294. Uvedale Price to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 2, 123–125.
Foxley
April 14th 1828
Dear Ba
In one or two of your letters to Caroline, a very flattering hint was given that you should not be sorry to hear from me; but with a very obliging & considerate scruple lest it should take up too much of my time; which in truth, as your correspondent, I believe has told you, for some time past has been very much occupied. I may add, that what with weak eyes, a weak & irritable stomach, & a few other infirmities the time that I am able to employ in the course of a day, is often but a small portion of it. I have lately been distributing copies of my Essay (after the tedious, but necessary pen-correction of each copy) to several of my old friends whom I had neglected, & to several learned persons from whom I hoped to obtain remarks & criticisms: I was obliged to accompany the copies with letters; often to answer the answers, &, as some of them contained objections to my doctrines, was occasionally drawn into controversy. All this, tho’ at times it pressed rather too hard upon me, has been productive of no small degree of interest & amusement. I have kept together all the answers that have been given by those who have receiv’d my Essay; the variety, in every way, is extremely amusing; & the collection altogether a very good example (were any required) of the affirmation, in regard to a quaint, scholastic question debated in the old schools, “an quisquid recipitur, ad modum recipientis recipiatur.” [1] The letters vary,—according to the mode of the Recipient,—from unmixed praise & complete coincidence of opinion, to a mixture of praise & censure in various degrees & proportions,—& again to reprobation & contempt, almost to abuse, without any commendation. I expect more letters, & some that are likely to be interesting: but having a short respite at this moment, I cannot employ the time so pleasantly as in conversing with you at a distance, “en attendant mieux:” [2] & that mieux I look forward to with no less pleasure than my daughter, & more is impossible. Every person at all acquainted with Mrs Barrett, must have been sorry to hear of her tedious & painful illness: how much more those who have long known her, & the whole of her amiable & affectionate character! Your last accounts are very consoling, as her recovery, tho’ slow, seems regular & constant. I very earnestly wish that it may continue so, & that there may be no check to give alarm, so easily given, to all around her. Shall I own it? this last wish is not quite disinterested: I know that Mrs Barrett would heroically part with you, from thinking that change of air, of objects & society would contribute to your health & your pleasure: but should there be any check, you would hardly be induced to quit her: & I, having so much to shew you, & to talk to you about in various ways should be sadly disappointed: you see how some selfish motive is always lurking at the bottom. Your accident was a most frightful one, & the impression must long have remained on your mind; but as it did not end tragically, nor very seriously, I can hardly regret that it did happen; as I otherwise should not have read an account which placed all the circumstances so strikingly before my eyes, that it made me fremish; [3] as Caroline, when a little girl, translated the french word. Much as I like your narrative, I will not go so far as to wish you & your sister many returns of such accidents, even with the very necessary proviso that neither of you should receive any personal injury, but both be “quittes pour la peur.”—— [4] When you come here, I think you will like to look over several of the letters I have spoken of: some are of a very original character; & there is one in Latin, from no less a personage than the great Hermann: [5] the letter is not addressed to me, but to a correspondent of mine, who is a correspondent & friend of the Professor’s, to whom he sent my Essay: he sent me the original letter, the greater part of which relates to other subjects; but being obliged to return it I copied the whole, which you shall see, & I am sorry I cannot shew you the autograph. In the meantime I will now transcribe the beginning of what relates to my work: first & foremost, for the indulgence of my own vanity, the great man’s opinion being very favorable: secondly from feeling sure that you take a lively interest in my success: & lastly from thinking that you may be curious to see a short specimen of Hermann’s latinity. “Pricii librum, magna cum voluptate legi, velimque ei, meo nomine plurimas a te agi gratias. Videtur ille mihi pleraque omnia, non subtiliter tantum, sed etiam vere disputasse, paucaque sunt, in quibus ab illo dissentiam.” [6] I never could have expected (nor could you) to see my name in the genitive case with a latin termination! The nominative therefore (as, indeed, it afterwards appears in the letter) must be Pricius, & consequently I am exalted to the rank of a “Savant en us,” as that scoffer Voltaire ludicrously calls those Erudits. The correspondent, by whose means I became possessed of this very satisfactory letter, is known in this house by a name to which he has the fullest right—the indefatigable. Besides being an editor of voluminous works, he seems to be in correspondence with the whole literary world. I really have great obligations to him, for many interesting communications, & for a zeal, beyond belief, in the distribution of my Essay: he desired to have two dozen copies; some he sent to his learned friends at home, some to Germany, others to Paris, & even across the Atlantic to America.
And he shall spread my name o’er lands & seas,
Whatever clime the sun’s bright circle warms. [7]
Nay, if it depended upon him, I should equal Fieldings Tom Thumb,
Whose name in terra incognita is known. [8]
With all our best wishes & regards to you all, especially to the convalescente believe me, dear Ba,
Ever most truly yours
U Price
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
1. “Whether whoever is being received, may be received according to the manner of the recipient.”
2. “While waiting for something better.”
3. Presumably formed from the French verb frémir, to shudder.
4. “Free of fear.”
5. Johann Gottfried Jacob Hermann (1772–1848), classical scholar and authority on metre.
6. “I read Price’s book with great relish, and I would wish that very many thanks be conveyed by you to him in my name. He seems, to me, to have argued for the most part, not only subtly but also openly, and there are few topics on which I would disagree with him.”
7. Poems of Mr. John Milton (1645), Sonnet VIII, 8.
8. The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great (1730), II, 4.
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