3457. EBB to Sara Jane Lippincott
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 20, 286–287.
Casa Guidi. Florence.
[23] August [1854] [1]
My dear Mrs Lippincott,
Great is your faith [2] .. and kindness, in believing of me that I could not be unkind to you– The truth is I have had a misfortune & not sinned a sin– [3] Your first letter was sent to me by Mr Kenyon in an envelope containing other letters besides one from himself, and the whole packet, through the iniquity of the Roman post office, was lost .. never reached me to my extreme vexation,—and I may assure you that your letter, which Mr Kenyon told me was of large proportions, was what I most regretted. I heard you were married, and I did not know where to direct to you, .. & the loss seemed to me not to be supplied. Also I was forced to be uncomfortably grateful to you (since I could not speak my thanks) for a book, [4] which I have not yet seen, but which pleased my sister in England very much by some excess of kindness in relation to my husband & me. So glad I am to be able to say .. thank you, thank you. I did beg Mr Kenyon to try to get it communicated to you that I had missed your letter, but I suppose he failed, or forgot to try, for there has been a fatality about the whole. Among my regrets was one for the loss of the “news from the other world,” which I dare say you sent me, knowing something of my large appetite for such things, & prodigal interest in the subject– Well—you have been kind & have written again—you were not disgusted as most people would have been, with the appearance of this silence. I do thank you for that.
You will understand from what I say that I dont in the least understand about the thing required for your juvenile magazine. [5] Something adapted to the capacity of children? .. & of what age, in that case? I am very much engaged just now in a poem of considerable length, & I am more stupid than you may suppose in writing “for order,” or for the use of children– For instance I never write anything for my own child .. which will strike you as barbarous– Still I should like to try to attend to any request of yours. Tell me what you wish for exactly, & when I have time I will try.
Dear Mrs Lippincott, let me wish you all the happiness of the happiest women in marriage. May God bless you and yours!– When marriage is a true thing it is the best thing—as the most enduring of personal relations, I believe, in and out of the world.
We have been to Rome this last winter, & we came back to our Florence with great satisfaction in May– Our intention had been to go to England for the summer, but circumstances changed it, and we shall not pay our London summer-visit till next year at soonest—that seems certain now–
Will you allow us to offer our compliments (or something kinder even) to your husband, while you believe me, with the regards of both of us
most sincerely yours
Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Cleveland Public Library.
1. This letter was enclosed with letter 3458.
2. Cf. Matthew 15:28.
3. Cf. I John 5:16.
4. Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in Europe (Boston, 1854). Passages referring to the Brownings appear on pp. 352–359 and 363–365 (see SD1654 and SD1656 in vol. 19). These passages were not included in the London edition.
5. Mrs. Lippincott and her husband had undertaken the editorship of The Little Pilgrim (Philadelphia, 1854–75).
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