Correspondence

Scope and Contents: Burne-Jones thanks Price for his last letter, commenting that it has been passed around and shared with "all who want [Price] back." He pleads with Price to move back to Britain, offering Price a room in his home until he can find something permanent. He tells Price his family are spending three months in Venice from May and that Price could have their home in London to himself. Burne-Jones tells Price that Elizabeth Siddall has died and that Rossetti is "smashed for the time."...

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"Dearest Crom, I won't write at length; you may never get this -- we shall be in Venice I hope in a week to stop there for nearly a month, direct poste restante. I do do hope we shall meet this year. Love from Georgie. Most affectionately yours, Ned."

Scope and Contents: Burne-Jones jokingly chastises Price for his last "skinny" letter and promises that "now [he]'ll be revenged" in his response. Burne-Jones describes at length how he spends his time in the River Wye area, which he says is like "Elysium." He describes his daily routine of walking in the countryside, reading and going to the cathedral. He says in his time in the area he has "endured two" parties and complains about the questioning he receives from guests, commenting "girls are such -- hm --...

Scope and Contents: 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...

Scope and Contents: Burne-Jones congratulates Price on his "dutiful and exemplary" conduct, developed "for many years under [Burne-Jones's] auspices." He adds: "it gives me encouragement that the philosophical notions I have inculcated, and wh. have brought such fruits in you, will be equally productive in others." However, so that Price is not "unduly puffed-up," Burne-Jones goes on to jovially criticize Price's "volatile, hurry-scurry, hyper-condensed" writing style. Burne-Jones comments that he...

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Burne-Jones writes to Price in the character of "Cardinal de Birmingham" on matters of Ecclesiasticism and Christian unity. Near the end of the letter, Burne-Jones praises Ruskin, upon the publication of the second volume of The Stones of Venice. A postscript responds to the issue of celibacy, on which Price sought counsel.

References: Georgiana Burne-Jones, v. 1, pages 81-86.

Scope and Contents: Burne-Jones expresses his delight upon receiving Price's last letter. He regrets that he cannot respond to Price's latest request on account of being very busy. He also remarks that the subject proposed by Price is "really beyond me." It seems that Price's request is related to a specific poet (perhaps Tennyson, who is discussed at length in the previous letter), for Burne-Jones writes that: "I have not found a day without reading or hearing his work - it is unfair I know to other poets, for...

Scope and Contents: Burne-Jones tells Price that he must write a letter to "Harry" (Henry Macdonald), but, not knowing Harry's address, must send it via Price. Burne-Jones commiserates with Price regarding "the suppression of the Press" which Burne-Jones declares an "act of high-treason against the Great Republic of Literature," "Inquisatorial in a land that acknowledges no Inquisition" and "tyranny." He quotes Tennyson, assuring Price that "the tyrant's cruel glee forces on the freer hour." ...

Scope and Contents: Burne-Jones responds to Price's questions about scholarships, noting that the competition for Oxford scholarships "depend entirely upon the men who present themselves for candidacy" and that the University's reputation for "stiffness" deters individuals from applying and so "competition has been less." He tells Price that the scholarships for Queen's College are generous but that the college has changed from "old times." He notes Magdalen College's demyship scholarship form and states that...

Scope and Contents: Burne-Jones apologizes for being "forgetful" of Price and admits that he "cannot plead hard work altogether for my cause, so many nameless trifles occur all day long to break the best resolutions." He tells Price that he has heard that he is studying hard and wishes him success in his endeavors. He encourages Price to apply for an Oxford scholarship, noting that even in failure "the practice is very good and often encouraging." He says that this term has been his happiest yet and he has been...

Scope and Contents: Burne-Jones is working on a "little head of Paolo in the Ducal Pal[ace]" for Ruskin and is anxious about the quality. (Fiona Macarthy has identified this to be a study from Veronese's Thanksgiving for the Victory of Lepanto in the Sala del Collegio. See Macarthy, The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012), 144.) Burne-Jones asks Ruskin to stay in Milan...

Scope and Contents: Burne-Jones writes that (John William) Inchbold has arrived, bringing Ruskin's letter. Burne-Jones remarks upon his copies made for Ruskin: "four rotten little sketches; one of a head in the Veronese Triumph at the Ducal Palace, one of the Bacchus head of Tintoret (as nearly original size as I could guess), one of St. Catherine, and one of the Harem or Marriage of Cana. They really are so far more faithful than those I did under your...

Scope and Contents: Burne-Jones writes in reply to a letter from Ruskin. He references a "Harry VIII," a nickname for a shared acquaintance who Georgiana Burne-Jones describes as "the boy." Burne-Jones writes that he has had a hard time seeing in the dark to make his copies for Ruskin. He has completed the "sketch of St. Sebastian" and states "today I make a sketch of the St. Catherine" (of Alexandria?). Burne-Jones and Georgiana are "longing" to be with Ruskin in Milan. "William started yesterday for Venice so...

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"Dearest Oldie[?] So disappointed & sorry that[?] my reason against Friday is that I have a sitter that day, and shall be in extreme misery as I am always on these occasions - if Thursday would do as well for you I would […] - or today but if Tuesday is your only day be sure & come. Ever your loving Ned."

If, indeed, addressed to 'Oldie' then this is written to John Ruskin. Ruskin signed his letters 'Oldie' in his correspondence with Burne-Jones.

Scope and Contents: "Ho blessed one, I have just read the last Praeterita - it has been in the house a week - and it is the first time in my life that this has happened that I haven't instantly read Praeterita, Fors, or new book of thine - and it means that I am very down this winter and sad and flat - and old and tired. But it picked me up brightly, and I wish I had lived with you always - and that we had been monks - Joan...

Scope and Contents: "My Blessed, Do maids dust your pictures - and if so do they treat you as I am treated? Every morning my engravings, pictures, all my treasures hanging on the wall look like this: [Pen-and-ink sketch of pictures hanging off-kilter on the wall]. Every evening I set them straight and look at them longingly like this: [Sketch of Burne-Jones reclining on a sofa with straightened pictures behind him on the wall]. And every morning again: [Sketch of Burne-Jones crouched below his pictures hanging...

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Lear writes to an unidentified recipient that “I do not know tht I can add anythg more.” He then asks whether there is any chance of him seeing the recipient soon.

Scope and Contents: Lear writes to his sister Ann, from “the desert: outside the walls of Suez.” He begins with a lengthy discussion of camel travel, pleasant as, “you are lifted up on the long necked monster--& away you go just as if on a rocking chair.” And yet they are quite irritable: “when I put the vegetable within a yard of him [Lear’s camel], he yells & grunts as if I were killing him….If you try to make them go faster—they grown: if you stop them or try to go slower—they growl also.” He...

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Lear writes to Fields with condolences for the death of her husband, James Thomas Fields. He mentions that he has recently received several papers describing Fields’s life, and he asks that she convey her thanks to the people who sent them (though he is not sure who that is). Lear closes his letter, writing, “you have the memories of golden hours passed with him who is gone for a time. So that in writing these lines I feel less sad than I might do in many similar cases.”