3375. Harriet G. Hosmer to RB

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 20, 161–162.

[Rome]

[ca. April 1854] [1]

Dear Mr Browning–

I have learned that it is a great chance if the Museum of the Lateran [2] is open today being Saturday: therefore I propose that we postpone our visit as it would be a pity to walk up there for nothing–

Hoping this bitter disappointment will not upset your mental quillbrium

Ever yrs truly

H G Hosmer

Query! Would paper of any other color smell as sweet– [3]

Address, on integral page: Mr Browning / 43 Bocca di Leone / 3d Piano.

Publication: None traced.

Manuscript: University of Virginia.

1. Dating suggested by the formal nature of the salutation and closing, which implies an early phase in Miss Hosmer’s friendship with RB, and by the proposed walk to the Lateran which may have been more likely to take place during the better weather of spring.

2. The Lateran, the palace of the popes during the early middle ages, lies adjacent to the Basilica of St. John. In 1843 the palace, which had long been a public hospital, was converted into a museum for antiquities by Pope Gregory XVI. When Pius IX succeeded to the papacy in 1846, plans were made to add a section devoted to Christian art, and by 1853 many such works had been moved onto the first floor of the building. The museum did not open to the general public for many years, but admission could be had by way of “a paul to each of the custodes (there are 2)” (Murray’s A Handbook for Travellers in Central Italy, 1853, part II, p. 203).

3. Cf. Romeo and Juliet, II, 2, 43–44.

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