[20]. The Deposition of Caponsacchi (pp. [95]-[8]), made about the same time and under the same circumstances for the Process of Flight, was reintroduced as evidence in the murder case, but there is no reason to think that Caponsacchi was brought into the latter case in any other way.
[21]. The Love-Letters (pp. [99]-[106]). These letters are one of the most elaborately discussed pieces of evidence in the Book. Guido claimed to have found them at the inn of Castelnuovo after the arrest of the fugitives, and he offered them in court during the Process of Flight, as a proof of adultery in his wife, but they were thrown out by the court. Their conventional fine-letter-writing, their studied innuendo and finesse, were quite beyond the capacity of an illiterate girl like Pompilia. They were probably composed by Guido, and if so, they prove that he was basely scheming to drive his wife into dishonourable flight that he might disgrace her and cast her off. The eighteenth letter was specifically denied by Caponsacchi in his cross-examination.
[22]. The Sentence of Relegation (p. [106]) for three years in Civita Vecchia was decreed against Caponsacchi at the close of the Process of Flight in September, 1697. It is commensurate with priestly indiscretion rather than with crime.
[23]. The Account of Fact ([Pamphlet 10]). This anonymous Italian pamphlet is not at all a part of the official record of the murder case. It has no imprint and is in entirely different face of type, and must have been printed privately for circulation outside the courts. While much less technical and formal than the arguments of the lawyers, and much more studious of popular effects, it slips back repeatedly into the thought and the language of Arcangeli, the defender of Guido. It probably suggested Half-Rome in The Ring and the Book.
[24]. The Response ([Pamphlet 15)] is a highly rhetorical, but effective, retort to the anonymous writer. It was written during the later stage of the murder trial, and was probably the work of Signor Bottini. It likewise is without imprint and signature, but may have been broadly scattered throughout Rome.
[25]. "To keep to this home of Pietro ... as a prison," Domus pro Carcere (p. [159]). For a month after the sentence against Caponsacchi, Pompilia was kept prisoner in the refuge called the Scalette—a provision for her safekeeping, not a punishment. On October 12, she was permitted to give bond to keep the home of her foster parents, the Comparini, as a prison, Domus pro carcere, sentence against her being suspended.
[26]. The Scalette. The Conservatorio di S. Croce della Penitenza alla Lungara was an institution for penitent women, founded 1615, and popularly called Scalette, because of the two adjoining stairways. Browning confuses this institution with the Convertites ([Note 10]).
[27]. Baptismal Record of Pompilia (p. [159]). This note, taken from the parish record of San Lorenzo, in Lucina, enables Browning to make the exact statement of Pompilia's age and her full name, as given in the opening lines of her monologue.
[28]. Pompilia's Letter (p. [160]) to her foster parents, written from prison at Castelnuovo only two days after her arrest, is her plea to them for assistance. It was probably cited as evidence in the Process of Flight.
[29]. The Will of Pietro Comparini (pp. [160]-[1]), evidently drawn up after he had learned Pompilia was not his own daughter, and before her return to Rome, aimed to prevent her being disinherited for that reason. Its personal tone is good, and it is almost the only first-hand evidence of the character of Pietro to be found in the Book.