"And friends, dear friends, when it shall be
That this low breath is gone from me,
And round my bier ye come to weep,
Let one most loving of you all
Say, 'Not a tear must o'er her fall,--
He giveth his beloved sleep!'"
The Italians, who loved her, placed on the doorway of Casa Guidi a white marble tablet,
with the words:--
"Here wrote and died E.B. Browning, who, in the heart of a woman, united the science of
a sage and the spirit of a poet, and made with her verse a golden ring binding Italy and
England.
"Grateful Florence placed this memorial, 1861."
For twenty-five years Robert Browning and his artist-son have done their work, blessed
with the memory of her whom Mr. Stedman calls "the most inspired woman, so far as
known, of all who have composed in ancient or modern tongues, or flourished in any land
or time."
