2152. RB to Miss Gillies

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 11, 273.

[London]

Tuesday. Mg [ca. 1846] [1]

Dear Miss Gillies, [2]

Your most kind note comes too late .. I am engaged and engaged! This is the strenuously idle-time of the town, I suppose– But all thanks to you, and true regrets, and best regards to all you mention so pleasantly–

Ever yours faithfully,

R Browning–

Publication: None traced.

Manuscript: University of Kentucky.

1. Conjectural dating based upon handwriting and that this letter was probably written before RB left for Italy in September 1846.

2. It is unclear whether RB is writing to Mary Gillies (1800–70) or her sister Margaret (1803–87). Both would have been known to RB through R.H. Horne, with whom the sisters had worked on various projects. Margaret, a miniaturist, had provided portraits for Horne’s A New Spirit, and Mary, a writer, collaborated with Horne on History of Napoleon (1840) and A Story Book of Country Scenes (1845).

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