5414. Julia Wedgwood to RB

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 31, 82.

1, Cumberland Place, N.W.

Wednesday night [29 June 1864] [1]

Dear friend,

Any time in the afternoon I shall be equally glad to see you. I do not wonder you shrink from any peculiar sanctification of anniversaries which shall seem to exclude the rest of the year, which must to you be one long anniversary. How infinite the possibilities are of human desire! I cannot conceive a greater loss than yours, & yet I am quite sure it excluded some of the pain I am feeling now. We have each our own nadir: when I can look up, I suppose we shall find we have each our own zenith too!

I am afraid you are too sanguine in expecting to avoid the “graffiti” you speak of, but the next shower will wash them out. You will be glad to hear that my mother has not suffered in health from the event of today. [2]

Ever yrs

JW.

Publication: RB-JW, p. 38.

Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.

1. Dating provided by Miss Wedgwood’s reference to the burial of her brother.

2. Her son’s burial.

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