to
introduce liberal reforms, and even to promote the formation of a
united Italy. The English Government was diplomatically advocating
reform, in spite of the opposition of Austria; and its representative,
Lord Minto, who was sent on a special mission to Italy to bring this
influence to bear on the rulers of the various Italian States, was
received with enthusiastic joy by the zealots for Italian liberty. The
Grand Duke of Tuscany, as was noticed above, had taken the first
step in the direction of popular government by the institution of a
National Guard; and Charles Albert of Piedmont was always supposed to
have the cause of Italy at heart in spite of the vacillations of his
policy. The catastrophe of 1848 was still in the distance; and for
the moment a friend of freedom and of Italy might be permitted to hope
much.

Yet a difference will be noticed between the tone of Mrs. Browning's
letters at this time and that which marks her language in 1859. In
1847 she was still comparatively new to the country. She is interested
in the experiment which she sees enacted before her; she feels, as any
poet must feel, the attraction of the idea of a free and united Italy.
But her heart is not thrown into the struggle as it was at a later
time. She can write, and does, for the most part, write, of other
matters. The disappointment of Milan and Novara could not break her
heart, as the disappointment of Villafranca went near to doing. They
are not, indeed, so much as mentioned in detail in the letters that
follow. It is in 'Casa Guidi Windows'--the first part written
in 1847-8, the second in 1851--that her reflections upon Italian
politics, alike in their hopes and in their failures, must be sought.

_To Miss Mitford_
Florence: December 8, 1847.

Have you thought me long, my dearest Miss Mitford, in writing? When
your letter came we were distracted by various uncertainties, torn by
wild horses of sundry speculations, and then, when one begins by delay
in answering a letter, you are aware how a silence grows and grows.
Also I heard _of_ you through my sisters and Mrs. Duprey[?], and
_that_ made me lazier still. Now don't treat me according to the
Jewish law, an eye for an eye; no! but a heart for a heart, if you
please; and you never can have reason to reproach mine for not loving
you. Think what we have done since I wrote last to you. Taken two
houses, that is, two apartments, each for six months, presigning the
contract. You