Correspondence

3308.  Robert Barrett Browning to EBB & RB

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 20, 40–41.

[Rome]

[25 December 1853] [1]

My dearest papa & mama

I hope that I shall be very happy & good today, because Jesus Christ the Lord came upon earth today as a little child, to save us, & to make us good & happy for ever!

Your own little Wiedeman.

Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning.

Publication: None traced.

Manuscript: Balliol College.

1. Day and month provided by Pen. The year is suggested by comparing the style of his handwriting with other samples. EBB tells Sarianna in letter 3324 that he had begun practicing “manuscript [i.e., cursive] writing” in “the middle of December” 1853. Of the extant samples of Pen’s handwriting, this letter is clearly one of the earliest.

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