Henry Crabb Robinson, 30 Russell Square, London, to Lady Anne Isabella Noel Byron, [no address], 23 February 1855.

[f. 84r]

London

30 Russell Square

23d Feb. 1855

Dear Lady Byron

       For more than a week I have risen with the determination of writing to you, And have been prevented by those accidents which are perpetually arising to interrupt feeble resolution

      This weather is become more influential to me than any weather ever did before And old age joining with winter has occasioned a great change in my habits – But these are not worth dwelling on – I refer to this only as an unexplained apology for my short comings –

      To answer first, the gossipping portion of your letter which is by no means “gossip” in its character nor are your letters over-far from it – “Do I know,” you ask, who appoints the inspecting of schools”? Of course, the minister for the home department – This I presume, but do not know And so it will be until we have a minister of Instruction – to use the French title – Church and State – Civil and Military affairs – Peace & War The Navy being a subdivision of the Army – And ships being a form of defence as wooden walls – Half a century ago – the Division of Labor was become a practical maxim – The Consequence of a want of [f. 84v] good sense has been a reaction And a reunion of labour has succeeded to an injudicious – division – Certainly for a people who are proud of their theoretic ignorance, because they think it is a proof of their admirable practical Sense – We have been woefully disgraced of lately – in the government of the country especially in the war department – But why dwell on what I cannot help remedy, & scarcely understand –

       My Eye has caught in your letter a name new to me – And I shall be glad to know more about Palfrey’s “Connection” &c The subject is a very curious one – I have been in the habit The of saying the Old T. may be dispensed with for the edification of the Layman – Every clerk should make himself a rabbi before he can be a competent Christian teacher A “treasurer” to me you is likely to be a nugget too heavy for me to lift – That expression – Hallowed be thy name – I am told belongs to the mystical portion of Theology – Mythology is the pleasantest form in which ancient creeds & historical legends develop themselves – Many a beautiful fiction is contained in the lives of the Saints which was never intended by the inventor to be imposed on the believer as an article of faith any more than Milton claimed the authority of the Church for his narrative of the War in Heaven. I should be unwilling to strip the middle ages of [f. 85r] their poetical element tho’ of course I assent to your judgement of the sad doctrines these mythologies have served to sustain –

       Did I ever shew you or mention to you those admirable ballads in the Redmont dialect which Dr Arnold so much admired – the Dialogues bet: Christ and the Woman of Samaria – And the between the Virgin and the Gipsey who tells her fortune? I will hunt them up if I can – And send them when I write the second part of this letter – for it is quite impossible for me now to say what I wish about Dr Kennedy and his vain endeavours to convert a great poet –

       I hope to see J. J. Tayler this Evening I will enquire about Palfrey – I read to him the other Evening that marvellous letter of Burkes to a noble Lord And I shall send to night And offer to read to him & the ladies the first piece of polemical writing in the last generation, after removing from the field of comparison the incomparable Burke – Dr Johnson’s crushing exposure of Junius – Nothing surprises me more than the ignorance of literature arising from party spirit – I think it very likely that the democrats of Rome the partisans of their radical heroes – Such as their Honourable Thomas Duncombe  Clodius & Cataline – were very ill acquainted with Ciceros Speeches – Lately A few years since claiming the privileges of old age at the Athanaeum And cross examining Six Whig-members of the House of Commons I found that only one had any knowl of Burkes works – And not two in twenty know of Johnsons wonderful productions And they have an excuse “Johnson was a pensioner!!! How shod he know any thing of politics?”

       The Prosp: Rev: has appeard – that is One no – I have read but one Article It is worth your reading on the Causistry of the Romish Church. Hutton tells me there is an excellent paper on childrens books – An attempt to A wish is entertained by James Martineau to extend the Prosp: & make it more worthy the patronage of the liberal – And J. J. Tayler is favorable to this scheme, if it could be carried out – But tho’ resources would be required for this, not in hand (for no part of what has been advanced for the larger review could be ^nor does^ any one suppose could be applied for that purpose) – A smaller Sum would be required – Yet I do not think any intermediate periodical could be of any use.

       I notice a pronoun in your letter – You speak of my interests – as if I were a main person or a leader in the late movement in favour of genuine liberality I did not become a subordinate till the last moment. I had no knowl: of it before I must break off

             With the highest respect

                                    &c &c &c  faithfully yours

                                                 H. C. Robinson

The Lady Noel Byron

Text:  MS-DEP Lovelace-Byron 109, fols. 84-85, Bodleian Library, Oxford.