'crowning the edifice';[99] it is the beginning.
Sir John Bowring says that the more liberty he can give, the better he
will like it. _He told Sir John so._

Is it right and loyal meanwhile of Guizot and his party to oppose the
Empire by upholding the enemies of Italy? I ask you. Such things I hear
from Paris! Guizot corrected Keller's speech with his own hand.

May God bless you! Pen's love and gratitude. If Robert were here he
would be named. Love me and think of me a little.

Your ever affectionate and grateful
BA.

* * * * *

_To Miss Browning_

[Rome]: May 11, 1861 (postmark).

Your account of the dearest nonno was very pleasant on the whole, only,
of course, you will be very careful with him. And then, dearest
Sarianna, you yourself have not been well. The grippe seems to have been
bitter against you. This is the time of year when it generally rages,
and even Pen has had a small cough, which makes me austere about hours.
In fact, the weather in the north has reverberated here, and we have
paid for our mild winter by a considerable lingering of cold wind, from
snow on the mountains, they say. As for me, it's much to my disadvantage
in getting air and strength. I hope you are quite well again, as is Pen,
and that the loved nonno is as strong as he ever was. Do you get good
wine for him? The vintages are said to have suffered (which grieves me
for poor dear Milsand) from the frost. We hear of travellers in
snowstorms through England, where the cold has been great, and that in
Paris, too, there has been snow. I do hope the opening summer will not
copy the last.

Dearest Sarianna, try to find out if Fontainebleau is damp, because I
was assured the other day that it was, besides being subject to intense
heats. Also, will you see if there is a completed railroad to Trouville?
Robert denies that sea-air ever disagrees with him (sea-_bathing_ does),
and it may be good for you and for Pen, to say nothing of Arabel, who is
coming in the course of the summer. The objection is the journey, but if
the railroad is there, it would not prolong the journey (in relation to
Fontainebleau) more than two or three hours, if so much, would it? We
ought to inquire a little beforehand. We shall get to you as early as we
can. The weather is against us everywhere. We shall cut Florence quite
short. By the way, we have the satisfaction of seeing a precipitation of
the Tuscan funds down, down, which