SD1602. Mary Howitt to William Howitt
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 18, 371 (in part).
[ ]
Sept. 3, 1852.
I drive on with my work like some thing blind and deaf; …
We were just going to bed one night at our usual hour of ten, when a ring came at the gate. … behold! it was William Allingham. He had heard we were ill from the Brownings, and so was come to inquire after us. … this led him to tell us what was just then deeply interesting a number of people in London—the Brownings among the rest.
There is in Holborn a respectable tradesman, who is a firm believer in spiritual influences, in astrology, mesmerism, &c. This man has known for long that the house in which he lives is haunted by evil spirits and doomed to an ill end. He discovered that, many years ago, a murder had been committed in it. He consulted clairvoyants about it, and all foresaw that a fearful explosion would take place. … The man, who is apparently most sensible and intelligent, is personally known to Robert Browning, but his name is not to be revealed, because it would injure him in his business....
Text: Mary Howitt, An Autobiography, ed. Margaret Howitt (London, 1889), 214–216.
___________________
