3885. Bryan Waller Procter to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 23, 87–88.
[London]
Sunday Oct. 12 [1856] [1]
My dear Browning.
It is a long time since I saw you. Shall you be visible at any & what time after church?– Tell me when [2] —that I may avoid your dinner hour, which I know is sometimes early. Kind regards to your poetess, who I hope is well & almost out of her trouble.
Yours ever
B. W. Procter.
Pity me! The printers have disarranged (for the sake of the illustrations) all my Sixty miscellaneous poems. [3]
Address: Robt Browning Esq / 39 Devonshire Place.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Yale University.
1. Year provided by reference to the recipient’s address.
2. Procter has written “Wait” on the face of the envelope to indicate that his messenger should wait for RB’s reply.
3. Published under his pseudonym, “Barry Cornwall,” in Dramatic Scenes, with Other Poems (1857), illustrated by John Tenniel and others, engraved by the Brothers Dalziel. It was issued by Chapman and Hall on 1 December 1856. In a short “Preface,” Procter writes: “The Miscellaneous Poems … in the present volume, have never been before printed. With the exception of three small pieces of verse, they bear date many years back. They have, however, been corrected, in some instances completed, more recently” (p. v). He goes on to bid farewell to his readers: “In all probability, this book is the last with which I shall try the patience of the Public. … I now feel that I ought to disburthen myself from my armour, and leave to more active and heroic spirits, the glory of the struggle, and the crown that awaits success” (pp. v and vi).
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