Transcriber's Notes: Underscores "_" before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_ in the original text. Equal signs "=" before and after a word or phrase indicate =bold= in the original text. Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals. Old or antiquated spellings have been preserved. Typographical errors have been silently corrected but other variations in spelling and punctuation remain unaltered. Where double quotes have been repeated at the beginnings of consecutive lines, they have been omitted for clarity. _The Fourth Edition of_ =ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING’S POEMS.= With numerous Additions. Three Vols. Foolscap 8vo. =MEN AND WOMEN.= =BY ROBERT BROWNING.= Two Vols. Foolscap 8vo. 12_s._ _A New Edition of_ =ROBERT BROWNING’S POEMS.= Two Vols. Foolscap 8vo. 16_s._ ALSO, =CHRISTMAS-EVE AND EASTER-DAY.= A POEM. Foolscap 8vo. 6_s._ CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. =AURORA LEIGH.= BY =ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.= LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 1857. LONDON: BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. DEDICATION TO JOHN KENYON, ESQ. THE words ‘cousin’ and ‘friend’ are constantly recurring in this poem, the last pages of which have been finished under the hospitality of your roof, my own dearest cousin and friend;—cousin and friend, in a sense of less equality and greater disinterestedness than ‘Romney’’s. Ending, therefore, and preparing once more to quit England, I venture to leave in your hands this book, the most mature of my works, and the one into which my highest convictions upon Life and Art have entered: that as, through my various efforts in literature and steps in life, you have believed in me, borne with me, and been generous to me, far beyond the common uses of mere relationship or sympathy of mind, so you may kindly accept, in sight of the public, this poor sign of esteem, gratitude, and affection, from your unforgetting E. B. B. 39, DEVONSHIRE PLACE, _October_ 17, 1856. AURORA LEIGH. FIRST BOOK.