3304. Robert Barrett Browning to EBB & RB

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 20, 35.

[Rome]

[ca. 20 December 1853] [1]

My dearest papa & mama

I have done some more of that reading today and I have been very much amused about Samson. I wonder if any of my strength is in my long hair. [2]

Your own Penini.

Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning.

Publication: None traced.

Manuscript: Balliol College.

1. Dating suggested by comparing the style of Pen’s handwriting with other samples. EBB tells Sarianna in letter 3324 that he had begun practicing “manuscript [i.e., cursive] writing” in “the middle of December” 1853. Of the extant samples of Pen’s handwriting, this letter appears to be the earliest.

2. The story of Samson is told in Judges 14–16. In 16:17, he admits to Delilah that the secret of his strength is in his hair, which had never been cut.

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