4826. Sophia Landor to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 28, 317–319.
Tachbrooke. Leamington
9th Feby /61
My dear Sir
I beg you to accept our most sincere thanks for your letter & its enclosures. Believe me your accounts are examined only from motives which I am sure you did not contemplate, viz the gratification of seeing these proofs of your exceeding care & kindness, & because it seems ungrateful not to examine & fully appreciate what must have cost you so much trouble & patience. We are sorry to find that my Uncle has already begun to exceed an allowance, which at first appeared to him so ample & which indeed ought to be sufficient: it is with great regret I say a word that may add to your trouble or annoyance, but it is needful he must be checked. We know by oft repeated experience how quickly small evils become great ones with him, if not decisively checked at the commencement. I fear you will have difficulty in curtailing his weekly expenses, which I suppose mean chiefly his dinners, for we know there is nothing he is so much attached to as these creature comforts; but it is ardently there the retrenchment must be made. I observe that these weekly expences, which began to increase on Mr Walker’s arrival, have not diminished since his departure, but have continued as large or larger than during his visit; [1] this is unreasonable & will be a growing evil. On no account wld we interfere with your now mode of managing him, which I am sure must be most kind & discreet; but my Uncle Henry desires me to say that if it wld in any way help you to controul him, you are quite at liberty to inform him that all he receives is the gift of his Brothers & that they have distinctly stated the allowance will not be increased, but that having exceeded it last year, he must live upon so much less this year: my Uncle Henry also suggests that perhaps it might not be inexpedient to ask him to make up what is needed by parting with his Pictures. We do not forget that you have some money in hand, but my Uncles were in hopes that wld be reserved for illness or any other case of need. The journey to Siena was in all respects most desirable & it was of course indispensable to keep the lodgings at Florence at the same time: the same expense was incurred the year before & cld be well afforded, if he had not been too lavish on other points. I am much obliged to you for sending me the little pamphlet, [2] this is the 3rd copy I have seen since I last wrote to you, each in different type & on different paper; so I fear Mr Fields is not the only person who has been indiscreet enough to do my Uncle this disservice. The first copy I saw was sent by my Uncle to Capt Brickman [3] of Bath, with an entreaty that he wld circulate it as much as possible, & induce Messrs Taylor & Williams [4] to commence a new Trial, assuring them that tho’ he (my Uncle) cannot pay them himself, there can be no doubt his Sons will do so! The second pamphlet was directed by my Uncle Walter to my Uncle Henry; not a word besides did he write & no notice has been taken of it. This year, for the first time since I can remember, his Birthday has passed without being noticed by any of the family. His Brothers have quite ceased to hold communication with him. His prohibition to me last summer was so peremptory that I believe I shld only bring annoyance on myself if I disregarded it: my Sister was equally afraid, for his last message to her was scarcely less rude; besides which we have heard that his Son Walter has been again with him & if they are reconciled, it is not likely either Father or Son will be much pleased at the reception the latter lately received at our house. [5] It is really a grief to us thus to break off all communication with my Uncle & has cost us much sorrowful deliberation: any service we can render him will be gladly rendered: but for the rest of his family, it wld be mere Quixotism to fancy we cld do them any good, & without that object, there can be neither pleasure nor advantage in holding intercourse with them: it wld be only countenancing evil. Had I will to write to my Uncle in anticipation of his Birthday, I cld not have done it, for at that time I was watching day & night by my Uncle Henry’s sick bed. The day before he completed his 81st year, he was siezed with a most alarming attack of illness, congestion on the brain, similar to the illness, through which my Sister & I nursed my Uncle Walter, 3 years ago. For nearly a week, I scarcely left my Uncle Henry’s bedside, but it has pleased God to assure his life, during the last week he has rallied wonderfully; he is now able to drive & walk out & there is every reason to hope his recovery may be as complete & permanent as Uncle Walter’s. But the fear & anxiety have greatly shaken my Uncle Robert, who is now very unwell. I rejoice to hear a better account of Mrs Browning & sincerely hope she will regain strength with returning spring: we have now very agreeable weather, the severe frost has been succeeded by a genial Feby very favorable for my dear invalid.
Your allusion to my Uncle Walter’s hat made me smile, it reminded me so much of sundry scenes in his lodgings in Bath. Once my Sister was trying to persuade him to buy a new hat, but he insisted the old hat wld do very well: “then,” said she, “which part will you wear today? the brim & crown will no longer hold together.” “Then cant you sew them together”? was the reply. On another occasion when I went for him to take a walk with me, I found him trying to thread a large needle with a piece of red string. I asked what it was for; “Why, before we go out, I want to sew up this hole in my coat:” turning round & shewing a slit, full a foot long. On this occasion as on the other, it was only by appealing to his politeness & assuring him it was not a proper garment in which to escort a lady through the streets of Bath, that he cld be induced to relinquish the pleasure of being his own tailor. He surely is a strange being.
My two Uncles beg to offer their best regards to you & their most grateful acknowledgements for all your care & kindness. I beg both you & Mrs Browning to accept my kindest regards & wishes & to believe me ever
Most sincerely yrs
Sophia Landor
Address: Robert Browning Esqre / 126. Via Felice / Rome.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Yale University.
1. See “Mr Landor’s Accounts” in vol. 26, pp. 384–386.
2. Mr. Landor’s Remarks on his Trial for Libel; see letter 4796, note 5.
4. Messrs. John Taylor and Isaac Williams, Bath solicitors, were Landor’s attorneys. At the trial of “Yescombe v. Walter Savage Landor,” held at Bristol on 23 August 1858, he was represented by “a Mr. Phinn,” of London (see R.H. Super, Walter Savage Landor, A Biography, New York, 1954, p. 453).
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