Tuesday. June 21st.
Two of my wishes were gained: but I must commencer par le commencement. Henry drove me to Malvern; & Daisy & Sette took their inside places with me & a packet of bread & cheese. We set off at about half past ten—arrived at Mrs. Trant’s, where I got out. Talked a little of Papa’s going & our going; & Mrs. Trant expressed herself hurt by Bummys repelling manner when she asked some question on the subject. Hurt! If you break stone into dust, you do not hurt it!— I resolved on trying to persuade Mrs. Trant to call on Mrs. Boyd—did all that I could—said all that I could—begged her for my sake—all in vain!— She “intended no incivility to Mrs. Boyd”—“was a bad visitor”—“did not give dinners”—& “could not bear saying how do you do whenever she went out”—& besides “Mr. Boyd could not bear a noise”—& in short she would not go. I was & am provoked about it; & think Mrs. Trant .. what I have long thought her. Sette & Daisy I left there; & was driven on to Mr. Boyd’s by Henry. Mrs. Boyd not arrived—Huzza!-- The servent introduced me into the drawing room—“Miss Barrett is come Sir”— “Miss Barrett—how did she come?” I think there was an expression of pleasure in his countenance, tho’ he did not know that I was by to see it. I am sure he received me with pleasure. We had not talked for ten minutes when that Miss Hurd was announced. “Miss H wishes to know Sir if she is to wait, or to go back on the donkey”. “Ask Miss H to go into the next room”. So of course as the conference was to be a secret, I[1] begged to go into the next room; & Mr. Boyd agreed, observing that he wished me to bring Barker’s Lexicon[2] out of it. I went away very quickly, & shut the door, & sate down, thinking little enough of Barker’s Lexicon. In five minutes or less, Miss H desired me to “please to go in to Mr. Boyd!” Vulgar girl!— And yet--! Of course I regretted to Mr. Boyd that I should be the cause of his sending Miss H away. “She can come another day,” was his only answer!— I wonder on how many days she comes, & on how many other days he wd. like her to come!— Well—but we began to read the Seven Chiefs out of Blomfield’s edition; & were very happy. Presently Miss Steers called, & was admitted. She brought back my poem which Mr. Boyd had lent her, of which she said that she could not say all she thought, on account of my presence. In a few minutes she got up to go—she wd. not disturb us any more: but Mr. Boyd begged her to stay a little longer. Mr. B’s begging annoyed me rather. Soon annoyed—you know; I shd. say, if writing for any other person’s eyes but mine: as it is,—“soon annoyed—I[3]know”. Mr. Boyd attacked me & made Miss Steers attack me on the subject of science standing higher in the scale of intellect than poetry. We disputed amicably tho’ animatedly. Miss Steers ended by being inconsistent, & agreeing with my poem & me, on the subject of a poet deriving more exalted enjoyment from nature than the painter or man of science. Mr. Boyd called it “absolute nonsense.”[4] After talking a little more on French poetry, Miss Steers not only got up to go, but did positively go. And when she was gone, Mr. Boyd said—“I hope you did not think that I wished Miss Steers to stay for my own sake. I was quite disinterested about it—” & then he went on to say that he had fancied it would please her to talk longer with me. So that annoyance vanished away: and for the thousand & first time I owned myself (to myself) a fool. He asked me to have luncheon: and I asked him to have dinner. “Not while you are here”. “But I am going to stay later”. Upon this he asked me to dine with him; & upon that, I agreed to do so. We read until four; & then went into his room, & dined very comfortably. And after dinner I tried to puzzle his memory in the oration on Eutropius,[5] by reading two words here & there dodgingly. Puzzling him was out of the question; but cheating him was not; so I turned to another part of the book & read two words there!— He thought & thought; & then I laughed, & betrayed myself. Then I examined him in Lucan:[6] & there he was not so omnipotent. After this, we adjourned to the drawing room, & I read the newspaper to him for a few minutes before & after the carriage came. I left him at past six— A happy day!—
Think of those boys having had nothing to eat all day—of their leaving their cheese & bread & Mrs. Trant’s,—& getting nothing instead of it!— But they were only hungry—not ill!— We arrived at home at seven; & found tea in waiting. Nobody angry in spite of somebody deserving it. After tea, I walked out a little with Bummy Henrietta & Arabel; & talked of Mr. Boyd—& tired myself not with talking but walking. Thoroughly tired when I went to bed. Mrs. Boyd is not to return until the end of this week—& Mr. Boyd has sent to Worcester for a drum. Two pieces of information omitted in the proper place for them. Mr. Boyd seemed interested in what I said of Hope End, & Papa going to London. He asked me if there was any chance of Hope End being let to Papa, & of our living there even in the case of its becoming another person’s purchase. As he was hearing my answer, I looked to see if he seemed sorry, but his countenance said nothing decidedly.
I mentioned the possibility of Henry walking out with him while “I might amuse myself by reading”. “And you stay here! Oh no! I wd. not do that.” “Indeed I would not mind it.” “But I[7] wd. mind it.” I liked that answer. Certainly I had a pleasant day. I found a parcel on my return directed by Papa to me. Opened it in a fright. Six pairs of black silk stockings sent by him from Cheltenham; & one line in pencil from him, to say that he intended to sleep there & proceed to London on the next day. My own dear kind Papa!— How very very kind to think of me & my pedestals at such a time!— How I ought to love him!—ought!—how I do!--
Eliza did not come today. I took my sketch of Mr. Boyd with me, & half spoilt it, instead of improving it.
1. Underscored twice.
2. Edmund Henry Barker and George Dunbar, A Greek and English Lexicon, for the Use of Schools and Colleges (London, 1831).
3. Underscored twice.
4. She had previously argued this point with H.S.B. in her letter to him of 1 May 1828 (BC, 2, 135–141), referring to p. 73 of her Essay on Mind: “Surely poets do see more in nature than artists do! Surely you cannot disagree with me in this! … the poet … looks thro’ nature that he may look beyond nature!” She expressed this in lines 1022–29 of the Essay (ed. cit., pp. 73–74):
The artist lingers in the moon-lit glade,
And light and shade, with him, are—light and shade.
The philosophic chymist wandering there,
Dreams of the soil and nature of the air.
The rustic marks the young herbs’ fresh’ning hue,
And only thinks—his scythe may soon pass through!
None “muse on nature with a Poet’s eye,”
None read, but Poets, Nature’s poetry!
5. St. John Chrysostom, “In Eutropium Eunuchum, Patritum et Consulem,” pronounced at St. Sophia’s, Constantinople, A.D. 399 (PCC, LII, cols. 389–396). A translation was included in H.S.B.’s Select Passages of the Writings of St. Chrysostom, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and St. Basil (London, 1806).
6. Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (A.D. 39–65), whose only extant major work is Pharsalia, treating of the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey.
7. Underscored twice.
