lack Italian marble and its lofty
ceiling with exquisite fresco decoration, the simple and impressive
service was held in Palazzo Rezzonico, and a fleet of gondolas, filled
with friends and accompanied by the entire Venetian Syndic, bore the
casket to its temporary resting-place in the chapel of San Michele, in the
campo santo. The gondola that carried the casket had an angel, carved in
wood, at the prow, and a lion at the stern. Dean Bradley, on behalf of
Westminster Abbey, had telegraphed to Robert Barrett Browning, asking that
the body of the poet might be laid within those honored walls; and as the
cemetery in Florence wherein is Mrs. Browning's tomb had long been closed,
this honor from England was accepted. The same honor of a final
resting-place in Westminster Abbey was also extended for the removal of
the body of Mrs. Browning, but their son rightly felt that he must yield
to the wishes of Florence that her tomb be undisturbed, and it is
fitting that it should remain in the Italy she so loved.

[Illustration: PALAZZO REZZONICO, VENICE

Owned by Robert Browning from 1888 to 1906. In the upper room, at the
left-hand corner, the poet died.]

So associated with her brother's life was Miss Sarianna Browning that the
story would be incomplete not to add that she survived him many years,--a
gracious and beloved presence. In the January following the poet's death,
she said in a letter to Mrs. Bronson:

"I have already let a day pass without thanking you for the most
beautiful locket, which I love even more for your sake than his. I
shall always think of you, so good, so near, and so dearly loved by
him. All your watchfulness over our smallest comfort,--how he felt
it!... Bless you forever for all the joy you gave him at Asolo,--how
happy he was! And how you were entwined in all our plans for the happy
future we were to enjoy there! Think of him when you go back, as
loving the whole place, and yourself, the embodiment of its
sweetness."

Miss Browning died in her nephew's home, La Torre All' Antella, near
Florence, in the spring of 1903, in her ninetieth year.

On the facade of the Palazzo Rezzonico the City of Venice placed this
inscription to the memory of the poet:

A
ROBERTO BROWNING
MORTO IN QUESTO PALAZZO
IL 12 DICEMBRE, 1889
VENEZIA
POSE

"Open my heart and you will see
Graved inside of it,--'Italy'"

It was on the last day of 1889 that the