y line to try to express the impossible,--how much I love you,
and how deeply I feel all your great kindness. Every hour of the day I
miss you, and wish I were with you and dear Edith again, in beloved
Casa Alvisi.

These letters to Mrs. Bronson reveal Browning the man as do no other
records in literature. The consciousness of being perfectly understood,
and the realization of the delicacy and beauty of the character of Mrs.
Bronson made this choice companionship one of the greatest joys in
Browning's life. It may, perhaps, as well be interpolated here that a
large package of the fascinating letters from Robert Browning to Mrs.
Bronson, from which these extracts are made, were placed at the disposal
of the writer of this volume by the generous kindness of Mrs. Bronson's
daughter, the Contessa Rucellai, and with the slight exception of a few
paragraphs used by Mrs. Bronson herself (in two charming papers that she
wrote on Browning), they have never before been drawn upon for
publication.

Under the date of January 4, 1889, the poet writes to Mrs. Bronson:

No, dearest friend, I can well believe you think of me sometimes, even
oft-times, for in what place, or hour, or hour of the day, can you
fail to be reminded of some piece of kindness done by you and received
by me during those memorable three months when you cared for me and my
sister constantly, and were so successful in your endeavor to make us
perfectly happy. Depend on it, neither I nor she move about this house
(which has got to be less familiar to us through our intimate
acquaintance with yours),--neither of us forget you for a moment, nor
are we without your name on our lips much longer, when we sit quietly
down at home of an evening, and talk over the pleasantest of pleasant
days....

The sole invitation I can but accept this morning is to the Farewell
dinner about to be given by the Lord Mayor to Mr. Phelps; that I am
bound to attend. I have not seen him or Mrs. Phelps yet; but they
receive this afternoon, and if I am able I shall go. You will wish to
know that all our articles have arrived safely, and more expeditiously
than we had expected. The tables, lanterns, etc., are very decidedly
approved of, and fit into the proper corners very comfortably; so that
everywhere will be an object reminding us, however unnecessarily, of
Venice. Your ink-stand brightens the t