I say this for your sake, that you may feel at peace about it all; else nothing would make me say anything. Be at peace about it. I am. I hope Mr. Ruskin is. He may be. The thing is past, let us bury it; that which the earth will not cover, which is not of it, lives in the Eternal Kingdom; and in the thought of it earthly imperfection or mistakes seem very small things.
14, Nottingham Place,
December 29th, 1889.
To Mary Harris.
Thank you so very much for your loving letter. I was so very glad to have news of you. I can imagine what an interest the Home is with all its human work, now that books are more cut off from you than they were; and I like to think, too, that you will have many round you who love you and look to you.
I wonder what you thought of “Asolando.” I have hardly read it all yet. I fear it does not strike me, that it contains any poems on a level with his finest.
When I heard of Browning’s death, in the thought of his rejoining her, I could not help remembering every word of the Epilogue to Fifine, which is very beautiful.
I wish you could hear Mr. Alford’s sermons. No one, since Mr. Maurice, seems to me so abundantly well worth hearing.
I have taken charge of nine new blocks of buildings, within a stone’s throw of this house. We are buying some of the worst houses that remain in Blank Court. I am preparing to build in Southwark, besides all the old work. I have a grand band of workers; but one has much to do for and with them.
WORK IN DEPTFORD AND SOUTHWARK