aces on her early poetry; later her headquarters were in London, with
long excursions to Devonshire. These excursions were mainly caused by
bad health, from which, as well as from family bereavements, Miss
Barrett was a great sufferer. She had read widely; she began to write as
a mere child; and her studies extended even to Greek, though in a rather
amateurish and desultory fashion. Her _Essay on Mind_ and other poems
appeared in 1825; but a considerable interval, as noted above, elapsed
before, in _The Seraphim_ and other poems, she gave, if not a truer, a
more characteristic note. And two more intervals of exactly the same
length gave _Poems_ 1846 and _Poems_ 1850, containing most of her best
work. Meanwhile she had met Robert Browning, and had married him, rather
against the wish of her family, in 1846. The rest of her life was spent
mostly at Florence, where, in 1849, the only child of the marriage was
born. Two years later appeared _Casa Guidi Windows_ and the long
"sociological" romance of Aurora Leigh. In these, and still more in the
_Poems before Congress_ (1860), a not unnatural tendency to echo the
peculiar form and spirit of her husband's work is observable, not by any
means always or frequently to advantage. She died at Florence on 30th
June 1861, and next year a volume of _Last Poems_ was issued. The most
interesting document in regard to her since has been her Letters to R.
H. Horne, the author of _Orion_, which were published in 1876.

It has been said that Mrs. Browning's popularity long anticipated her
husband's; indeed, years after her death, and on the very eve of the
publication of _The Ring and the Book_, it was possible to meet persons,
not uncultivated, who were fairly well acquainted with her verse and
entirely ignorant of his. The case has since been altered; but it is
believed that Mrs. Browning still retains, and it is probable that she
will always retain, no small measure of general favour. It has been
usual to speak of her as the chief English poetess, which she certainly
is if bulk and character of work as distinguished from perfection of
workmanship are considered. Otherwise, she must as certainly give place
to Miss Christina Rossetti. But Mrs. Browning no doubt combined, in very
unusual and interesting manner, the qualities which appeal to what may
be called, with no disdainful intention, the crowd of readers of poetry,
and those which appeal to the elect. Even the peculiarities which lent