5167. Sophia Landor to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 30, 192–194.
Tachbrooke. Leamington
26th Jany /63
Dear Mr Browning
Your kind letter & its accompaniments ought to have received my cordial thanks some days earlier, but I must plead the old excuse, want of time. Most assuredly we needed no apology for delay in sending the usual half yearly account: [1] it is a gratuitous kindness on your part, which we have no right to expect, & really wish that you shld consult entirely your own convenience in sending. I must confess that it is very agreeable to see the proofs of such continued care & economy, & so good a balance in the Banker’s hands: we certainly cannot complain that my poor Uncle has been extravagant, the Pictures notwithstanding. It has always been a puzzle to me how he becomes possessed of all the Pictures he gives away. About a year ago he sent some, 3 I think, to his friend Mrs Sawle, which I am told are really good ones; how does he obtain them? I was in hopes that the valuable affairs now in your house [2] were the very same as those he has bequeathed in his Will, but it appears they are not: I understood too, some time ago that he had given some Pictures to his Son Walter, to indemnify him for the £10 paid for the grave in England: I cannot understand how he obtains them. I suppose friends supply him with money for these things. I have said not a word to my Uncle Henry about the Pictures now in your house, but if he knew of them, I am sure he wld be distressed that you shld remain unpaid for the carriage &c, & encumbered with the Pictures. As my Uncle Walter seems no longer to trouble himself about them & nobody is likely to accept them upon the terms, might it not be as well to sell them for anything you can & if they do not realize their expenses, the balance may be taken from the money in your hands. [3] At any rate, I hope you will at once indemnify yourself for all costs: if they ever shld be disposed of the price can easily be placed to account. Was there ever such a specimen of inconsistency & self-delusion as the sc[r]ap he sent you regarding those Pictures? glorying in his rags that he may, as he fancies, save a few shillings or pence to give away, while he is designing to rob his benefactors for the purpose of making useless presents, which nobody wants & which if they were worth anything, ought rather to be sold to lighten the heavy burden already thrown upon those benefactors. The little attack of illness he has recently had, is as you say, very significant; but with his strong vital powers it may probably be many times repeated. I have related it fully to both his Brothers; these gentle warnings are wisely & mercifully sent & I think we do most unwisely when we try to counteract such gracious designs of Providence. Moreover, it is certain that old people do not feel the loss of friends as keenly as they wld have done in earlier years, if they are prepared for it, & if it breaks through no habit of life. But even now, I think my Uncle Walter is still the strongest of the 3 Brothers, & is not unlikely to be the survivor. This mild winter has been favorable for my two younger Uncles & both have been very fairly well in general health, but the last year has effected a marked change in both, especially my Uncle Henry. He has had two attacks in the head of the same nature as that his Brother has lately had, but very much more severe; the first was just at this time 2 years ago, the second a little later in last winter & I have no hope that he will reach the summer without a repetition: he requires now the utmost care & watchfulness: he desires me to convey his kindest regards & most grateful thanks to you for your invaluable care & kindness. We hope you & your Son continue to find the English climate agree with you. I rejoice to hear so good a report of dear Mrs Forster, but I am concerned at what you say of Mr Forster: this great tendency to take cold is a very bad thing & I fear betrays considerable weakness. My Sister who is here, for a few days, desires to join me in kindest regards to yourself & pray say all that is kind for us to our good friends in Montagu Square, shld you see them. I know not why good Mr Forster expects to see us soon, I hope we shall see them again in the summer, but I cannot leave this place for a single day, until summer, unless under very urgent obligation.
Believe me ever
Sincere & gratefully Yrs
Sophia Landor
Address: Robert Browning Esqre / 19 Warwick Crescent / Harrow Road / London (W.).
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Yale University.
1. Walter Savage Landor’s expenditure account, as kept by RB, shows a balance of 2231 lire and 48 centesimi for the period July–December 1862, an increase of about 100 lire over the previous half-year’s balance (see vol. 26, pp. 389–390).
2. “The Last Judgement” and “Christ and St. Peter on the Coast of Galilee.”
3. See letter 5110, note 2. RB subtracted 28 lire from the half-year’s balance, leaving 2203.48 (see vol. 26, p. 390).
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