Edward Burne-Jones letter to Cormell Price, 1853 March 5

Burne-Jones opens by observing that, "like Mahomet of old", Price "finding the mountain won't come to [him]" has "gone to the mountain" and written to Burne-Jones. He offers Price a "free pardon" for not having done so earlier. Burne-Jones accepts Price's congratulations on the "issue of my 'little go'" but notes his tardiness.

Burne-Jones writes that "your condolence ... on Sewell's leaving is pathetic" noting that it is likely that Sewell will be promoted to rector upon the incumbent's death. This is perhaps a reference to William Sewell, a tutor at Exeter College, Oxford.

Burne-Jones affirms to Price that he has no plans to move and asks him to relay this information to "the Birmingham people through the medium of the press or in any other more convenient way."

He asks Price to tell "him" (an unidentified man) that his "reproachful language" insulted Burne-Jones deeply and that Burne-Jones "yearns" for him and will write to him soon. He notes that he pities "Miller" and writes that "Latimer [perhaps the minister at St Paul's, Birmingham] has my good word ... it will help him to make a stand against the uncircumcised." Burne-Jones asks Price if he knows why Hook [i.e., Walter Farquhar Hook?] has been elected to Lincoln instead of Jackson and remarks that he could tell Price "a few truths about Hook that would make [him] sing another tune." Burne-Jones disagrees with Price that Sewell and Gresley will be bishops, claiming that having seen "a little more of the world" than Price has been enough to "disenchant a good deal of [his] grander notions." Burne-Jones notes that he and William Fulford, Charles Faulkner and Richard Watson Dixon talk of little besides these ecclesiastical politics.

Burne-Jones ends by confirming that he will see Price in two weeks times and sends his kind remembrances to Price's sister and their old school friends.