Whether for this reason, or because the poems were not, after all, ready for press, the printing of Mr.
Browning's new volumes ('Men and Women') was also postponed, and they did not appear until 1855; while 'Aurora Leigh' was still a long way from completion.
* * * * * _To Miss Mitford_ Rome: May 10, 1854.
My ever dearest Miss Mitford,--Your letter pained me to a degree which I will not pain you by expressing farther.

Now, I do not write to press for another letter.

On the contrary, I _entreat_ you not to attempt to write a word to me with your own hand, until you can do so without effort and suffering.

In the meanwhile, would it be impossible for K.to send me in one line some account of you?
I don't mean to tease, but I should be very glad and thankful to have news of you though in the briefest manner, and if a letter were addressed to me at Poste Restante, Florence, it would reach me, as we rest there on our road to Paris and London.

In any case I shall see you this summer, if it shall please God; and stay with you the half hour you allow, and kiss your dear hands and feel again, I hope, the brightness of your smile.