SD1895. John Forster to Robert Bulwer Lytton

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 22, 266 (in part).

Sherborne House

Christmas Day 1855

My dearest Robert

I must write to you, however hastily, however imperfectly, this Christmas morning … Pray tell the Brownings, too, that I have been thinking of them very much—few are dearer to me than they are. I had a letter from Mrs Browning the other day which touched me very much—which seemed to tell me more of her noble & beautiful nature than ever I had known before. Tell them all, dear Mrs Browning, Browning, the dear little Penini, Miss Browning and her father—what happiest Christmasses I wish them all. I shall write to Mrs Browning before many days are over.

I am here at Macready’s where I always pass my Christmas—where your name is become a pleasant thought & a familiar word—and where Great Expectations are built on a promised visit of the Brownings in the Summer. …

The Browning review I shall look out for in the Dublin University. …

Publication: None traced.

Manuscript: Lord Cobbold.

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