Sunday. June 26th.
Dearest Bro’s birthday.[1] Not kept but thought of. As the clouds looked as if they would rain, we would not put ourselves in the way of them by going to church. Bro read prayers. Mr. Watts[2] called at one o’clock, & Eliza rode up to the door at the same moment. Was she to come in or not?—a message sent up to Minny. Mrs. Best’s baby has the measles—& Sette & Occyta have not had them. We admitted her. She brought me Heyne’s Pindar[3] as a present. How kind of her: & how yet more foolish in me to have said a word before her about that book. She brought Bummy a present, in the shape of an original drawing of hers—a lion springing upon an antelope. Beautifully executed, & well designed—but the design seems to me rather deficient in spirit & animation. We dined & walked down to the gate. Mr. Curzon preached upon faith, very ably but too loudly & energetically, as my headache testified. When we went up afterwards to speak to him, & ask him about Papa, he said “I have seen Mr. Barrett several times. He looks very well & is in good spirits. When I saw him last, on Friday, he desired me to tell you that he was going down to Eastbourne, & that you must not expect to hear from him until Tuesday”. I felt the blood fly to my heart like a hot arrow. Going to Eastbourne? Then we are going from Hope End—there is no hope!— Going to Eastbourne. Close to Hastings, where Mr. Boyd wd. have probably been by this time, had I not brought forward my “vexatious opposition”! Going to Eastbourne!--
Well! I recovered myself, & talked on. Mr. Curzon is not to preach here again for four Sundays. Shall we ever hear him preach here again? He said “God bless you” at parting. He thinks that we shall not!—and I think so too!—
As Bummy H A & I walked home, & sate down upon the pillar at the water side of the house, we talked of Eastbourne & Hope End. It is plain that Bummy has little hope. Has she any?—
Bro read prayers. Afterwards he read Lord John Russell’s speech on Reform,[4] in the midst of which, I who am interested in reform & admire Lord John Russell, fell fast asleep. My politics were not strong enough to keep my eyes open. However I slept only over the calculation of populations. I am not of a calculating disposition, in any sense of the word. I sent my packet to Mr. Boyd. No advertisement in the Gloucester paper today.
A letter from Mrs. Boyd enclosing a note to Eliza & me, from Annie. Mine cool enough. But that she shd. have written at all, is more than I expected. Mrs. Boyd was prompter, most probably. She is not to return until October, & then with the two younger Miss Gs.[5]Then I shall be here no longer.
1. His 24th. As it fell on a Sunday, celebration was deferred until the following day.
2. The Rev. James Watts, Vicar of Ledbury since 1810.
3. Presumably the three-volume 1824 edition which formed Lot 986 of Browning Collections.
4. On moving the reading of the Reform Bill in the House of Commons on 24 June. A six-column report of the speech appeared in The Times, 25 June 1831. Lord John Russell (1792–1878). 3rd son of the 6th Duke of Bedford, was Paymaster-General in Lord Grey’s Administration. He had been advocating reform since 1819, and Grey had selected him to pilot the Bill through the Commons. He later (1846) became Prime Minister.
5. Emily and Charlotte, the younger two of the three unmarried daughters of Sir John Gibbons.
