Octavius, her youngest brother.
Hugh Stuart Boyd, the blind scholar whose friendship with Elizabeth Barrett is commemorated in her poem, 'Wine of Cyprus,' and in three sonnets expressly addressed to him. He was at this time living at Great Malvern, where Miss Barrett frequently visited him, reading and discussing Greek literature with him, especially the works of the Greek Christian Fathers. But to call him her tutor, as has more than once been done, is a mistake: see Miss Barrett's letter to; him of March 3, 1845. Her knowledge of Greek was due to her volunteering to share her brother Edward's work under his tutor, Mr. MacSwiney.
Mr. Ingram, in his Life of E.B. Browning ('Eminent Women' Series) connects this fact with the abolition of colonial slavery, and a consequent decrease in Mr. Barrett's income; but since the abolition only took place in 1833, while Hope End was given up in the preceding year, this conclusion does not appear to be certain.