5661. William Ralston Shedden-Ralston to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 32, 22.
British Museum
Novr 18. 1865
Dear Sir
My friends Mr Thomas Woolner and Mr Coventry Patmore both tell me I may write to you without the ceremony of an introduction, to ask if you happen to know where Setebos, of whom you have made Caliban reason so naturally, [1] was originally worshipped. I came across the passages I enclose about that deity as I was consulting the book for another purpose, and it occurred to me that you might care to see them if you were unacquainted with them.
As they were new to Mr Charles Knight, [2] I may assume that they are not generally known, but in forwarding them to you I may be committing the grievous error of sending “owls to Athens.” [3]
If that be the case pray throw my letter in the fire, and forgive me for troubling you, but if they are new to you allow me to offer them to you as a token of gratitude for the poem in which Setebos figures.
The book from which they are taken is Pigafetta’s “Viaggio fatto da gli Spagnivoli a torno a’l Mondo en l’anno 1519.” [4] The copy from which I quote was published in 1536.
Pray forgive me for taking the liberty of writing to you in so unceremonious a manner, and
Believe me
Yours faithfully
W. R. S. Ralston. [5]
The “Giants” were in 2 lines of Patagonia. [6]
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Yale University.
1. In “Caliban upon Setebos” (Dramatis Personae, 1864).
2. Charles Knight (1791–1873), writer and publisher.
3. Greek proverb, the equivalent of “carrying coals to Newcastle.”
4. Il Viaggio fatto da gli Spagnivoli a torno a’l Mondo ([Venice], 1536) by Francesco Antonio Pigafetta (d. ca. 1531), who sailed with Magellan on the voyage around the world, and Maximilianus Transylvanus (d. 1538).
5. William Ralston Shedden-Ralston (1828–89), librarian and Russian scholar, who worked in the book department of the British Museum from 1853.
6. In Il Viaggio, Pigafetta describes the inhabitants of Patagonia as giants and tells of how they invoked the god Setebos when they were deceived and taken captive.
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