4943. RB to Ellen Twisleton
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 29, 196–197.
Florence,
July 31.’61.
Dear Mrs Twisleton,
Certainly I got your husband’s most dear & kind letter– I replied to it a few days ago—now comes this of yours–& what can I say—or what that you do not well understand is in my heart?
I have only to take the one comfort—no, one of the many comforts I have, but the greatest—that there was absolutely no pain, and not the least consciousness of the coming departure,—understand the gratitude with which I say that she seemed to go suddenly into the presence of God like a child, without a touch of fear or even care: she once said to me in the night “Our lives are all held by God”—but her whole life was a realisation of that belief, and I believe that at the moment I was overwhelmed with the impulse of her affection at the very end—there could be, at least none of the ordinary knowledge that the last moment was come—she would have asked for her child, I think—but it is all mystery—she may have known well, & left the care of the future with God, in complete trust, as her way was.
Whenever I go to England—(the short stay of a day or two I now make with my sister Arabel Barrett counts for nothing)—I shall be indeed happy to see you & to see your husband. I go to Paris, or rather some sea side place in France, to be quiet for awhile & determine the more easily what to begin doing for Pen: I have plenty to occupy myself with for the rest of my life: I leave to-morrow. Peni, you will like to know, is very well—very dear & good, bent upon being of care & help.
I can hardly bring my thoughts to write even this properly—so persisting are the interruptions—but I believe enough is done.
Thank Mrs & Miss Cleveland [1] for their kindness and sympathy—I well know how true it is—and Miss Sewell [2] —about whom I have such mixed & vivid memories—tell her how dear her remembrance always will be to me.
I shall be heard of, should you ever want my address,—at 151. Rue de Grenelle, Faubourg St Germain.
God bless you– Ever yours
Gratefully & affectionately
Robert Browning–
Address: The / Hon. Mrs Twisleton / 18. Pariserhof, / Langen-Schwalbach, / Nassau.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Harvard University.
1. Sarah Paine Cleveland (née Perkins, 1818–93), widow of Henry Russell Cleveland (1808–43), and her daughter, Elizabeth (“Lilly”) Cleveland (1839–1914).
2. Elizabeth Missing Sewell (1815–1906), evidently a friend of the Clevelands and Twisletons (see letter from Ellen Twisleton to Elizabeth Cabot, 13 July 1859, ms at Harvard).
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