SD1355. Dante Gabriel Rossetti to Thomas Woolner
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 15, 361–362 (in part).
[London]
Sunday night, [26] November 1848
Dear Woolner,
I have just heard of something which will probably take me from the study tomorrow night, but which nevertheless, I hope, will not deprive me of your company. As thus, I am told that tomorrow is to be the first night at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, of Browning’s “Blot in the ’Scutcheon.” I think you do not know this play. It is a most wonderful production, and possessed moreover of that real, intrinsic, and unconventional purity which never fails to excite the moral execration of the enlightened Briton. It was acted for three or four nights at Covent Garden, under Macready’s management, amidst a shower of hisses and puritanical anathemas. Its reception this time, however, will not probably be so violent, as I suspect that virtue is less sensitive at Islington. I suppose the less said of the acting will prove to be the soonest mended; but of course I must be there, as the great author may be visible. Of course William will go … and I believe Hunt also. We will therefore call on you at ½ past 5 or a little before 6 o’clk. in the hope that you will accompany us. You need not trouble yourself to let us know beforehand, as it is almost in our way to the theatre. …
Text: Rossetti, 1, 79.
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