BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT (1806-1861).—­Poetess, was the dau. of Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett, who assumed the last name on succeeding to the estates of his grandfather in Jamaica.  She was b. at Coxhoe Hall, Durham, but spent her youth at Hope End, near Great Malvern.  While still a child she showed her gift, and her f. pub. 50 copies of a juvenile epic, on the Battle of Marathon.  She was ed. at home, but owed her profound knowledge of Greek and much mental stimulus to her early friendship with the blind scholar, Hugh Stuart Boyd, who was a neighbour.  At the age of 15 she met with an injury to her spine which confined her to a recumbent position for several years, and from the effects of which she never fully recovered.  In 1826 she pub. anonymously An Essay on Mind and Other Poems.  Shortly afterwards the abolition of slavery, of which he had been a disinterested supporter, considerably reduced Mr. B.’s means:  he accordingly disposed of his estate and removed with his family first to Sidmouth and afterwards to London.  At the former Miss B. wrote Prometheus Bound (1835).  After her removal to London she fell into delicate health, her lungs being threatened.  This did not, however, interfere with her literary labours, and she contributed to various periodicals The Romaunt of Margaret, The Romaunt of the Page, The Poet’s Vow, and other pieces.  In 1838 appeared The Seraphim and Other Poems (including “Cowper’s Grave.”) Shortly thereafter the death, by drowning, of her favourite brother gave a serious shock to her already fragile health, and for a time she hovered between life and death.  Eventually, however, she regained strength, and meanwhile her fame was growing.  The pub. about 1841 of The Cry of the Children gave it a great impulse, and about the same time she contributed some critical papers in prose to R.H.  Horne’s New Spirit of the Age.  In 1844 she pub. two vols. of Poems, which comprised “The Drama of Exile,” “Vision of Poets,” and “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship.”  In 1845 she met for the first time her future husband, Robert Browning (q.v.).  Their courtship and marriage, owing to her delicate health and the extraordinary objections entertained by Mr. B. to the marriage of any of his children, were carried out under somewhat peculiar and romantic circumstances.  After a private marriage and a secret departure from her home, she accompanied her husband to Italy, which became her home almost continuously until her death, and with the political aspirations of which she and 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