Autumn came late to Tuscany this year, so that the delegates at the Browning Society conference at Vallombrosa last September had little chance to see the leaves strowing the brooks. However, in pleasant autumnal sunshine, the Etrurian shades embowered the Abbey and the Foresteria, where the conference was held. Organised by Pamela Neville­Sington, with help from Simonetta Berbeglia and Maurizio Masetti, the conference, called “Our Italians”, tackled the inter-relationships between Italy and the English-speaking world between 1845 and 1865. The first two days were spent discussing subjects as far apart as Garibaldi's contribution to the American Civil War and the Castellani jewellery business in Rome. As a change from lectures, there was a concert of Tuscan songs in the Abbey refectory and a visit to the Abbey library. On the third day Simonetta Berbeglia and Michael Meredith led some of the delegates round Robert Browning's Arezzo, while others went to Regello and did some shopping. Nearly 100 people attended the conference from all over the world and enjoyed, not only the lectures, but the wonderful Tuscan food provided at the hotel. Pamela's organisation was faultless, and the Society is very grateful to her for her hard work. We hope to publish the conference papers in a later edition of BSN this year.

2006 sees the bicentenary of EBB's birth, and there will be celebrations throughout the western world. Whether Elizabeth would have welcomed these is debatable. She kept her date of birth a secret, even from her husband. In August 1885, twenty-four years after her death, RB wrote: “Her birthday, I just discover, was on the 6th of March — in what year I am ignorant still.” Elizabeth's reticence may have had something to do with her age (she was six years older than Robert), because birthday celebrations were always a feature of Barrett family life when she was a child.

On the anniversary of EBB's birthday the Browning Society is holding a reception at the British Library, where there will be a small exhibition commemorating her life and poetry. Later in the year there will be a one-day conference at University College, London, devoted to the works of EBB and other 19th century women poets. She will be remembered again at the annual wreath-laying ceremony in Westminster Abbey on December 13th. In America there will be a March conference at the Armstrong Browning Library, Baylor University. Very soon the first volume of a completely new edition of EBB's poems is due to be published. Attempts to persuade the Post Office to issue a stamp have failed, so perhaps we need to start lobbying now for a stamp to honour RB in 2012?

In the last twelve months there have been opportunities to see two important paintings illustrating poems by RB, which are not usually on show to the public. The first was Alfred William Hunt's magnificent watercolour “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came”, painted in 1866, which was displayed in an exhibition of Hunt's work at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. In Hunt's portrayal, Childe Roland is seen on horseback from behind, making his way towards a primitive tower at sunset. He is skirting a stagnant pool on his left, while on his right a shadowy army of the dead watches him. Browning loved the painting: “I feel proud indeed that any poem of mine should have associated itself with the power which conceived and executed so magnificent a picture”, he told Hunt. More recently, at the Tate Gallery, London, William Rothenstein's arresting “Parting at Morning” was shown in an exhibition devoted to Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec. Painted in 1891, this large chalk and pastel portrait shows a bare-shouldered woman, hastily dressed, gazing towards the viewer with resignation, following the departure of her lover. RB's poem is inscribed at the bottom right. Clearly Rothenstein thought the poem was spoken by a woman, but Browning emphasised in letters to friends that it was spoken by a man, so perhaps it was as well that he never saw the painting!

One of the pleasing initiatives by the Browning Society in EBB's bi-centenary year is to commission a bronze portrait plaque of the poet to be placed in Marylebone Parish Church, next to the one of RB by Gustav Natorp. The Browning plaque was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1888, and received Browning's endorsement — “I regard the likeness.., as one of the best taken”. Two copies of the Natorp plaque were known, the one at St. Marylebone and another at the Armstrong Browning Library. But then, last November, a third came to light and was sold at Bonhams to a private collector. Details of the new EBB plaque can be found elsewhere in this issue.

The death of Ruth Davies last July was hardly unexpected, as she was in her one hundredth and second year. Yet Ruth was so vital and lively that she never seemed her age, and everyone mourned her passing with real sadness. Since the re-founding of the Browning Society thirty-five years ago, Ruth has been a loyal and active member. As F.J.Fumivall's grand-daughter, she took a very special interest in the society, and was full of interesting information and ideas about her grandfather and his contemporaries. She recognised Furnivall's shortcomings, but rightly maintained that his achievements were considerable and underrated. Ruth and her sister generously presented Furnivall's archive to King's College, London. More recently she gave a few remaining papers to the Eton College Library to be with the Browning collection there.

Two days after Ruth's funeral Howard Moseley died, following a long illness. Howard was secretary of the Browning Society for five years, from 1991 to 1995. He undertook the job at a time of crisis. Calm organisation and brisk efficiency were the hallmarks of his office. His friendliness was much appreciated by the many members who attended the meetings he organised at King's College and at Eton. He steadied the Browning ship at a time when it looked to be heading onto the rocks, and for that we will always be grateful. Howard's own interests — he was a distinguished book-collector and bibliophile - were more towards Rupert Brooke and James Elroy Flecker than the Brownings, but he became a strong supporter, organising the Abbey ceremonies meticulously, following the Browning trail in England and abroad, and attending the opening of Casa Guidi.

There is some confusion about the future of the English Cemetery in Florence. The present curator, Sister Julia Bolton Holloway, who lives in the gatehouse, has been told by the owners that they intend to close it down. The graves are in a poor state and there is even some concern about EBB's tomb. Sister Julia, who has initiated a number of innovations at the cemetery, including the creation of a library, is trying to organise a Trust to raise funds for conservation. A more detailed report about progress will appear in our next issue.

The Friends of Casa Guidi have plans to restore the graves of Sarianna and Pen Browning in the Allori Cemetery in Florence, as their contribution to the EBB celebrations. Both graves are in a poor state, particularly that of Pen. His remains were removed from the S. Anna cemetery in Asolo to the Allori in 1929 by his widow, and the slab has cracked and lost all its lead lettering.

RB complained that the English public liked him not, yet in the 1850's it was possible to buy Staffordshire figures of him and his wife. Recently a group of these have been sold at a London auction. One depicts EBB on her couch in Wimpole Street with Flush on her lap. Like many other Staffordshire figures, it is crude in execution and colouring. Presumably it must date after 1852, when news of the Brownings' elopement became common knowledge following the publication of Miss Mitford's Recollections of a Literary Life The other two figures depict the poets in Casa Guidi or during a holiday in London, each sitting on a separate sofa with Flush beside them. The detail of these is finer; Robert has a book in his hand, while Elizabeth is wearing a crinoline and carries a fan. The features are very approximate, as is common in this type of pottery. These figures make a charming addition to the Browning iconography.