4379. RB to Alfred Tennyson
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 114–115.
Rome, 43 Via Bocca di Leone,
April 5. ’59.
Dear Tennyson,
I received a letter yesterday from Frederick Chapman (nephew of Chapman the Publisher, & just taken by him into partnership) [1] in which is this passage–
“I hear that Moxon’s business is about to be sold & consequently broken up: [2] to publish Mr Tennyson’s Poems would be a wonderful thing for me, & I think it might be done if you would write to Mr Tennyson a good word for us, as to our punctuality &c”– I leave out all but what is necessary to mention—& am quite ready to bear witness to the fairness and good feeling of Chapman in his dealings with my wife & myself: I believe others think & report of them as I do. Should you be disposed, therefore, to make arrangements with the Chapmans’, you would, at all events find them faithful to their engagement, whatever it might be: and from the tenor of the letter to me I suppose you will hardly obtain more favorable terms elsewhere, so anxious are they, evidently, “to get hold of Mr Tennyson” as they prettily phrase it. [3]
So much for them—for us all, I wish from my heart you may be particularly interested in such a proposition just now—that the exquisite poem you read me two years ago, with a company of such poems, may be ready for printing just now. [4] But we have heard nothing of you since a precious note from Mrs Tennyson reached us at Lucca last summer—(no, a year before then). [5]
We saw your Brother [6] four months ago at Florence—he seemed to know little more than ourselves. This thing I have written about needs no answering, of course: but if ever Mrs Tennyson feels inclined to tell us briefly that you and herself and your children are well—she will make us very happy. My wife is much better than she has been of late. She sends her true love to you both—with that of
Yours affectionately
Robert Browning.
Publication: BBIS-22, pp. 26–27.
Manuscript: Tennyson Research Centre.
1. The Literary Gazette of 1 January 1859 carried the following item: “The firm of Messrs. Chapman & Hall has been strengthened by the admission of Mr. Frederic Chapman, who has for some years taken an active part in the management. The firm now consists of Messrs. Edward and Fred. Chapman, Mr. Hall having been dead some years; but the business will still be carried on under the name of Chapman & Hall” (p. 18). Frederick was Edward Chapman’s first cousin, not his nephew.
2. Following Edward Moxon’s death the year before (see letter 4214, note 6), his printers, Bradbury and Evans, managed the firm for his widow and son until 1864, when James Bertrand Payne took over. The business remained in the family until 1871 (see ODNB).
3. Tennyson stayed with Moxon until the end of 1868, at which time he joined Strahan and Company, who agreed to pay him £4300 per annum for the right to publish his existing works (see The Letters of Alfred Lord Tennyson, ed. Cecil Y. Lang and Edgar F. Shannon, 3 vols., Cambridge, Mass., 1981–90, II, 512).
4. Probably “Vivien,” which RB must have heard closer to three years ago in London (see letter 4041, note 8). It, along with “Enid,” “Elaine,” and “Guinivere,” constitute Tennyson’s Idylls of the King (1859), which was published in early July.
6. Frederick Tennyson.
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