726. EBB to George Goodin Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 4, 219–221.
[Torquay]
Jany 4th 1840–
My dearest dearest Georgie,
Arabel says you wd much rather not hear from me & I dont contradict her—only you having just proved to me how pleasant it is to be pleased, I must be pleased again this morning by writing to you. The serpent tempted me & I did eat, [1] & now I take another apple. I do thank you for all the pleasure you have given me. It was so very very particularly kind of you to write, with your thoughts occupied as they must have been with novel & grave matters. It was more than I expected although you know I did pretend to expect it, & should have been rather furious if you had not done it– All that is excellent logic—& the end of it is my gratitude to you!– Thank you dear dear George!–
As to the rest I am astounded at the majesty of your first steps. [2] Papa will be more so still—for he told me that he did not think it at all likely you wd have anything to do very soon– How pleased he will be! How I shd like to be first to tell him!!–
Was’nt it a breach of discipline to go by the mail to Ludlow?– How did you shake the straw at the bottom from the feet of your nascent chancellorship, & preserve your noli me tangere [3] from the attornies?– There are many questions I would ask. And Bro wants to know whether the prisoners whom you turned loose upon a grateful world, notwithstanding their crime & their character, were guilty of murder?– Certainly it wd be as well to learn something of the particulars, before we raise your philanthropy to the rank of your legality. Of your consummate impudence there cant be a question. Oh Georgie!—how cd you do so .. even under cover of the wig helmet!– Unprepared & at a moments’ notice!! That was the very sublime of impudence, & makes my head turn round to think of it!!–
Just as I had finished yr letter—in came Dr Scully—& I began to tell him what was the truth, that I had felt a little languor in the course of the morning. He felt the pulse & said .. “Well, Miss Barrett—I shd not have detected the languor in the pulse.” “Oh no! because I have just had a letter from my brother Georgie, & it has answered the exact purpose of a cordial”– Upon which he began to laugh & to congratulate me—& then we diverged into law subjects (not into any particulars about you—dont be frightened!) & he told me how if his own brother had lived he wd have been at this moment most assuredly the master of the rolls in Ireland .. & a great deal besides, not admissible into so small a sheet as this. Arabel says I must not have another, but I must & shall .. quod ita probatum est. [4] When you go to London you will hear the particulars of Dr Scully’s having afflicted me with the presence of Dr Millar from Exeter [5] & a consultation. You may suppose how much oratory went to accomplish that– Yourself did not do more when you persuaded your gentlemen of the jury to honorably acquit your assassins– I have not been worse at all– Dont fancy that!– But a great deal was insisted upon the advantage of dyocephalus monsters, & upon the opportunity of Dr M’s being in the town. My verdict (I mean their verdict upon me) was, tolerably satisfactory upon the whole. They agreed exactly as to the case—& thought that with care I shd bustle thro’ the winter, & be better afterwards– But the way pointed out of “bustling through” is to keep on lying in bed—out of harm’s way & air’s way. I only hope & trust to be able & quietly allowed to get back to London early in the summer—otherwise there will be a rebellion, & the chartists’ [6] nothing to it!–
God’s pleasure shd be mine, without any “hopes & trustings” except in Him. Surely I have had reason for knowing that His pleasure is His tender mercy—but how far I am from being reasonable!——
Dear Mr Hunter & Mary have left Axminster finally—& I had a joint letter from the two this morning from Exeter which place they past thro’ yesterday on their way to Kingsbridge. He has an engagement at Kingsbridge for a few months—& after that comes a blank. He speaks of having written to his friend the independent minister at Gloucester to bestir himself & procure for you whatsoever business is going on amongst the dissenters there. It was kindly done–
Going on as usual at Torquay. Occasional quarrellings to clear the air & to keep up our respective characters. Bro was at Capt & Mrs Foleys yesterday .. last night. Great favorites of his—members of the Herefordshire Foley family [7] .. & come to live at the Knoll. Bummy & Henrietta went off in another direction to Mrs Inglise’s—& Arabel & I talked wonderful sense tête à tête.
You are to restrain your wrath towards Arabel & Henrietta, & expand it upon your return to Wimpole St. Not a word did they remember to tell us about your last orders.
God bless & keep you dearest Georgie!–
I need not tell you how high & deep you are in my esteem & love—& now that you have not forgotten me on the reception of yr first briefs, I rejoice in feeling sure that you wont cut me when you are chancellor.
Your truly affecte
Ba.
Publication: B-GB, pp. 40–44.
Manuscript: Pierpont Morgan Library.
1. Cf. Genesis, 3:13.
2. George, having been called to the bar as recently as November, already had his first briefs and was on circuit in the west of England.
3. “Touch me not” (Vulgate: John, 20:17).
4. “Which is proved thus.”
5. There were two doctors named Miller in Exeter at this time, both with practices among the monied classes; unfortunately, there is nothing in the correspondence to indicate which one was called in by Dr. Scully. The more likely of the two was Patrick Miller (1782–1871), M.D., F.R.S., Member of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of London and Extra Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians; he was on the staff of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. The other Dr. Miller, M.D., F.R.C.P., was the author of Mortality of Exeter and The History of Cholera in Exeter in 1832.
6. Proponents of a six-point “People’s Charter,” drawn up in 1838; its demands included equal Parliamentary constituencies, abolition of the property-ownership qualification for members of Parliament, and payment of M.P.s.
7. When the Moulton-Barretts were living at Hope End, one of their neighbours and social contacts was E.T. Foley, whose seat was Stoke Edith.
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