SD406. Samuel Moulton-Barrett (uncle) to Henrietta Moulton-Barrett
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 1, 330 (in part).
[Gloucester]
[ca. October 1821]
My dearest Addles.
Though I am not commissioned by Ba, I venture to say that had she been able she would have addressed to you a few lines, as it is, I must be her substitute (a poor one I am conscious of) to express to you her best thanks for the great pleasure your letters afford her. Your prosaic Muse seems never at a stand, but to gallop on with all the spirit & rapidity of a well bred Courser, & all the frolicsome gaiety of an insouciante heart. I know not from whence you borrow all your brilliant impressions, they partake alike of poetry & prose, excepting that the sincerity which they lay claim to, entitles them rather to be ranked amongst the latter order. Were it not that your visit here would be prejudicial to yourself, we should all heartily desire your presence; & none more than Ba whose affection for you is of that better stamp, that seeks your profit & interest rather than its own– Amongst the gifts which are to be carried back, I beg to present you with another Canary in lieu of that lately defunct; Its beauty is chiefly seated in its voice which surpasses even the Nightingale in the mellifluousness of its tones– A few feathers are wanting to it at present, & it’s spirits are somewhat depressed in consequence of its separation from an affectionate House by whom it had a numerous family– Under your fostering care, the feathers will be renewed, & the loss of Wife, & children amply supplied to it. Ba sends you a cloak, grey, to protect your dear Self least the Winds of Heaven should visit your cheek too roughly. She adds likewise two handkerchiefs for the benefit of your little ones between whom and their patroness or rather Parent, so great a difference of age exists. I would write to Mrs Orme, but you will do better in negotiating a pacific arrangement between us. The offense is with me in having undertaken to deliver a <***>
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library, Altham Archive.
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