5669. RB to William Ewart Gladstone
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 32, 28–29.
19. Warwick Crescent
Upper Westbourne Terrace, W.
Dec. 16. ’65.
Dear Sir,
May I beg of your kindness to read the enclosed letter, [1] and suffer me to add just a word?—one I might have difficulty in saying properly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer,—for I am not sure that I understand the acceptable grounds for granting a literary pension,—but a word that takes courage at the personal sympathy with, and distinction in Literature, which we all know and are proud of. I have found Mr Allingham admirably conscientious, full of industry, energetic yet self-controlling, and only ambitious in the noble way. His poetical productions are in evidence enough, and nobody respects them more than I. From the first he has tried as much to do good as write well; and should means be allowed him, he certainly will continue both endeavours—with a result appreciable by the country, I believe—and how gratifying, therefore, to yourself!
I am, Sir,
Yours obediently and faithfully
Robert Browning.
Publication: Brent E. Kinser, “A Rather Dodgy Scheme: William Allingham’s Pension, 1865,” Carlyle Studies Annual, 31 (2015), 277.
Manuscript: British Library.
___________________
