vitable change of manners and social interests with the lapse of
years, will retain into an indefinite future a very considerable
intrinsic value as poetry, and a very high rank among the works of its
author.

At the time of its publication its success was immediate. The subjects
touched on were largely such as always attract interest, because they
are open to much controversy; and the freshness of style and originality
of conception (for almost the only other novel-poem in the language is
'Don Juan,' which can hardly be regarded as of the same type as 'Aurora
Leigh') attracted a multitude of readers. A second edition was required
in a fortnight, a third in a few months--a success which must have
greatly pleased the authoress, who had put her inmost self into her
work, and had laboured hard to leave behind her an adequate
representation of her poetic art.

This natural satisfaction was darkened, however, by the death, on
December 3, of Mr. Kenyon, in whose house the poem had been completed,
and to whom it had been dedicated. Readers of these letters do not
require to be told how near and dear a friend he had been to both Mrs.
Browning and her husband. During his life his friendship had taken the
practical form of allowing them 100_l._ a year, in order that they might
be more free to follow their art for its own sake only, and in his will
he left 6,500_l._ to Robert Browning and 4,500_l._ to Mrs. Browning.
These were the largest legacies in a very generous will--the fitting end
to a life passed in acts of generosity and kindness to those in need.

* * * * *

_To Miss Browning_

[Florence. November 1856.]

Robert says he will wait for me till to-morrow, but I leave my other
letters rather and write to you, so sure I am that we oughtn't to put
that off any longer. Dearest Sarianna, I am very much pleased that you
like the poem, having feared a little that you might not. M. Milsand
will _not_, I prophesy; 'seeing as from a tower the end of all.' The
'Athenaeum' is right in supposing that it will be much liked _and_ much
disliked by people in general, although the press is so far astonishing
in its goodwill, and although the extravagance of private letters might
well surprise the warmest of my friends. But, patience! In a little
while we shall have the other side of the question, and the whips will
fall fast after the nosegays. Still, I am surprised, I own, at the
amount of success; an