4538. RB to Sophia Landor
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 27, 67–68.
Rome, Via del Tritone, 28.
Dec. 8. ’59.
My dear Miss Landor,
We have been forced, you see, to leave Florence for the winter: I don’t think, however, that I have omitted anything necessary to your Uncle’s comforts during my absence. He has now been a month established in his new lodgings: he has a sitting, dining, & bed room, communicating with each other, and a small book-room—all on the first-floor and overlooking a pleasant strip of garden: on the ground-floor are rooms for Mrs Wilson (Madame Romagnuoli [sic]) and a servant. The apartment of Mr Landor is newly furnished, carpeted &c throughout, and he professes himself very satisfied in all respects. His family have returned his five pictures, and—he declares—about two thirds of the other effects he claims: I am afraid I can help him no further in that matter. He seems to like Mrs Wilson greatly—but shows occasional irritability at trifles,—chiefly occasioned by his own forgetfulness or misconceptions—that no foresight can prevent: but these less happy moments pass, and he becomes goodnatured as usual: I wish, with all my heart, that I could never leave his elbow, and then even these moments might be spared him:—to me, he is always entirely affectionate & obliging. He promises to write to me every week—Mrs Wilson will also write—and I have arranged with Dr Grisanowsky, a clever and sympathizing acquaintance of his & mine, so as to ensure him the promptest attendance in case of need: other friends have engaged to keep him in sight,—and, should a necessity arise, I shall be with him in a day. I left him rather the worse from the effects of a cold caught a fortnight ago. He reads & writes as usual—you may have seen a letter he addressed to the “Times.” [1] To my sorrow, he has been laying out some dozen pounds on pictures—repairing & framing a sad daub—about which he would hear no rationality: but, as he told me, that expence was incurred under the belief that his family would restore him a supposed balance on his account, and that he might dispose of his plate; I advanced the money, with a prudent admonition, and he assured me he should do nothing so exorbitant for the future. He is a little more fantastic and exacting about the quality of his dinners than I had counted on—changing his tastes, and forgetting his own orders at the critical moment: but his appetite is very delicate & uncertain and we are bound to entice it if we can.
As soon as I received your intimation that the will was correct in point of English Law,—I proceeded to get the duplicate properly disposed of according to Tuscan usage. It was accordingly attested by two Tuscan witnesses (my servants) and certified valid by two notaries, and by them deposited in the Archives at Or San Michele. [2] The additions—(no alterations whatever) absolutely required were the words “in my apartment in Via Nunziatina, Florence” after the concluding date—and, after the final signature, the words “exercising no profession–” I cannot think these superfluous additions will in any degree damage the English duplicate—the law’s axiom being “plus non vitiat” or too much does no harm [3] —moreover they are not inserted in the body of the will: the want of them, however, would have invalidated the instrument. I suspect, beside, that this Tuscan duplicate will be that which you eventually act upon.
I think, after all my promises, I shall wait till the end of the month before I transmit you our account—as with the added experience of the last weeks, we shall be able to calculate better future expences, and the “quarters” will fall into their natural places.
My wife has borne the six days’ journey better than I was entitled to hope: she is established in sunny rooms here, and feels stronger. Her true regard goes to you with that of
Yours very faithfully,
Robert Browning–
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Yale University.
1. In a letter to The Times of 29 November 1859 (p. 10), Landor writes: “The Italians are highly gratified by the justice you have awarded Garibaldi. It appears to me that he is worthy of your commendation and of their confidence.” In mentioning the Italian general’s resignation from the Piedmontese army, Landor finds an opportunity to fire away at France and its Napoleonic emperors: “Garibaldi knew that it is, and always was, the policy of France to keep the nations of Italy disunited. The First Consul [Napoleon I] exhausted the marrow, cut up the flesh, parcelled it out among the hounds at the kennel-door, and then whipped away the poor who wanted to partake of it. His successor is now doing the same. Those who confided in his promises he throws over to those who fought against him.”
2. The church of Or’ San Michele is located in the heart of Florence on Via dei Calziauoli. The church “was originally a market … and … the upper part was a granary. From this latter destination the building derived its name, ‘Horreum Sancti Michaelis’” (Murray’s Handbook of Florence and Its Environs, 1861, p. 45). Built in 1284, “the two upper stories … continued employed for their original purpose until Cosimo I. converted them into a depository for the notarial archives in 1569, and as such they are still used” (pp. 45–46).
3. Cf. The Ring and the Book (1868–69), 8, 1198.
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