al," "The Statue and the Bust,"
"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," "Fra Lippo Lippi," and "Andrea del
Sarto." To Milsand, Browning wrote that he was at work on lyrics "with
more music and painting than before."

The idyllic summer among the grand chestnut trees came to an end, as
summers always do, and October found the Brownings again in Casa Guidi,
though preparing to pass the winter in Rome. Verdi had just completed his
opera of "Trovatore," which was performed at the Pergola in Florence, and
the poets found it "very passionate and dramatic."

In November they fared forth for Rome, "an exquisite journey of eight
days," chronicled Mrs. Browning, "seeing the great monastery and triple
church of Assisi, and that wonderful passion of waters at Terni."

It was the picturesque Rome of the popes that still remained in that
winter, and the Eternal City was aglow with splendid festivals and
processions and with artistic interest. The Brownings caught something of
its spirit, even as they came within view of the colossal dome of St.
Peter's, and they entered the city in the highest spirits, "Robert and
Penini singing," related Mrs. Browning, "actually, for the child was
radiant and flushed with the continual change of air and scene." The
Storys had engaged an apartment for them, and they found "lighted fires
and lamps," and all comfort.

[Illustration: THE CLASPED HANDS OF ROBERT AND ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

Cast in bronze from the model taken by Harriet Hosmer in Rome, 1853.

The original is in the possession of the author.]

That winter of 1853-1854 still stands out in the Roman panorama as one of
exceptional brilliancy. There was a galaxy of artists,--Story, who had
already won fame on two continents; William Page, who believed he had
discovered the secret of Titian's coloring; Crawford, and "young
Leighton," as Mrs. Browning called the future president of the Royal
Academy; Gibson, and his brilliant pupil, Harriet Hosmer; Fisher, who
painted a portrait of Browning, and also of Penini, for his own use to
exhibit in London. It was during this winter that Miss Hosmer took the
cast of the "Clasped Hands" of the Brownings, which was put into bronze,
and which must always remain a work of the most tender interest. Mrs.
Browning was very fond of "Hatty," as she called her, and in a letter to
her Isa she described a pretty scene when Lady Marian Alford, the daughter
of the Duke of Northampton, knelt before the gi