SD654.2. Edmund Henry Barker to Hugh Stuart Boyd
Addendum to The Brownings’ Correspondence, vol. 2.
Thetford
May 7, 1828
Dear Sir,
Your Letter dated the 3d & 5th has reached me this morning. I have sent to Mr James Duncan the order for two copies of Miss Barrett’s Poem, & I have directed one of them to be delivered to Mr J. B. Nichols, with a Letter from myself. Most probably you will soon hear of the Poem having been noticed in the Gentleman’s Magazine: the notices, which they give, are but brief, scarcely enough to excite attention to any work. In the current No Mr Stewart’s book, the Bible-Gems, is noticed, & I had requested Mr Nichols to notice it. Two or three, nay five or six authors, have sent to me many copies of their works, that I might distribute them among my literary acquaintances, & it has sometimes happened that I have obtained interesting remarks on the books, which I have had the pleasure of forwarding to those, to whom they related. Hence I proposed to distribute any copies of Miss Barrett’s Poem, which she might like to send to me for the purpose. I am a pretty frequent correspondent of Sir Uvedale Price, Baronet, of Foxley, near Hereford. He has printed for private circulation only a very interesting & important & satisfactory work on the Pronunciation of Greek & Latin. He sent to me two dozen copies for dispersion among my literary friends: he is going to send one dozen more copies. I procured for him an important critique on his book from Professor Hermann of Leipsic, who with one exception expressed his decided approbation of the principles of Sir Uvedale Price in this matter. Now if Miss Barrett likes to send her poem to him, she can do so in my name, & if she likes, solicit a copy of Sir Uvedale’s book. Sir Uvedale is a most finished gentleman, a most venerable man, (above 80 years old,) with a juvenile spirit—his English prose is admirable, fluent & mellifluous—his taste is exquisite—& any judgment passed by him on the Poem will be worth its weight in gold, & he is very liberal in writing his opinions. If Miss Barrett should meet with his Essays on the Picturesque, she will be delighted with them. If she is at all squeamish about sending her book to him, I will send to him a note of introduction, which you can forward to her. In all probability if I have another copy of the Poem sent to me, I can get it noticed in the Sheffield-Tris: I am not unknown to the editor, who has recently succeeded Mr James Montgomery, the celebrated poet: the latter still lives at Sheffield, & will see the book; for I am not unknown to him. Mrs Fletcher of Auchendinny-House near E-<dinburgh> <***>
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
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