d her husband both thoroughly identified themselves. The union
proved one of unalloyed happiness to both, though it was never forgiven
by Mr. Barrett. In her new circumstances her strength greatly increased.
Her husband and she settled in Florence, and there she wrote _Casa Guidi
Windows_ (1851)--by many considered her strongest work--under the
inspiration of the Tuscan struggle for liberty. _Aurora Leigh_, her
largest, and perhaps the most popular of her longer poems, appeared in
1856. In 1850 _The Sonnets from the Portuguese_--the history of her own
love-story, thinly disguised by its title--had appeared. In 1860 she
issued a _coll._ ed. of her poems under the title, _Poems before
Congress_. Soon thereafter her health underwent a change for the worse;
she gradually lost strength, and _d._ on June 29, 1861. She is generally
considered the greatest of English poetesses. Her works are full of
tender and delicate, but also of strong and deep, thought. Her own
sufferings, combined with her moral and intellectual strength, made her
the champion of the suffering and oppressed wherever she found them. Her
gift was essentially lyrical, though much of her work was not so in form.
Her weak points are the lack of compression, an occasional somewhat
obtrusive mannerism, and frequent failure both in metre and rhyme. Though
not nearly the equal of her husband in force of intellect and the higher
qualities of the poet, her works had, as might be expected on a
comparison of their respective subjects and styles, a much earlier and
wider acceptance with the general public. Mrs. B. was a woman of singular
nobility and charm, and though not beautiful, was remarkably attractive.
Miss Mitford (_q.v._) thus describes her as a young woman: "A slight,
delicate figure, with a shower of dark curls falling on each side of a
most expressive face; large, tender eyes, richly fringed by dark
eyelashes, and a smile like a sunbeam."

_Life_ by J.H. Ingram (1889); _Letters of R. Browning and E.B. Browning_
(1889). _Coll._ ed. of her works, _see_ above.

BROWNING, ROBERT (1812-1889).--Poet, only _s._ of Robert B., a man of
fine intellect and equally fine character, who held a position in the
Bank of England, was _b._ in Camberwell. His mother, to whom he was
ardently attached, was the _dau._ of a German shipowner who had settled
in Dundee, and was alike intellectually and morally worthy of his
affection. The only other member of the family was a younge