ft Florence soon after this evening. The summer of 1858
was passed in Normandy, in company with Mr. Browning's father and his
sister Sarianna, all of them occupying together a house on the shore of
the Channel, near Havre. They confessed themselves in a heavenly state of
mind, equally appreciative of the French people,--manners, cooking,
cutlets, and costumes, all regarded with perpetual admiration. Penini,
too, was by no means behind in his pretty, childish enthusiasms. He was
now nine years of age, reading easily French and German, as well as the
two languages, English and Italian--each of which was as much his native
tongue as the other--and with much proficiency at the piano. Browning
already played duets with his little son, while the happy mother looked
smilingly on. Mrs. Browning was one who lived daily her real life. For
there is much truth in the Oriental truism that our real life is that
which we do _not_ live,--in our present environment, at least. She always
gave of her best because she herself dwelt in the perpetual atmosphere of
high thought. Full of glancing humor and playfulness of expression, never
scorning homely conditions, she yet lived constantly in the realm of
nobleness.

"Poets become such
By scorning nothing,"

she has said.

The following winter found them again in Rome, where Mrs. Browning was
much occupied with Italian politics. Her two deepest convictions were
faith in the honest purposes of Louis Napoleon, and her enthusiasm for
Italian liberty and unity. In her poem, "A Tale of Villafranca," she
expressed her convictions and feelings. One of their nearer friends in
Rome was Massimo d'Azeglio, the Prime Minister of Piedmont from 1849 to
1852, one of the purest of Italian patriots, who was full of hope for
Italy. The English Minister Plenipotentiary to Rome at that time was Lord
Odo Russell, and when the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) arrived
in Rome, the Minister (later Lord Ampthill) invited (through Colonel
Bruce) several gentlemen to meet him, Colonel Bruce said to Browning that
he knew it "would gratify the Queen that the Prince should make the
acquaintance of Mr. Browning." Mrs. Browning spoke of "the little prince"
in one of her letters to Isa Blagden as "a gentle, refined boy," and she
notes how Massimo d'Azeglio came to see them, and talked nobly, and
confesses herself more proud of his visit "than of another personal
distinction, though I don't pretend to have been