floor, of red marble, in its rich,
Byzantine hue, harmonized with a richly painted ceiling, which was one
celebrated in Venetian art. From this vast salon opened, through richly
carved doors, a series of rooms, each made vital with the portraits,
sketches, busts, and other memorials of the poets. There were Story's
busts of Browning and of his wife; there was Robert Barrett Browning's
bust of his father,--one of the most remarkable among portrait busts in
contemporary art; the portraits of Robert and Elizabeth Browning painted
by Gordigiani of Rome, about 1855; a lovely pastel of Mrs. Browning when
she was a child, representing her as standing in a garden, holding up her
apron filled with flowers; there was her little writing-desk, and other
intimate personal mementoes about. The immense array of presentation
copies from other authors to the poets made an interesting library of
themselves, as did the various translations of their own poems into many
languages. There was a portrait of Browning painted when a young man, with
a troubadour cloak falling over his shoulders; and a most interesting
portrait of Milsand, painted by Barrett Browning, as a gift to his father.

There was also a picture of himself as a lad, the "Penini" of Siena days,
mounted on his pony, and painted by Hamilton Wild (a Boston artist), in
that most picturesque of hill-towns, during one of those summers that the
Brownings and the Storys had passed in the haunts of Santa Caterina.

By Mrs. Browning's little writing tablet was placed the last manuscript
she had ever written; and on a table lay a German translation of "Aurora
Leigh," with an inscription of presentation to Browning.

From one of these salons, looking out on the Grand Canal, is an alcove,
formerly used as the private chapel of the Rezzonico. It was all white and
gold, with a Venetian window draped in the palest green plush, while on
either side were placed tall vases encrusted with green. In this alcove
Mr. Barrett Browning had caused to be inscribed, in golden letters,
surrounded with traceries and arabesques in gold, a copy of the
inscription that was composed by the poet, Tommaseo, and placed by the
city of Florence on the wall of Casa Guidi, near the grand portal:

QUI SCRISSE E MORI
ELISABETTA BARRETT BROWNING
CHE IN CUORE DI DONNA CONCILIAVA
SCIENZA DI DOTTO E SPIRITO DI POETA
E FECE DEL SUO VERSO AUREO ANELLO
FRA ITALIA E INGHILTERRA
PONE QUESTO MEMORIA
FIREN