SD719. Samuel Moulton-Barrett (brother) to Henrietta Moulton-Barrett
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 2, 366 (in part).
[London]
Thursday April 8th 1830–
My ever dearest Henrietta
Although <it> is a long time since I wrote, I know you have heard by Papa & Treppy, therefore there were no occasion for me to write, and as I have been very busy since I last honoured you with a specimen of my hand writing I have a very good excuse for not writing; I have been attempting Mr Crooks Plan of learning Poetry & find myself (without the least flattery) very much improved, Papa says it is on the same plan as the Memoria Technica which he says he has; only it is an improvement on it; as it would be ridiculous for me to attempt to give you a description of the plan on Paper you must excuse me untill I have the pleasure of seeing you. tell Ba that he says in teaching the Latin nouns & verbs he should always teach the singular & Plural together, & he should only teach the terminations to beginners, & in nouns he should always use the Dative case after the accusative, & the latter case after the genitive, & in verbs the Plural 3rd Person, with the Singul<ar> 3rd Person; as he says the third Persons are used 20 times, to any other Person once; in fact he alters the plan of teaching children completely; & he says instead of Making a pain for them to learn, he would, by his plan, make it a pleasure; there was a young Lady at Cheltenham who attended his lectures, & she went to Church one Sunday & tried to remember all the heads of the sermon, & when she went home, she wrote down all the heads, as she thought, but when she read it, it took her three qua[r]ters of an hour to read over what she had written, as she found that she had the Sermon nearly word for <wor>d, as it would take up too much time, & Paper, to tell you all the instances he gave us of the improvement, his plan made on peoples Minds in general, I shall now drop the subject, & Proceed to tell you of all my gaieties lately. I went to a Ball at Miss Owens the week before last, where I eat & danced untill 1/2 Past 2 in the <m>orn<ing>—I spent a very pleasant evening; I went also last <T>uesday to Mr Sterlings, I dined there & came away at about eleven in the eveng—it was their second son’s birthday, I spent a very pleasant day; I am sorry to say that Mrs Sterling is not so well as when I last wrote, She was very ill indeed the night before last, Mr Sterling I think looks dreadfully ill.
Last Monday William Hewit was of age, & he told his Mother on that day, that he had been married for some time, he was married in France & has been living ever since in a little cottage by the Regents Park; he is now in possession of his fortune, but I am afraid he will not have much left, when he has paid all his debts. I have been the the House of Lords once, & the House of Commons twice since I last wrote to you the first time I went to the House of Lords & I saw the Duke of Wellington, Lord Holland & many others, I heard Lord Holland speak, & I think he is a capital speaker; & whilst I was there Mr Bayford & James appeared at the Bar of the House to swear to the signature of a name, he said his daughter was better than he could expect; I went after that the the House of Commons & paid half <a c>rown, & got in directly, I there heard Mr Peel & Mr Hume speak while the former is certainly a very good speaker & a very gentlemanly man, but the latter I did not like so much, Mr Peels <speec>h was relating to the laws respecting forgery, which I dare say you saw in the Paper; <I> came away about 8 [o] clock in the morng., young <Ste>rling was with me, Mr Sterling’s eldest Son; I went again with him last Monday as there was going to be [a] speech, respecting the Emancipation of the Jews, from Mr Grant, we met Papa there, the House was full of Jews & they were all betting away, whether the bill would Pass or not; we came away at 12, after being very much pleased for there were some very good speeches delivered. A whole party of us went last night to see Mr Walkers Transparent [illegible word], there were two of Mr Sterlings children there & his sister in law, Treppy, & I, but he was so conceited, & we were such a way from him, that we c<ou>ld not hear a word he said, Bro has I think been <to his> Lectures at Charterhouse, it was at the Opera Concert Room, we came away at 11 & we had settled to go to day to see the wild Beast, & Beastessess at [illegible word] but we are not going untill Saturday. I went the other day to see the Spotted Child, it really is a curiosity—it is covered all over with spots, they are exactly like moulds, only larger & covered with hair. I saw young Knowles the other day, he is looking very thin; he was riding on horseback, & I do not think he looked like a married man, He begged to be remembered to you all when I wrote. The weather for the last two or three days has been beautiful & I think warm, I went with Treppy day before yesterday to Bayswater & we brought back some eggs & cream—we looked just as if we had been to market, as we came into London; the Trees are all getting green & the grass is beautiful. I met poor Arliss the oth<er> day—he really looks melancholy, he cannot get a place for he has left the one he had. I hope when you start your new Equipage you will come & pay us a morning visit Treppy promises you a breakfast Gratis; I really think you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for taking that poor man in so. Tell Ba that I think her Tom Cat Epitaph capital, I have given several copies of it away for Albums. Treppy is waiting for me to go out so you must excuse me; we all join in best of loves to you all. Tell Miney that Philips beggs to be remembered to her. I hope you always give my love to her.
Your ever affectionate
Sam.
Mr Macswiney is just come he sends his love to you all, & he beggs you are to remember him to Dailey; he looks very well.
I hear from you <once a> month.
Address, on integral page: Miss H Barrett / Hope End / Ledbury / Herefordshire.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library, Altham Archive.
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