SD1010. Edward Moulton-Barrett (brother) to Samuel Moulton-Barrett (brother)
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 4, 352–353 (in part).
Torquay
June 17th 1839
My dear Sam
After so long, & as you may perhaps consider it, so obstinate a silence, your surprise at seeing the track of my hand upon paper, will be almost as great (I hope not as disagreeable too,) as was that of Robinson Crusoe when he beheld tracks of the savage upon the sands– I hate all apologies about non-letter writing really more than I hate letter writing itself, so without more ado, turn your back like a good fellow to the post & to the light, & read this whatever it may be, with as sweet an aspect, as you would put on when contemplating a first note sample of well manufactured yellow grocer’s– Before I say much more on my own account I have a heavy case of messages to deliver from Ba & Henrietta which is now swinging upon the wave of my memory & had better be landed before it slips into the water– Ba in the first place desires me to fill up a slight hiatus which she accidentally left in what she calls her very business like communication of the other day– The price of the house which she proposes to purchase is £1200 mind that last blotted naught goes for nothing– She begs likewise to apologise to Papa for her ingratitude in writing to him the savage letter which she did about the box, & to thank him for sending it at last– Henrietta & I send him likewise our united thanks for that portion of its contents addressed to us– Ba does not seem to be as much consternated as I should be about the vignettes round her illustration, I think them nothing short of |pure| impertinences, for if they are not meant to assist a weak imagination & suggest the story they are irrelevant encumbrances– Ba at Miss Mitford’s direction intends to consider them in this last light & make no further allusion to them than she may find quite convenient to herself in the course of her story– Today’s bulletin of our dearest Ba is though in no material respect the least worse, not quite so good as yesterday’s—she had not a very good night & has (perhaps in consequence) not been quite so comfortable today; yesterday she had the sofa placed immediately in front of the open window which was pretty nearly the same thing as being out of doors, & remained there, for a consider<able> time, enjoying both the air & the scene extremely– She certainly regains her strength slowly, but is as certainly regaining it, & I think we have reason to believe that with God’s help she will continue to do so more rapidly as the summer advances– Before this time you will have seen Dr Barry & heard all the particulars of her case– Well did you find him to be the kind of medical monster which Arabel, Storm, & some of the more imaginative of you must have conceived him to be, going about with a bottle of Laudanum peeping out of one pocket & a bottle of Prus[s]ic acid out of the other seeking whom he might poison? Poor little man! if he knew half that Arabel has said of him & was half as bad as she thought him, I would recommend her to avoid eating in his society—or if she were guilty of so great an act of rashness, to have a stomach pump put upon the sideboard as a weapon of defence. By the bye tell Arabel that since the departure of Mr Weale I have been making sundry ungainly efforts at water colours my last being as it ought to be my chef d’œuvre I shall give you a short account of it– It is a view of a small gate, on the left of which stands a dark green, an almost invisible green elm tree; no one knows the quantity of indigo, gambage, & labour wch I bestowed upon that ungrateful elm, & its no more like an elm after all than Occyta’s like Julius Caesar, well, on the other side of the gate stands a very pale yellow-green looking, ash, & which from its complexion & attitude looks as if it was in very delicate state of health & was having its pulse felt by his great black neighbour the elm– Then in the foreground there is a large lump of rock, two docks & a pathway along which are walking a lady with a yellow bonnet & a bright blue shawl, & a child in a full |suit of lake| [1] – Ba most unartistically criticises the dresses of the figures as too brilliant, forgetting that all artists have or ought to have some object to gain by the introduction of strong colours into the foreground– Martin’s is to give distance & softness to the background, mine was to keep the eye of the spectator fixed entirely upon the foreground so as not to see the background at all– I really mean to work hard & try to mend, & would wish to imitate Mr Weale, in every thing excepting in swallowing paint & water by the pint, I trust this is not indispensible [sic] to painting well because I cannot help thinking about putting such an immense coat of body colours into one’s body, must be very apt to injure the coats of the stomach– How does Arabel manage with the oil paints?—but perhaps the oil renders them more digestable–
So Jamaica affairs are looking ill?—this we have heard only in a general way, now do have compassion upon my ignorance & tell me in what particular things are going so wrong whether in the white or black departments, the legislative or agricultural condition of the Island– Tell Mary Hunter that I was more flattered than I can express at the loving message which she sent me the other day, I thought that there were such demands upon her affections upon doves, & chickens & Seppy & Occy, & French & Italian that she hadn’t an atom as large as a mustard seed to throw away upon such as I. I send her in return a lump of mine as large as a goose’s egg– Thank Harry for me for his note sent in the box, which although written the lead was worthy of being inscribed upon tablets of chrystal with a pen of diamond– It shall be answered one day tho’ I fear not satisfactorily– Best Love to all– Believe me my dear Sam yours affectionately,
Bro
Address, on integral page: S. M. Barrett Esqre / 50. Wimpole Street / London.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Eton College Library.
1. Bro has made a sketch of this scene in a blank area of the address page.
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