It was understood, previous to Sir William’s death, that his collection of antiquities would come to the British Museum. Although, perhaps, not a collection of the first order, it was of considerable intrinsic value, and looked upon by connoisseurs as a small Museum in itself.
On the 11th of September, 1856, Panizzi received the following private letter from Lord Palmerston:—
“94, Piccadilly.
“My dear Panizzi,
My brother stated in his will, ‘I desire that my collection of Antiquities be offered to the Trustees of the British Museum, to be preserved therein for the use and benefit of the public, and if within six calendar months after such offer shall have been made to the said Trustees, they shall signify their acceptance thereof, for the purpose aforesaid, then I give the said collection to them accordingly.’
Of course it will be understood by the Trustees that the Collection should be placed separately and kept altogether, and be described as my brother’s gift, and the Infant Bacchus should be added to the collection of which it forms a part. As I cannot doubt that the Trustees will accept this bequest, I would beg to suggest that some proper person should be sent from the Museum to Naples, to pack up, properly and safely, the things of which the Collection consists. This would be more satisfactory than that the Collection should be packed up by persons on the spot without any responsible superintendence.
Fagan is returning to Naples in the middle of next week, and will take with him the list of articles, and the person sent to pack them up might go out with Fagan.[[A]] There are many reasons why it is desirable that no time should be lost in packing the Collection up. The way of sending it home may be settled afterwards. It is possible that some ship-of-war may be in the Bay of Naples which might bring the cases home, if not too bulky, but otherwise the Museum will make proper arrangements for their removal to England.
Yours sincerely,
Palmerston.