5466. Sophia Landor to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 31, 150–151.
Abbots Bromley.
Evening 18th Octr [1864] [1]
My dear Sir
I must crave your pardon for having allowed your very kind letter, which reached me at Church Eaton, to remain so long unacknowledged. Moving about among old friends & relatives, now seldom seen, I have had but little time at command. I wished also to communicate with my Uncles before replying to you & their answers were received only yesterday & today. Now I must beg you to be kind enough to let the accounts remain as they are, notwithstanding your very reasonable desire to close them, until we meet, which I hope will be on Monday or Tuesday next, as Mr & Mrs Forster have most kindly accepted my proposition to go to them on the 24th for two nights. No doubt Made Romagnuoli is anxious about her rooms & the few things left in them, which cannot be removed until the Will has been proved, & possibly you may wish to write to her before we meet, if so, pray assure her that the Rent of her rooms shall be duly paid as long as they are in any way occupied on my Uncle’s behalf & every compensation made that you think right. In reference to the accounts & compensation to Made R. my Uncle Robert writes “the closing account with Made Romagnuoli shld be left entirely to Mr Browning’s kindness & discretion, with the repeated assurance of our acquiescense & approbation, whatever it may be: that the only wish of your two Uncles respecting it is that it may be both liberal as a recompence for her long & anxious attentions & also in the form most satisfactory to herself.” He further adds, “Only convince Mr Browning that your remaining Uncles wish for such a liberal recompence to Made R. as she might prefer & he might approve.” My Uncle Henry says, “Whatever Mr Browning thinks right I shall be satisfied with.” Thus you see they still throw themselves entirely on your kindness; but please to remember to deposit first the money owing to your self for the expences of the Pictures sent to England.
I hope to see my Cousin, Mr Robert Landor, on Friday or Saturday, when I will ask him whether anything has been done about the Will, as he is Co-Executor with you, he may, perhaps, have taken some steps regarding it. I hope I shall not be in any way doing wrong, if I show to him the paper in my Uncle’s writing which you sent to me. Most likely it is worthless, but as it purports to be the last Will, it ought not to be put aside without proper authority, & as Mr R. Landor is both the Executor under the previous Will & also the Trustee & legal adviser of the family, it seems to me that he shld be made aware of it: of course I shall not leave it with him. I am quite sure there is but one wish among my poor Uncle’s friends in England, viz, to fulfil his wishes as far as possible. There are many things I want to hear & say concerning my Uncle, & the hope that we shall meet soon gives me great pleasure. If there is anything you wish to communicate to me, in the mean time, or through me to my cousin, my address will be: Miss Sophia Landor, Mrs Walter Landor’s, [2] Rugeley, Staffordshire. With repeated thanks for all you communicate in your obliging letter, I remain, my dear Sir
Yr truly obliged
E. 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. Sarah Landor (née Hickin, 1782–1875), daughter of John Hickin, of Rugeley, married on 17 May 1815 Walter Landor (1782–1864), of Rugeley.
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