cost so little--only seventy centimes; it weighed 450 grammes,
you see, and so that was the postage."

I may add that the manuscript thus sent, and since returned to the
poet's son, is written in Browning's neatest and distinctest hand. There
are but few corrections or erasures. Of these one has perhaps a special
interest, as applying to the last line he ever published. The "Epilogue"
he first ended thus:--

"'Strive and thrive' cry 'God to speed,
Fight ever there as here.'"

This he changed to--

"'Strive and thrive' cry 'Speed fight-on,
Fare ever there as here.'"

On hearing that the manuscript had safely reached its destination,
Browning's kind thoughts at once reverted to the postmaster, good and
true, and he went to thank him for his share in the transaction.

Little can have changed at the Rocca since Browning visited it. The
stones roll down the narrow path from under your feet, as you ascend
through vineyards and orchards, past stray poultry and groups of
sleeping ducks. In a few minutes you reach the crest of the hill, and
find the old strong-hold, turret-flanked and loopholed, that had for
generations frowned upon the valley below, as was the way of citadels in
the bad old times. Now it is all smiles, garland-wreathed and happy in
its green old age.

During his stay in Asolo Browning and his sister spent much time in the
house of Mrs. Bronson, the Mrs. Arthur Bronson to whom the poet
dedicated his last book of verses, and whom he thanked in his preface
for "yet another experience of the gracious hospitality bestowed on me
for so many years." In the afternoon they would all take long drives
together.

It was on one of these occasions that Browning hit upon the title he
would give his volume of poems. His son suggesting that it should in
some way be connected with the name of Asolo, he bethought himself of
the verb _asolare_. "Have you a good dictionary?" he asked his hostess.
"I feel sure it was Cardinal Bembo who used the word, but I must look it
up." He did, the well-known result being the adoption of the title and
the explanation given in the introductory lines.

At Mrs. Bronson's it was quite understood that he should come and go as
he liked, and that he should consider "La Mura" as much his home as he
would his own house. A spacious loggia had recently been added to the
old building, virtually forming a new room, roofed in, but open to the
air on three sides. Here Browning spe