ειδεται αστρα! [1] – What a quotation to venture upon, in a note to you! as however it is too short to require a great deal of ‘wading’, on your part,—it shall remain where it is. I [2] remain,—with my best compliments to Mrs Boyd,—
Most sincerely yours
E B Barrett.
Address, on cover sheet: Hugh Stuart Boyd Esqr / Ruby Cottage.
Docket, in unidentified hand: April– 1828.
Publication: EBB-HSB, pp. 30–31.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. “And all the stars are seen” (Iliad, VIII, 559).
2. Underscored twice.
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