4897. Sophia Landor to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 29, 130–132.
Tachbrooke. Leamington
20th May [1861] [1]
My dear Sir
I fully intended to have thanked you for your last kind communication & to have returned the inclosed letter, [2] earlier than this, but various other occupations have caused some delay, I hope my letter will yet be in time to reach you before you leave Rome. We were very glad to receive this satisfactory account of my Uncle & to find that he had again settled down to the old system. I trust all will now run smoothly for a time: your return to Florence will be a great pleasure to him & will make his stay bright for a season; & I hope you will have all the enjoyment from his society, which he is so capable of affording. Notwithstanding all you so amiably & modestly say, be assured we shall never cease to consider ourselves infinitely indebted to you for such patient persevering kindness as is indeed rarely met with, & I am sure my Uncle Walter feels grateful, for the time, however capricious he may be; & I cannot but hope that your affectionate kindness will acquire a hold over him for the remainder of his life. Pray do not hesitate to tell me all you feel at the time disposed to communicate of these little disturbances in the current of affairs, it is better we shd know how you really go on with my Uncle Walter & I can usually prevent these little vexations from pressing too much upon his Brothers. I am thankful to say both Brothers are now as well as we had ventured to hope for, after the very trying spring we have had & I trust they will both regain strength when the weather is more genial. We have not yet heard whether Mrs Yescombe has agreed to the compromise proposed, but we had much reason to think she wld do so. I hope the Trustees will not think it needful to communicate with my Uncle Walter on the subject, for I fear it wld exasperate him greatly to know that Mrs Yescombe is likely to be paid in full if his life is prolonged a few years: & yet it is quite right it shld be so.
I was very glad to hear of improvement in Mrs Browning’s health, which I sincerely hope will continue: I hope too that you have more genial weather than we have. We have had an unusually long continuance of the harshest north east winds, cold & gloomy as mid winter, with now & then a bright, still day, so hot that we are quite overpowered, & in another day or two we are glad to return to almost winter clothing & good fires: such transitions are of course very pernicious & almost every one suffers more or less from them. There is very little prospect of fruit throughout the country, but we hope the grain crops are improving.
We have not heard any thing of the Forsters for some time: but my Sister & I indulge the hope of passing a day or two with them during the summer. I do not venture to leave my Uncle Henry for many days, but I hope to be able to run away some times for a day or two, if the warm weather strengthens him. I shall still rely upon your kindness, to let me have news of my Uncle Walter from time to time, I know you will not reproach me for thus resting upon your goodness: I have no other very authentic accounts. How far does he hold communication with his family? I was glad to gather from various sources that he sometimes sees his younger Sons: they may perhaps be of some use to him. Will you do me the favour to offer my respects to Madame Romagnouli & tell her I quite regard her as a friend, who sets before me a pattern I greatly desire to follow. I beg also to offer my best regard & wishes to Mrs Browning & yourself, & remain ever
Your greatly obliged
Sophia Landor
Address: Robert Browning Esqre / 126 Via Felice / Rome.
Publication: BBIS-5, pp. 41–42.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. Presumably letter 4879; RB’s letter to Miss Landor has not surfaced.
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