375. Edward Moulton-Barrett (father) to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 2, 245–247.
[London]
May 21. 1830.
My dearest Ba
I believe at least I am indebted to you two letters & if so you must be content to take 10s/ in the pound and give me an acquittance. I have had so great indisposition to write of late that I have felt it impossible to take a pen in hand but upon urgent occasion—you know I am sometimes so and you will excuse it & the more so as I knew that you were hearing of me often from Trepsack & Sam– I was happy to hear of your report of your stay at Mr Boyd & gratified with all which seemed to afford you so much satisfaction. His powers are wonderfull & the capacity which has been granted him contrasted with his severe deprivation is truly the tempering of the wind to the shorn Lamb– [1] How happily those attainments, of which he is possessed, were made when he yet had the outward facu[l]ty of receiving them into the inner chamber of the Being, otherwise he must have been ever deprived of the enjoyments he now has; how evident hence that the present time is all we can call our own to prepare either for time or eternity either for laying up what may constitute future needful comforts or unspeakable blessings. We use the senses as if they were immortal, & that they were the chief end of our existence, whereas they are but the means or hand maids to convey from the great stores of Nature, acceptable things to the Mistress within, who analises & modifies & relishes them most exquisitely and altho the mind without the senses be as one bedridden, yet the senses without the mind is a thing not a jot removed from a heart that perishes– Poor Clara [2] a week ago was very ill, I fear her mind is much affected, from Henry Owen saying that the Visitation was a greater affliction than Death would have been; I suspect the worse, but in all your Letters let no hint transpire of this to any one. I need not say how gratified I was at your account of our dear Bro’s defence of the truth of the Holy Ghost’s report & the consequent lie to every thing that is not congenial to it; may we be always found fighting with this sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God & whatsoever is written therein be received by us unequivocally & whatsoever is opposed thereto, though it comes to us from an Angel, rejected as the production of Hell itself–
I suppose Miss Price is now with you, I regret I cannot be with you to partake of her agreeable conversation & society & to express my contrition for my neglect of her two most kind notes to me they rise up now & then as Spectres to scare me, but say I have constantly had it in my mind to answer them, & will– I have however not been neglectful of her commission with respect to the Dictionary which I have had by me upwards of six week[s]. I hope you will all take care of her & keep good hours– I have heard two Sermons from the celebrated Dr Chalmers [3] & was much delighted with them, I never read any thing of his I liked so much, his manner is most emphatic & his composition extremely logical in very choice language. I never heard any thing more exquisite than his prayer & the humility & amiability of his Character altogether edified me much– I forget to say that I met Sir R. Price the other day with whom I had a converse of an hour, a kind being he is truly– I am happy to say that both He & Lady Price are well– I could hardly read with patience Mr Barkers application to you [4] & his reasoning upon the subject– It has been well said that the King cannot make a Gentleman, it may also be said at <least> as regards Mr B. that Literature is equally deficient in giving this nobility of the Soul. He says that he can legitimately use what was addressed to him, yes according to Statute Law, but decidedly not with reference to the best feelings of a man if the family of Sir U[vedale] are opposed to it– It is a base vantage ground he would attain in possessing these Letters & then make application to Sir R for permission to publish them– It is evident that his policy is opposed by the, what he calls, over-scrupulous delicacy of the family and from what he says, he intimated to Sir R. Price about the Letters being collected preserved & published to which an answer must have been given, that there was disinclination expressed that such should take place or that he should be the Instrument– Your conjecture that he means volens, nolens [5] Sir R.P. to publish, I have no doubt of and therefore you or anyone else who afford him selections or assistance in any way are accessories to the work & will deserve & merit all the opprobrium that will follow such a breach of every thing that is honorable. You say you would not, I say you should, be over-scrupulously delicate in the way he means & the giving him possession of the correspondence in opposition or in ignorance of the wishes of the family upon the subject would be a dereliction of all I know you to feel towards the memory of Sir U.P– I can say no more. I have almost written myself into a passion with this Book Binder– I have no time or room for more than my best love to all my best beloved ones & how satisfied I am with your & Addles report of them all, May the Lord watch over you all & make the Light of His Countenance to shine upon you—is now as always the prayer of your
affectionate EMB–
I have enclosed £20—to pay Taxes &c– Why did not Bro let me know before that it might have been sent in time—
Address, on integral page: Miss Barrett / Hope End / Ledbury / Herefordshire.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: British Library.
1. “Maria,” in Laurence Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768), II, 175–176.
2. Unidentified. Possibly a relative of the Bayford or Heseltine families, particularly as Henry Owen, Angela Bayford’s husband, makes a comment. Edward Moulton-Barrett wrote to Henrietta a few weeks earlier (SD722), “I hear Clara also continues [the same]– Emmeline knows all I believe yet dont be explicit with her when you write, for they do not like the disease to be spoken of.”
3. Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847), preacher and professor of theology at the University of Edinburgh. For two years, while he held the living of St. John’s, Glasgow, Edward Irving was his assistant.
4. Barker had asked for permission to publish the correspondence with Sir Uvedale Price.
5. “Willy-nilly.”
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