II. SOURCE OF BROWNING’S KNOWLEDGE.--Browning had seen almost all if not every one of the Italian buildings he introduces in his poems. He knew whereof he wrote. _Sordello_, published in 1840, is concerned with the cities of Venice, Bassano, Verona, Rome, and Florence; but the references to the last two are very slight. The first three cities he had visited in his trip of 1838, along with his “delicious Asolo”, which became the scene of _Pippa Passes_, in 1841. Ferrara formed a very large part of the setting in _Sordello_, also; but no particular buildings in it are described. _A Toccata of Galuppi’s_, 1855, refers to St. Mark’s in Venice. _Old Pictures in Florence_, with its distinct Florentine setting, was given to the world after Browning had lived in that city for nine years. Doubtless its Campanile, which he mentions in the poem, was at that time as familiar to him as any building of his native land. _By the Fireside_ (with reference to the chapel in the gorge) was written either during the visit of the Brownings to Bagni di Lucca in 1853, or shortly after it, and was published in 1855. Near Bagni di Lucca is the scene of the story. There is the same relation between architectural subject and personal observation in _The Boy and the Angel_ (Rome), 1842; _The Italian in England_ (Padua), 1845; _In a Gondola_ (Venice), 1842; _The Statue and the Bust_ (Florence), 1855; _Luria_ (Florence), 1846; _Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day_ (Rome), 1850; _Fra Lippo Lippi_ (Florence), 1855; _The Bishop orders his Tomb_ (Rome), 1845; _Bishop Blougram’s Apology_ (Rome), 1855; _One Word More_ (Florence), 1855; _Abt Vogler_ (Rome), 1864; _Pacchiarotto_ (Siena), 1876. Padua and Venice were visited in 1838, Rome in 1844, Florence in 1846, if not sooner, and Siena in 1850.