[52:2] The long shoaly island in the Lagoon, immediately opposite Venice.
[64:1] This song refers to Catherine of Cornaro, the last Queen of Cyprus, who came to her castle at Asolo when forced to resign her kingdom to the Venetians in 1489. "She lived for her people's welfare, and won their love by her goodness and grace."
[68:1] "The name means Blue-Fox, and is a skit on the Edinburgh Review, which is bound in blue and fox" (Dr. Furnivall).
[77:1] The dialogue between Monsignor and the steward is in prose.
[77:2] Having made her Monsignor's niece, observes Mr. Chesterton, "Browning might just as well have made Sebald her long-lost brother, and Luigi a husband to whom she was secretly married."