y fond of her, but I fancy she had not much tact, and did not quite
know how to treat her husband. I think she worried him a little. But if
you want to know any more," he continued, with a twinkle in his eye, "you
had better ask the Browning Society,--you have heard of it, perhaps?"

When Robert Barrett Browning purchased the Palazzo Rezzonico, the
acquirement was a delight to his father, not unmixed with a trace of
consternation, for it is one of the grandest and most imposing palaces in
Italy. Up to 1758 it was occupied by Cardinal Rezzonico himself, when, at
that date, he became Pope under the title of Clement XIII. This palace,
built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, commands an
unparalleled situation on the Grand Canal, and the majestic structure of
white marble, with its rich carvings, the baroque ornaments of its
key-stones, its classic cornices and tripartite loggias, its columns and
grand architectural lines, is remarked, even in Venice, the city of
palaces, for its sumptuous magnificence. As Mr. Browning had before
remarked to Mrs. Bronson, "Pen" was infatuated with Venice. It is equally
true that much of the infatuation of the ethereal city for subsequent
visitors was due in no small measure to the beautiful and reverent manner
in which Robert Barrett Browning made this palace a very Valhalla of the
wedded poets, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Here the son gathered
every exquisite treasure associated with his mother, and when, three years
later, his father breathed his last within this noble palace, the younger
Browning added to the associations of his mother those, also, of his
father's books, art, and intimate possessions. With his characteristic
courtesy and generous consideration Mr. Barrett Browning permitted
visitors, for many years, through his entire ownership of the palace, to
visit and enjoy the significant collections, treasures which his taste and
his love had there gathered.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF ROBERT BARRETT BROWNING

("PENINI"), AS A CHILD.

Painted at Siena, by Hamilton Wild, 1859.]

On the facade of the palace two stately entrances open upon the broad
flight of marble steps that lead down to the water, and on the
architraves are carved river-gods. In the spacious court was placed his
own statue of "Dryope." Ascending one marble flight of the grand escalier,
one entered a lofty apartment whose noble proportions and richness of
effect were most impressive. The