4188. RB to Nathaniel Hawthorne
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 25, 127.
[Florence]
[8 June 1858] [1]
Dear Sir– We are going away too soon, if you only just arrive: could you not pass this evening with us– [2] We shall be at home at 8 oclock.
Yours faithfully
RB
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Harvard University.
1. This note, written in pencil on RB’s calling card, is mentioned in SD2165, which supplies the date.
2. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) and his wife, Sophia Amelia (née Peabody, 1809–71), had arrived in Florence on 31 May 1858 and were staying at Casa del Bello in Via della Fornace. With them were their three children, Julian (1846–1934), Una (1844–77), and Rose (1851–1926), as well as the children’s governess, Ann Adaline (“Ada”) Shepard (1835–74). RB left his card at the Hawthornes’ door but returned, because he forgot to include his address, and was shown in (see SD2165). The gathering that evening at Casa Guidi is described by Mrs. Hawthorne in SD2166.
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