5456. Sophia Landor to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 31, 139–140.
Tachbrooke. Leamington
11th Octr [1864] [1]
My dear Sir
Your last kind letter shld have received my earlier thanks, but I was unwilling to trouble you again before your return to London, this letter I hope will await your arrival there. It is a great satisfaction to us that Made Romagnioli’s accounts corroborate those we have received as to the attention paid by my poor Uncle’s two younger Sons to him, during the latter part of his life. We have received a second letter from Walter, the second Son, in which he states that it was his Father’s wish to be buried in the Protestant Cemetery at Florence & that he also especially directed that no other epitaph shld be placed over him, than the few words he dictated, viz Walter Savage Landor, born 30th Jany 1775, and died ...... This last wish, I hope & think, his family intend to fulfil: I only hope the monument on which these few words are inscribed will be of suitable & durable material. [2] My Cousin’s letter will be answered, kindly but not cordially, for we cannot esteem them & do not wish to keep up future intercourse: & it is the wish of my Uncles that we shld do no more than express our satisfaction at their (supposed) intention of carrying out their Father’s wishes. We trust that we shall be able to learn at some future time, how this is done. Made Romagnioli will not forget the spot & it will be time enough for us to interfere when we learn that this duty has been neglected by those on whom it naturally devolves: I hope & think there will be no cause for such interference. My Uncles desire me to beg that you will not be in haste to close their account with you or trouble yourself to be too careful on their behalf; you will gratify them if you will act as liberally for them as you wld do for yourself: will you, also, be kind enough to let us know what balance remains, before you remit any part of it to them. I have been thinking in what way they can most usefully testify their appreciation of Made R’s services; did she not give up a shop or something of that kind to take charge of my Uncle? if so, do you think she wld like to resume that occupation or hire a house & take Lodgers? If she is disposed to do anything of that kind, I feel sure my Uncles wld have much pleasure in assisting her to meet the first outlay. I imagine the rooms she now has cannot be given up until my Uncle[’]s little property is removed, which can only be done under the Will & as you say that will probably be carried into effect by the Authorities, we must, of course abide their convenience. I believe my Sister & I are the principal Legatees & we shall probably hear from them ere long. I am not without hope that I may have the pleasure of seeing you about a fortnight hence: I have just received a very kind letter from Mr Forster in which he again expresses his hospitable wish that my Sister & I shld visit them this autumn: we cannot both leave my Uncle at the same time, but my Sister is now here for the purpose of enabling me to go out for a short time & if it be possible, it wld be a great pleasure to me [to] spend a day or two in London before I return. I find the Forsters will not be at home until the 22nd which was the day I thought of returning here; but if they can receive me on the 24th, I will try to prolong my absence. I start tomorrow for a visit to my married Sister [3] & my address till the 18th will be Church Eaton Rectory, Stafford; after that date letters will be forwarded to me from thence. It wld be a great pleasure & satisfaction to me if I cld see you & the Forsters, to hear & say many things concerning my poor Uncle. My Uncle Henry & my Sister desire to unite in grateful regards, with
Yrs most Sincerely
Sophia Landor
Address: Robert Browning Esqre / 19. Warwick Crescent / Westbourne Terrace / London (W.).
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Yale University.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. As indicated by R.H. Super, Landor’s family did not fulfill his wishes. The “upright stone read: ‘Sacred / to the memory of / Walter Savage Landor / born 30th day of January 1775 / died on the 17th of September 1864. / This last sad tribute / of his wife and children.’ The Italian stonecutter is said to have boggled the unfamiliar letter ‘w’ in the final line and to have spelled the word ‘coife.’ But the stone was poor, and the inscription soon faded” (Walter Savage Landor: A Biography, New York, 1954, p. 508). Sometime in the middle of the last century, the stone was “replaced by a flat marble slab” that included two stanzas from Swinburne’s “In Memory of Walter Savage Landor” (Poems and Ballads, 1866); see Super, pp. 508–509.
3. Ellen Savage Duke (née Landor, 1818–91).
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