Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-27

chronicled with but slight concealment
in her "Sonnets From the Portuguese"
.BrowningS ardor Overcame this impede
ment only to be confronted with another.
Mr. Barrett, though in most respects
kind and indulgent father. was firm in
his conviction that none of his three
daughters should marry. Elizabeth Bar
rett was we'll aware of this belief OF her
fathers and for a long time the wooing
Of her accepted lover had to be done by
post lest the 9obdurate parent discover 1t.
One result of this was series of love
letters, poetic 1t is true in diction, but
so intimate and fervid in expression that
the taste of the son in permitting their
later publication was seriously criticised.
In 1916 the two poets were secretly
married in the parish church of ST.
Marylebone. For week the bride re-
manned in her fathers house, nursing
her secret; then taking her maid and a
pet dog (even poets have their .eccen-
they set out for the continent. Never
again did she enter her girlhood home;
never again see the father who had been
indulgent and loving until the moment
when she stood with all her womanhood
against his selfish within. He was as
good-or rather as bad-as his word. and
never forgave her. Though she wrote
letters stained with tears beseeching for
giveness they were never answered, and
in time were returned to her unopened.
1t is pleasant to record that the love
of the husband, for whom she had given
up her home never burned less. and that
their lives together form one of the idylS
of married life.
Happily Robert Browning had a CON-
petence of his own. Though in the end
his writings and those of his wife turned
that competence into a large fortune. the
young. couple might have starved while
awaiting the belated financial returns OF
poesy. Meantime. seeking mild climate
and places where folks of their slender
means might live, they sought out Italy.
and left their imprint upon Florence.
Pisa, Siena, Venice and Rome. 1t was
at Pisa that their son was born. and in
Venice the gondoliers still point out to
you on the Grand Canal the home he oc-
cupied after his parents death. But
Florence. the home OF art. poetry ana
history. was their abiding home. There
Mrs Browning wrote most Of the Son
nets From the Portuguese which her
| husband did not see until long after at
Pisa. when he insisted on their publica-
ton. Il dared not" he said, reserve to
Shakespeare's." This burst OF husbandly
enthusiasm may be pardoned even though
we remember Keats and Wordsworth
The long list of Mrs. Browntng's poems
need not be recounted here Those by
which she attained her highest standing
as poet are "Sonnets From the Portu-
guese" and Casa Guidi Windows" About
aurora Leigh" a novel In verse. critics
differ yet In it's time 1t had vogue
like that Owen Meredith's Lucille" won
later
So long did the Brownings live in Flor
ence and so earnestly did both with their
pens labor for that unity of Italy which
has since become fact that the Floren-
tines placed a tablet to her memory above
the door OF the house they occupied.
Near the Pitt Palace. whittier all tour
lists turn their steps. you Will find her
Casa Guidi. and above its door this in
scription In Italian:
Here wrote and died Elizabeth Bar
rett Browning. who to the heart OF a
woman joined the science of scholar
and the spirit Of a teacher. and who
made. with her golden verse. nuptial
ring between Italy and England. Crate
full Florence places this memorial"
1t was there in Casa Guidi, where her
happiest hours had been lived. that Eliza
beth Barrett Browning died. The vision
Of the poet was with her to the last, and.
dying. she seemed to gaze upon some
scene Of heavenly glory: SO, gazing. she
cried. aioud. 1T is beautiful and thus
passed away.