4. _A cornfield._ The picture is a field of wheat with red poppies
scattered through the wheat.
23. _Cypress._ It is interesting to note how many of the trees, shrubs,
flowers, and fruits in Browning's poems are those of southern Europe.
His poetry of nature is almost as distinctively Italian as Tennyson's is
English. "The Englishman in Italy" is especially rich in vivid,
picturesque details of southern scenes.
36. _Liver-wing._ The right wing. The shot hit the king in the right
arm.
37. _Bourbon._ Mr. and Mrs. Browning were rejoicing at any indications
that the people of Italy were awake to revolt against the Bourbons. See
Mrs. Browning's "Casa Guidi Windows" and "First News from Villa Franca"
and Mr. Browning's "The Italian in England."
40. _Queen Mary's saying._ For two hundred years Calais had been one of
England's most important possessions. It was taken by the French in
1588, the last year of the reign of Queen Mary. What Queen Mary said of
Calais, Browning says of Italy.