Record Number: 16942

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 24 March 1842: 'I like this waste of the public money upon bishops of New Zealand!! [...] as little as you do, & have ventured to be open with Mr Townsend & tell him as much. The utter absurdity [...] of forcing out the forms & ceremonies of this Parliament church, out among the savages, I cd even cry over in utter vexation [...] let those who are sent, be [italics]missionaries[end italics]. The bishops are impotent [...] in all situations of the kind -- & as I ventured to tell Mr Townsend, the martyr soul of poor Williams was the true Bishop-soul for the South Seas. 'There is great sweetness in his little poem to be sure -- a few lines together which one smiles over to oneself as for pleasure. Still -- what a subject!'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1842 and 24 Mar 1842

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Elizabeth Barrett

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

6 Mar 1806

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

Evangelical

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Richard Edwin Austin Townsend

Title:

poem on the departure and farewell sermon of George Augustus Selwyn, on his being appointed Bishop of New Zealand

Genre:

Other religious, Poetry

Form of Text:

Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

16942

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson

Title:

The Brownings' Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Winfield

Date of Publication:

1987

Vol:

5

Page:

270

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson (ed.), The Brownings' Correspondence, (Winfield, 1987), 5, p. 270, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=16942, accessed: 09 May 2025

---

Additional Comments:

In letter to Mitford on 2 February 1842, Barrett writes of having ten days previously received 'some sheets' of this poem from Townsend; see p.228, and p.229 n.7 in source.