2 / & I have listened for the hall / clock to strike long enough - and / today is a great day, for you are / coming - / So long since you came - you / have forgotten how long - forgotten / almost that you ever came - forgotten / I should think the Saturday afternoon / when you came and I gave you / good advice by the window - and yet / that is only two months ago - / time is a funny thing I must / say - sometimes years go by and / nothing happens at all, & sometimes / a life time is packed into / a month - and Lord! what a / change in me - o love of my / innermost heart & life, what / good is my love to you? you / must tell me once a month / at least that I make some little / difference in your life - for darling / I am pouring all my soul out at / your ? - / well things like that do happen / & it isnt thought unjust - the / cataract that fills the dry / river bed pours & pours & / never complains & the river / gives no least drop back again / & that is thought quite right & / a beautiful landscape - / Oh ungrateful me, you do give / me - you are so sweet - if you / had more than mercy in you I / must love you - you are so kind / to me - & I long for an hour / alone with you, to be very near / you & hold your hand, and look / all the time into your divine face / ... 4 / it must end very soon, and it has / been a fruitless life really - I have only / begun to do the thing I want, for the art is / very difficult, - I have thought of it, & / worked for it only, foe many years but only / begin now to see my way - but I have / loved it, that art - & never sought it for / anything or any reason except love, & / never let mean ambition cross my way / have I? or any worldly reason stop me - . yes that mistress I have won at last by / servitude - she had no weakness / no kindness no pity, had to be won / as Brynhild was won - through a / wall of fire - but I have got through the / wall now & waked her up & cut / through her byrnie - & we are on the / hill top together looking down on the / world - but when Sigund won Bryhild / it was morning of the day, and the / sun rose as the fires of her burg / slacked - and for me it is latest / afternoon, the hour before sunset - / it wasn't in me to win early in life / or else the task was too hard for anyone - / Anyhow I am too used to toil to care / for rest / O if I could have got your love how wonderful / it would all have been - but it isnt given to / any mortal to have so much - the crown / of his kingdom, & the Queen of his heart / together - besides the shadow is near / - the man with the scythe - its too / late to matter - but it is nice to love / you - ah there lies the better part. & / there I can win & a fresh morning / hope comes blowing over my world as / I think of that - at least I can / love her - & not rekon what I / give or what I get - I am not / a huckster to count gain & / loss - I love her, & with all my / life & soul, with tired heart, sick / heart, & hands eager to hold her / I love her - but if the scythe man / came now - that mower of lives - should / I mind? - no by heaven, not one bit. /
The archive, which has remained with May Gaskell’s descendants, consists of more than 200 letters dating from 1892 up to the year of Burne-Jones’s death: three albums of intimate letters from the artist to Mrs Gaskell; two albums of illustrated letters to Mrs Gaskell and her daughter, Daphne; and other ephemera such as the artist’s brushes which he used when painting his famous portrait of Amy Gaskell. The letters are one of the most endearing records of all Burne-Jones’s friendships. They recount both his innermost thoughts and feelings and feature a cast of humorous characters, fictitious and real. They have been acquired for £200,000 with major support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF); the Art Fund; the Arts Council England/Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund; the Friends of the National Libraries; and numerous private donations. Two of the albums are on display in the Museum for its Great British Drawings exhibition where they can be seen until 31 August. They will now enter the Ashmolean’s permanent collection. Following conservation, they will be made available as an invaluable resource to students and scholars of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and they will be published online. The letters will add to the collection of drawings by Burne-Jones bequeathed to the Ashmolean in 1939 by Mrs Gaskell, forming one of the richest Pre-Raphaelite archives in the country. Many of the letters were published by Josceline Dimbleby, May Gaskell’s great-granddaughter, in her acclaimed book, A Profound Secret (2004), which recounts the author’s research into her family’s history. On the occasion of this major acquisition, Josceline Dimbleby will give a Saturday Talk on 8 August at the Ashmolean, in conversation with the curator of Great British Drawings, Colin Harrison. Josceline Dimbleby says: "My discovery of so many intimate and often witty letters from Burne-Jones to my great grandmother May Gaskell, forgotten for decades in an old chest of drawers, was one of the most exciting moments in my life, together with finding, wrapped in old paper and string at the back of one drawer, the paintbrushes he used for his famous portrait of my doomed great aunt Amy Gaskell, still with paint sticking to them. The letters revealed a passion that made it hard to think of this friendship as platonic and I spent a fascinating and happy three years piecing together and writing the story of what was A Profound Secret, feeling that I was getting to know my ancestors, and a very private side of Burne- Jones." Burne- Jones met May Gaskell in 1892, and she became the last in the succession of women with whom he enjoyed especially close, but platonic, friendships. She was the wife of a dull cavalry officer, and, in an unfulfilling marriage, she corresponded with Burne- Jones up to five times a day. The letters include a series of cartoon-like tales featuring characters such as the ‘fat lady’ and the artist himself, caught in mishap and misadventure. Beneath the surface lies the black humour endemic to Burne-Jones’s frequent moods of depression and insecurity. There is, for example, a superb sequence of caricatures of the artist suffering from flu. In the course of their friendship, Burne-Jones became dependent on May, confessing to her that she ‘reached the well of loneliness that is in me’. He also sent whimsical letters to the infant Daphne Gaskell (1887–1966). She was only six when she met Burne-Jones and he took an affectionate and fatherly interest in her, his own children having grown up. His letters to Daphne, written in phonetic spelling, include birds and animals familiar from his other letters to children, and several fantastic inventions such as the ‘Phlumbudge’ and ‘Flapdabble’. The archive also includes some letters to May’s elder daughter, Amy (1874–1910), whom Burne-Jones painted in 1893 in one of the greatest Pre-Raphaelite portraits (collection of Lord Lloyd-Webber). Colin Harrison, Senior Curator of European Art, Ashmolean Museum, says: "May Gaskell was Burne- Jones’s closest friend in his last years. He gave her a selection of his finest drawings, which she in turn gave to the Ashmolean in 1939. The opportunity to acquire the albums of intimate and humorous letters that he sent to May and to her daughter, Daphne, was unmissable; and we are most grateful for the support from the NHMF, the Art Fund, and other bodies, as well as numerous private donors. Their generosity has ensured that the letters have ended up in their rightful home, and that the Ashmolean now has one of the most representative, as well as distinguished, collections of Burne-Jones’s work in the world." Sir Peter Luff, Chair of NHMF, says: “Sir Edward Burne-Jones was the most prominent of the second generation Pre-Raphaelites and his work had an enormous influence. This exceptional collection of letters, which throws light on the last years of his life, was the most important part of his collection in private hands. I'm delighted that National Heritage Memorial Fund investment will mean they can be available for everyone to explore and enjoy.” Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, says: "The Ashmolean owns one of the finest collections of works by Burne-Jones in the world, which will be greatly enriched by this important and delightful collection of letters."