Richard Barton; or, the Wounded Bird [x]

Richard Barton; or, the Wounded Bird [x]

Bray, Caroline

London: Partridge & Co., 1873

Not Applicable

1873

George Eliot to Mrs. Charles Bray, 23 March 1873. “Many thanks for the helpful things you have sent me. "The Wounded Bird" is charming. But now something very much larger of the same kind must be written, and you are the person to write it -- something that will bring the emotions, sufferings, and possible consolations of the dear brutes vividly home to the imaginations of children: fitted for children of all countries, as Reineke Fuchs is comprehensible to all nations. A rough notion came to me the other day of supposing a House of Refuge, not only for dogs but for all distressed animals: the keeper of this Refuge understands the language of the brutes which includes differences only of dialect not hindering communication even between birds and dogs, by the help of some Ulysses among them who is versed in the various tongues and puts in the needed explanations. Said keeper overhears his refugees solacing their evenings by telling the story of their experiences, and finally acts as editor of their Autobiographies. I imagine my long-loved fellow-creature, the Ugly Dog, telling the sorrows and the tender emotions of gratitude which have wrought him into a sensitive soul. The Donkey is another cosmopolitan sufferer and a greater martyr than Saint Lawrence -- if one only knew what fine motives he has for his meek endurance and how he loves a friend who will scratch his nose.” GEL 5: 389-90 

Bray, Caroline, Richard Barton; or, the Wounded Bird [x], George Eliot's Reading, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/57819