Correspondence

625.  Leigh Hunt to RB

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 4, 25.

Chelsea,

15th April. [ca. 1838] [1]

My dear Sir,—Your Corelli gratified me extremely. The only pleasure I had in the other was in looking at the beautiful name (Arcangelo Corelli), [2] and thinking how very unlike the face must have been. Yours, in the rich pulpy lips, mild eyes, and yet, somehow irritable expression, must come much nearer to the aspect of the sweet and sensitive musician, whose name, I think, was singularly happy, for no man seems to me to have written such air-drawn, trust-heaven-and-earth strains as he did. When you return from the country, I hope you will not forget the promise you made me of again coming to see me. It will be both a pleasure and an honour to, dear sir,

yours truly,

Leigh Hunt.

Text: Hunt, I, 316. [3]

1. This letter could have been written any time after RB first met Hunt (believed to be in the mid-1830’s) and the summer of 1840, when Hunt moved from Chelsea.

2. Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713), the influential Italian violinist and composer.

3. We have some doubts about RB’s being the addressee, in view of the context of the letter, but, as the original has not come to light, we are accepting, with reservations, the ascription in the printed source.

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