(I shall not attempt to say with what a feeling I correct proof-sheets
received on the day subsequent to that which brought the intelligence
of the death of this great-hearted and noble-minded man,
characteristically good and gracious to the very last.)
R. B., May 24, 1870.
The above words are the introduction by Sir John Simeon and the
comment by the poet (Philobiblion Society Miscellanies, xii. 1868-9),
on the reprint of the subsequent pamphlet in the original Italian.
It was found in London by one of Browning's acquaintances, who,
knowing the poet's interest in the subject, sent it to him. Internal
evidence indicates that it was probably written (but not published)
some few years after the crime, and it is more popular in style than
any part of _The Book_. The writer during the first half of his
pamphlet follows closely the affidavit of Pompilia and the second
anonymous pamphlet [No. 15] of _The Book_. He then adds much
interesting information as to the murder and the pursuit, arrest,
trial, and execution of the criminals. Browning uses almost every
scrap of additional information it affords. He accepts its fact with
the same fidelity he shows in using _The Book_, and uses it
extensively and without discounting its value as compared with the
official record. It is therefore treated as an essential portion of
the present source-study. Its new matter will be indicated by italics
in the following translation.
Mrs. Orr has published somewhat less than half of the pamphlet in her
_Handbook_ in translation, which has been reprinted in the Camberwell
Browning, and in the _Browning Guide Book_ by G. W. Cook. The present
version is made directly from the Italian text of the Philobiblion
Society reprint.