4378. RB to William Johnson Fox
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 113–114.
Rome, Via Bocca di Leone 43.
April 5. ’59.
My dear Mr Fox,
I am very desirous of introducing to you, & bespeaking your kind interest for the bearer of this—my dear friend Mr Cartwright: you must take on trust that he is not undeserving of it– I have no time to write,—nor many words to say, if I had: but you will believe me nevertheless. He leaves for England to-night—being anxious to profit by the circumstance of this dissolution of Parliament [1] & to enter the new one, if that may be, on the Liberal side: [2] I hope & trust he will succeed and that the Liberals may get a ripe scholar, a thoroughly liberal & honest man, &,—what hurts nothing,—a true gentleman to-boot: so, being able to do nothing towards furthering their acquisition of all these good things, it occurs to me to help him, at least, to an acquaintance with you.
I have to congratulate you heartily on the marriage of dear Tottie [3] —I really believe it has been & will be a veritable success– She looks quite happy—as everybody observes.
Cartwright has written many articles—or some articles—in the “Westminster,” “Times” & other publications—one, in the latter, on “Macchiavelli,” [4] you may have noticed .. this is just to apprize you that he “writes.” [5] You must give him what counsel you can, & otherwise do him good for the sake of
Yours very affectionately
& gratefully ever
Robert Browning.
He will tell you how my wife & child are– I write away from the former—or she would send her truest regards with mine.
Address: W.J. Fox Esq. M.P. / 3. Sussex Terrace, / Regent’s Park.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: St. Joseph College.
1. On 4 April, the British prime minister, Lord Derby, announced to the House of Lords that he had advised Queen Victoria “to sanction as early a dissolution of Parliament as shall be compatible with the state of public business (The Times, 5 April 1859, p. 5). Derby’s action came as a result of his Conservative party’s failure to gain enough support for passage of a reform bill. Parliament was prorogued on 19 April and dissolved four days later. A general election followed in early May.
2. We have been unable to trace any mention in contemporary newspapers of William Cornwallis Cartwright in the general election held the following month. Presumably, he failed to win a nomination. He was first elected to Parliament in 1868 as Liberal M.P. for Oxfordshire.
3. i.e., Fox’s daughter, Eliza (see letter 4339, note 4).
4. The Times of 1 January 1859 (p. 10) and 3 January 1859 (p. 10) carried a two-part review by Cartwright of Scritti inediti di Niccolò Machiavelli risguardanti la storia e la milizia (1449–1512), Vol. 1 (Firenze, 1857).
5. The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals attributes just two other articles to Cartwright prior to the date of this letter: “Naples, 1848–1858,” The North British Review, February 1858 (pp. 32–69), and “The Italian Question,” The Westminster Review, April 1859 (pp. 444–486).
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