3661. RB to Philip James Bailey
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 21, 314.
13 Dorset St Baker St
Oct. 16. ’55.
My dear Mr Bailey,
I hoped to be able to read your new Poems, [1] and so thank you for something more than the mere power of reading them for which I am indebted to you. This last day of our London sojourn, however, proves like many other last days, dreadful to remember, and I must wait & begin quietly in Paris, where we count on finding ourselves to-morrow night. I am certain of so much new beauty & power that I may offer you my gratitude for it with a safe conscience.
My wife’s kind regards & thanks go with mine: we shall hope you will keep us in mind till next year, & allow us to know you more—for what we do know is very pleasant. Meantime suffer me to account myself,
My dear Mr Bailey,
Yours very faithfully,
Robert Browning
My own poems do not “come out,” it seems, till mid-November—you will honour me then by accepting a copy. [2]
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: University of Kansas.
2. Bailey’s name is on RB’s list of friends and relatives who were to receive copies of Men and Women; see letter 3673. We have been unable to trace the present whereabouts of Bailey’s copy.
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