4521. William Makepeace Thackeray to EBB & RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 27, 38.
36 Onslow Sqr
Novr 19. [1859] [1]
A friend of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett his wife has agreed to become Editor of a Magazine wh is to appear with the New Year. [2]
He wishes to provide for the public as much amusement, as much instruction as much knowledge pleasure poetry pathos fun as can be procured for love or money. He has a great deal of the first and a liberal portion of the latter to offer to such contributors as R & E.B.B. Have one or both of you a short poem wh you can give for an early number of the Cornhill Magazine? [3]
(Private.) Two young ladies named Thackeray [4] send very kind remembrances to the above mentioned lady & gentleman.
Address: À M. / Monsieur Robert Browning. / Florence / Italy. Redirected twice: [1] Via Maggio; [2] Roma.
Publication: The Letters and Private Papers of William Makepeace Thackeray, ed. Gordon N. Ray (Cambridge, Mass., 1945–46), 4, 165–166.
Manuscript: Brown University.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. The Cornhill Magazine, published by Smith, Elder & Co. and edited by Thackeray, launched on 1 January 1860. The first issue “reached a sale of one hundred and twenty thousand copies” (DNB). This letter was a long time reaching the Brownings. RB replied in letter 4579.
3. This letter is written on Cornhill Magazine stationery.
4. Thackeray’s daughters, Anne Isabella (1837–1919) and Harriet Marian (1840–75).
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