American Minister there. There's a temptation for you!

God bless you, dearest Isa. I shall be delighted to see you again, and
so will Robert! I always feel (I say to him sometimes) that you love me
a little, and that I may rest on you. Your ever affectionate friend,

ELIZABETH B. BROWNING.

* * * * *


_To Miss Mitford_

Florence: March 15, [1853].

... The spring has surprised us here just as we were beginning to murmur
at the cold. Think of somebody advising me the other day not to send out
my child without a double-lined parasol! There's a precaution for March!
The sun is powerful--we are rejoicing in our Italian climate. Oh, that I
could cut out just a mantle of it to wrap myself in, and so go and see
you. Your house is dry, you say. Is the room you occupy airy as well as
warm? Because being confined to a small room, with you who are so used
to liberty and out of door life, must be depressing to the vital
energies. Do you read much? No, no, you ought not to think of the press,
of course, till you are strong. Ah--if you should get to London to see
our play, how glad I should be! We, too, talk of London, but somewhat
mistily, and not so early in the summer. Mr. and Mrs. Marsh--he is the
American Minister at Constantinople--have been staying in Florence, and
passing some evenings with us. They tempt us with an invitation to
Constantinople this summer, which would be irresistible if we had the