4706. Sophia Landor to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 28, 70–72.
Tachbrooke. Leamington
July 9th 1860
My dear Sir
I beg you to accept most sincere thanks from my Uncles as well as from myself for your very kind letter, received this Morning with the half yearly account. [1] Nothing can be more satisfactory than the latter & I assure you we all feel deeply sensible of your great kindness & care, & of Madame Romagnuolis’s [sic] also: your prudent care in managing to have money before hand, renders my Uncle Walter’s little extravagance about the Pictures of no consequence; [2] tho’ it wld not be prudent to let him be aware of that. Some amusement & occupation he must have & perhaps can find none more harmless than “restoring” these valuable Pictures if he can only be kept within moderate bounds. At his age people do not care much for books, & extraordinary as are his strength & vigour, I dare say he cannot read long at a time; before he left Bath, he read nothing but light books & not many of those. We are truly sorry for poor Made Romagnuoli’s trials, I can understand them well; my Sister & I frequently had to mediate between my Uncle & his Bath housekeeper, who often thought she cld bear with him no longer, & yet now he is gone, she thinks of him with much affection; just as we do of a sickly or a froward child, when it is taken from us. Perhaps it wld comfort Made R. a little if you tell her this. My Uncle Henry [3] is also desirous you shld offer her some more substantial comfort, in the shape of a handsome present, if you think well to do so: he wld gladly send an extra 5 £ or 10 £ for that purpose, unless you think it better to use what you have in hand. The exhibition of his displeasure by throwing the dishes out of the window is an old Florentine trick of his, he used to do it when his wife displeased him formerly, but it never was attempted in England, he knew that such abullitions wld not do here, & no man is better able to controul himself when he knows that he will suffer from his violence. Had Made R. allowed all the dishes to go; & then stoutly maintained that he cld not afford another dinner for that day & moreover that he must live very economically for many days to pay for the broken dishes, he wld have left off complaining about his dinners. I am glad he has taken so quietly, Mr Walter Landor’s [4] refusal to send him money. I believe he understands the state of his affairs as well as you do, but he has been so often helped out of his difficulties he trusted it wld continue to be so; but it cannot be, in any other way, than that which you are so kind as to permit, through your agency. It is a great satisfaction to his Brothers to feel assured that the means supplied are sufficient for every comfort & for some indulgences; & we know by experience that he wld not be happier, if he received double the amount. I have not had the pleasure of seeing Mr Empson since his return, my Sister & I had left Bath a short time before he came back; she is now gone home again & I had a very long letter from her a few days ago, relating what she had heard from Mr Empson: all to the same purport as the account I receive from you today. I am sorry to say she describes our good friend as looking very ill, tho’ he calls himself pretty [well] again now. He spoke with much pleasure of having made acquaintance with yourself & Mrs Browning; I will not fail to forward your kind message to him. I have declined to receive a small picture he brought from my Uncle for me, feeling sure I am now considered unworthy of it. I wish it may be worth Mr Empson’s acceptance; it comes under the name of a Carlo Maratte! [5] I do not know whether you have heard of my Uncle Walter’s quarrel with me, but if you have, you will probably like to know the common sense version of the case. In the spring he wrote to me saying that an American friend of his, wished for his likeness, but he thinks it disagreeable to sit for a Photograph, so he asked me to send one from a Bust I have. I was warned that the compliance with this request wld lead me into difficulties, but I was unwilling to vex him by refusal, so the Photograph was taken & sent to the American gentleman. [6] Not a word was ever said on either side about payment; it was never wished for by me nor intended by my Uncle. As soon as he knew that this request was granted, he wrote to ask for 6 more Photographs; this request I received when my Sister & I were on the eve of quitting Bath for some weeks; my Uncle said he wld send payment for these last Photographs, by Mr Empson, who was at that time daily expected in Bath, tho’ as it turned out, he was detained by illness. But feeling that this Picture mania must be stopped some where, I availed myself of Mr Empson’s supposed departure from Florence & my Sister’s & my own departure from Bath, to excuse myself from complying with this request, which has given very great offence: he has discovered that I am a very base mean person, & I am desired never to write to him again. It will certainly be best to obey this injunction for a time at least, as he has no longer need of my services, & I am sure you will kindly supply us with tidings of him from time to time, which relieves us from all anxiety.
I am sincerely glad to hear of Mrs Browning’s improved health: I trust the sojourn at Siena will add to her strength. Last winter I had the good fortune to meet with a lady who is acquainted with you & Mrs Browning & who gratified me much by speaking of you; it was Miss Wreford, [7] she requested I wld tell Mrs Browning, that she sent (now many months ago) some pieces of Music your Son wished for; she hopes they were received, but she had at that time had no opportunity of hearing from either of you.
I have never thanked you for your obliging letter in February last, [8] relating to my Uncle Walter’s Will, your explanation was perfectly satisfactory, & I am much obliged to you for it. I am vexed about my Uncle’s quarrel with Mr Forster, I suspect some little efforts I made to set him right there, were the chief origin of his anger with me. I hope to see the Forsters ere long, they have kindly wanted my Sister & myself to visit them & we are very desirous to do so, for we feel deeply their kindness to my strange Uncle.
I beg to offer my best regards & wishes to Mrs Browning, my Uncle Henry desires I will also offer his kindest respects to you both. I am thankful to say he continues very well, tho’ his sight becomes more dim. Believe me, dear Sir,
Most gratefully & sincerely yrs
Sophia Landor
Address: Robert Browning Esqre / Siena / Italy.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Yale University.
1. RB’s letter has not surfaced. However, he maintained a record of Walter Savage Landor’s accounts from July 1859 to December 1864 (see Appendix IV in vol. 26). For the “half yearly account” mentioned here, see vol. 26, pp. 382–384.
2. RB listed two expenditures for pictures in his copy of Landor’s accounts for this period: one for 120 pauls on 11 June and another for 240 pauls on 29 June (see vol. 26, pp. 383 and 384). The total of 340 pauls was equivalent to a little over 8 pounds.
3. Henry Eyres Landor (1780–1866).
4. Walter Landor, of Rugeley (1782–1864), one of the trustees of Landor’s estate.
5. Carlo Maratti (1625–1713), Italian painter of portraits and religious subjects.
6. James Thomas Fields. The bust was by John Gibson; see letter 4655, note 4.
7. Mary Reynell Wreford (1799–1886); see letter 4417, note 17.
8. This letter has not surfaced.
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