5088. Robert Browning, Sr. to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 30, 95–98.
[Paris]
[ca. 15 June 1862] [1]
Dear Robert,
I take advantage of Sarianna’s writing to you—to inclose a few occasional remarks, respecting the Book [2] she was so kind as to convey to you– She tells me that two objections have already been raised against the genuiness of it– One regarding its outside & the other relating to what is within– The first is—that the omission of the Publisher’s name & date is a very suspicious Circumstance– It is evident, however, that the book has been re-bound;—& as I do not know whether the flimsey fashionable Style of Half-binding Books was in use at the period when Fielding wrote—I hardly suppose that it’s first cover was any thing else than a Bluepaper one—so common in the cheap publications of the time—& liable to the Misfortune of being easily torn– Some person seeing it in this state & perhaps struck, as I was, with the name upon the title page—might have felt so much respect for it as to give it a better covering—& consequently had it rebound– At his death it probably (& probabilities have great weight when discussing a doubtful subject) fell into the hands of his footman—& was consigned to the Servants’ hall– And this accounts for the beautiful specimens of hand writing &c—with which it is ornamented– Now, forgeries are generally in Manuscript—they seldom, if ever, extend to a printed volume, however small,—nor can I conjecture, what purpose, in the present case, it wd answer–——
I do not know whether the practise is still continued of sending unsaleable books, to the trunkmaker,—but I really do not know where else to look for any trace of the remaining copies—and I have no means of being informed whether the first impressions were sent to the British Museum, Stationrs Hall [3] or any other place, at that period——
With regard to the other objection—that the significant appellations of Herald, Haunch &c. were not given to the leading characters of Novels at that period– They had been previously made use of by Shakspear— B Jonson—Addison—Steele & others– Fielding himself in his early writings for the stage gives instances of it– Even Richardson, who somewhere decries it as puerile & affected, & says it is unworthy a writer of common sense,—is liable to the same objection—— My opinion, (tho’ merely a conjecture which can carry no weight with it—) has always been, that it is a suppressed copy– That Fielding was not satisfied with what he had written—or for some other reason—had destroyed every copy that had come within his reach– And many instances may be cited, of Authors, after many years, [who] have actually met with their own performances without immediately recollecting, that they had been written by themselves– This might well have happened to Fielding—considering the distressed circumstances to which he was reduced when some of his earlier works, & even Tom Jones, [4] were written– Murphy’s life of Fielding is well known– [5] Watson’s I have never seen– [6] But most of his biographers speak of him in the same terms– I have heard my father [7] say that when a boy he had seen the original of Al[l]worthy—generally known by the name of “Worthy Sir”—(Ralph Allen, of Bath) [8] —& I can remember an old Woman, Mother Jackson of the King’s Road, Chelsea, that was acquainted with Bampfield Moore Carew– [9] Her father was a small farmer in Dorsetshire at whose house (when she was a girl) Carew used to disguise himself– The life written by Goadby is one continued string of nonsence from beginng to end [10] —& was merely got up to ridicule Tom Jones–
Yr affectionte father
R Browning–
Duke of Montagu. (p. 196) [11]
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By referring to Debrett—amongst the extinct peerages, we find= 1621 Montagu of Boughton (Baron) [12] =1689—Montagu (Earl)=1705 Montagu (Duke.)—Extinct 1749—(Title resumed 1762.–)
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I should suppose, from the initials only having been printed, that the Duke was then living–
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Fielding, born 1707. dd 1754–
Richardson—1689 — 1764–
Quin [13] —— 1693 — 1766—(see list of Books)
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“The Mercury—Skinner lane” (now Street)– Signs to shops were put down about 1753–
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(Chapter 1) (See Macaulay’s Hist England I ciii–126) (describing a Country Gentleman of Chas II’s time) “His family pride was beyond that of a Talbot or a Howard. He knew the Genealogies & Coats of Arms of all his neighbours, & could tell which of them had assumed supporters without any right, & which of them were so unfortunate as to be great grandsons of aldermen–”
p. 196) the D: of Montagu—the same that in 1749—played off, at the Hay-Market theatre. The celebrated “Hoax” of the Bottle Conjurer. (—he dd the same year)
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Smollet wrote Rodk Randm [14]
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the highest price of Hoey’s Books does not exceed 4/4. [15]
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Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
1. Approximate dating based on RB, Sr.’s reference to the “Fielding” book, which is the subject of letter 5084, and to Sarianna’s conveyance of it. She returned from her recent visit to London on 13 June.
2. The History of Sir Harry Herald and Sir Edward Haunch (see letter 5084, note 2).
3. The headquarters of the Stationers’ (to which later was added “and Newspaper Makers”) Company, “a Brotherhood … established in 1403 and chartered in 1557. It controlled publication of books which until 1911 were registered at Stationers’ Hall” (The London Encyclopædia, ed. Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert, 1983, p. 171). It is located in Stationers’ Hall Court, off Ludgate Hill.
4. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749).
5. In The Works of Henry Fielding, Esq; with the Life of the Author (4 vols., 1762), edited by Arthur Murphy (1727–1805). There were several later editions, ranging from 8 to 12 volumes.
6. William Watson (1790–1854), The Life of Henry Fielding, Esq., with Observations on His Character and Writings (Edinburgh, 1807).
7. Robert Browning (1749–1833), RB’s paternal grandfather, was the eldest son of Thomas Browning (1721–94) and his wife, Jane (née Morris, 1729–73). From 1769 to 1821 he was employed at the Bank of England, rising to head of the department of the Bank-Stock Office (see Robert F. Browning, The Browning Ancestors, West Chiltington, West Sussex, 2008, pp. 62–63).
8. Ralph Allen (1693–1764), of Bath, entrepreneur and philanthropist, who reformed the British postal service. He was a model for the character Squire Allworthy, the benevolent surrogate father of Tom Jones.
9. Bampfylde Moore Carew (1693–1759), impostor, rogue, and wanderer, born at Bickleigh, near Tiverton, Devonshire, and died at Tiverton, with many remarkable adventures in between (see ODNB).
10. An Apology for the Life of Bampfylde-Moore Carew was published anonymously in 1749 with “printed by R. Goadby” on the title page. The following year an enlarged edition appeared with Robert Goadby as the author.
11. In The History of Harry Herald and Sir Edward Haunch (Dublin, 1755), the name of a kindly benefactor is revealed to be “the D-- of M—nt—g—u” (p. 196). John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu (1690–1749), only surviving son of Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu (d. 1709), and his wife, Elizabeth, Countess of Northumberland (1649–90), was known for his magnanimous nature and sense of fun: “He seems to have believed that the quest for happiness was the main purpose of life and that the struggle for wealth, honours, fame, and power simply destroyed a more generous nature. With this as his guiding principle he became a lover of the practical joke and a creator of hoaxes (for example, the hoax of a man squeezing himself into a quart bottle at the Haymarket Theatre, January 1749)” (ODNB).
12. Edward Montagu (ca. 1562–1644), made 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton in 1621. The other Montagu listed was the 1st Duke of Montagu (see note 10 above), elevated to that title in 1705 and earlier created 1st Earl of Montagu in 1689. Presumably, “title resumed 1762” refers to George Montagu (1712–90), made 1st Duke of Montagu (second creation) in 1766, not 1762.
13. James Quin (1693–1766), London-born actor of Irish ancestry.
14. The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), the first novel of Tobias George Smollett (1721–71).
15. James Hoey (d. 1775), publisher and bookseller, of Dublin, who issued the “Fielding” book.
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