4934. Sophia Landor to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 29, 187–188.
Tachbrooke. Leamington.
18th July /61.
My dear Sir
The sad tidings of your great bereavement reached me about the same time as my last letter [1] must have been received by you & my sorrow for your affliction was increased by regret that anything so unwelcome as my letter must have been, shld have disturbed you at such a season. I wld not yet venture to intrude upon you even with expressions of condolence, if your most kind & considerate letter [2] did not encourage me to do so. While begging you to accept the assurance of sincere sympathy from my Uncles & myself, I will hope that in writing of one towards whom you know exercised such true benevolence, I may for a moment draw away your thoughts from the grief that continually oppresses them. That you shld still be willing to charge yourself with the care of my Uncle Walter’s affairs & to endeavour to controul him, is indeed most kind, & his Brothers gratefully accede to your proposition to let things go on as at present & pay their money to your account, as heretofore; provided my Uncle Walter is content to remain as he is, without giving farther trouble to you or to them. But beyond this they promise nothing: they will not take upon themselves the responsibility of persuading him to remain where he is, or dissuading him from rejoining his family. He has been most advantageously placed by your kind agency & his Brothers are willing to do their part in enabling him to continue so; but if he chooses to make any change whatever, he must do it on his own responsibility & take the consequences of his own acts, whatever those consequences may be.
Allow me to remind you of the letter written by my Uncle Henry to you, [3] some weeks ago, with the intent that it shld be shown to my Uncle Walter, if you thought it wld answer any good purpose to do so; that letter, I dare say you still have & you also still have the option of showing it if you think good. The foregoing is written under the direction of my two Uncles, they assure me it expresses their firm intention. Permit me to add on my own part, that I sincerely hope you will allow these affairs to trouble you as little as possible, & if your kind efforts ultimately fail, do not think they have been useless: we must not expect your influence to remain as powerful in long continued absence, as when in daily personal intercourse; but remember that every day things are carried on as at present, is a great gain. I dare not look forward, I am very sorry for poor Madame Romagnoli. I fear her task will become very arduous, I shall still trust that you will kindly give me occasional tidings of my Uncle Walter, we hear of him from no other reliable source: you see how we shld be continually exposed to trickery, if we hold communication with him, besides his accounts of his health are totally worthless. His family are scarcely more trustworthy & I do not choose to have any intercourse with them. I shld make you aware that your letters are almost always communicated in full to both my Uncles, it is right they shld know exactly, all I know of their Brother; it is only so, that they can judge rightly or feel confidence in me. Your last account of him did not surprise them, tho’ it did me, neither do they take too seriously views of anything you relate; I believe they judge & know him accurately.
I shall direct this as you desire to Paris. Most sincerely do I wish you may obtain in large measure the all sufficient support I have myself received in seasons of sorrow & bereavement; & that you may be enabled to look forward to the bright hope of reunion in the Home prepared for us by the Merits of Another.
I remain dear Sir,
Very sincerely Yrs
Sophia Landor
Address: Robert Browning Esqre / Care of Miss Browning / 151. Rue de Grenelle / Faubourg St– Germain / Paris.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Yale University.
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