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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14476 ***
+
+"Great Writers."
+
+EDITED BY
+ERIC ROBERTSON AND FRANK T. MARZIALS.
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF BROWNING.
+
+
+
+
+FOR FULL LIST OF THE VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES, SEE CATALOGUE AT END OF BOOK
+
+
+
+
+LIFE
+
+OF
+
+ROBERT BROWNING
+
+
+
+
+BY
+
+WILLIAM SHARP.
+
+
+
+LONDON
+WALTER SCOTT, LIMITED
+PATERNOSTER SQUARE
+1897
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+London, Robert Browning's birthplace; his immediate predecessors and
+contemporaries in literature, art, and music; born May 7th, 1812; origin
+of the Browning family; assertions as to its Semitic connection
+apparently groundless; the poet a putative descendant of the Captain
+Micaiah Browning mentioned by Macaulay; Robert Browning's mother of
+Scottish and German origin; his father a man of exceptional powers,
+artist, poet, critic, student; Mr. Browning's opinion of his son's
+writings; the home in Camberwell; Robert Browning's childhood;
+concerning his optimism; his fondness for Carravaggio's "Andromeda and
+Perseus"; his poetic precocity; origin of "The Flight of the Duchess";
+writes Byronic verse; is sent to school at Peckham; his holiday
+afternoons; sees London by night, from Herne Hill; the significance of
+the spectacle to him. Page 11.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+He wishes to be a poet; writes in the style of Byron and Pope; the
+"Death of Harold"; his poems, written when twelve years old, shown to
+Miss Flower; the Rev. W.J. Fox's criticisms on them; he comes across
+Shelley's "Dæmon of the World"; Mrs. Browning procures Shelley's poems,
+also those of Keats, for her son; the perusal of these volumes proves
+an important event in his poetic development; he leaves school when
+fourteen years old, and studies at home under a tutor; attends a few
+lectures at University College, 1829-30; chooses his career, at the age
+of twenty; earliest record of his utterances concerning his youthful
+life printed in _Century Magazine_, 1881; he plans a series of
+monodramatic epics; Browning's life-work, collectively one monodramatic
+"epic"; Shakspere's and Browning's methods compared; Browning writes
+"Pauline" in 1832; his own criticism on it; his parents' opinions; his
+aunt's generous gift; the poem published in January 1833; description of
+the poem; written under the inspiring stimulus of Shelley; its
+autopsychical significance; its importance to the student of the poet's
+works; quotations from "Pauline". Page 29.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+The public reception of "Pauline"; criticisms thereupon; Mr. Fox's
+notice in the _Monthly Repository_, and its results; Dante Gabriel
+Rossetti reads "Pauline" and writes to the author; Browning's reference
+to Tennyson's reading of "Maud" in 1855; Browning frequents literary
+society; reads at the British Museum; makes the acquaintance of Charles
+Dickens and "Ion" Talfourd; a volume of poems by Tennyson published
+simultaneously with "Pauline"; in 1833 he commences his travels; goes to
+Russia; the sole record of his experiences there to be found in the poem
+"Ivàn Ivànovitch," published in _Dramatic Idyls_, 1879; his acquaintance
+with Mazzini; Browning goes to Italy; visits Asolo, whence he drew hints
+for "Sordello" and "Pippa Passes"; in 1834 he returns to Camberwell; in
+autumn of 1834 and winter of 1835 commences "Sordello," writes
+"Paracelsus," and one or two short poems; his love for Venice; a new
+voice audible in "Johannes Agricola" and "Porphyria"; "Paracelsus,"
+published in 1835; his own explanation of it; his love of walking in the
+dark; some of "Paracelsus" and of "Strafford" composed in a wood near
+Dulwich; concerning "Paracelsus" and Browning's sympathy with the
+scientific spirit; description and scope of the poem; quotations
+therefrom; estimate of the work, and its four lyrics. Page 49.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Criticisms upon "Paracelsus," important one written by John Forster;
+Browning meets Macready at the house of Mr. Fox; personal description of
+the poet; Macready's opinion of the poem; Browning spends New Year's
+Day, 1836, at the house of the tragedian and meets John Forster;
+Macready urges him to write a play; his subsequent interview with the
+tragedian; he plans a drama to be entitled "Narses"; meets Wordsworth
+and Walter Savage Landor at a supper party, when the young poet is
+toasted, and Macready again proposes that Browning should write a play,
+from which arose the idea of "Strafford"; his acquaintance with
+Wordsworth and Landor; MS. of "Strafford" accepted; its performance at
+Covent Garden Theatre on the 26th May 1837; runs for five nights; the
+author's comments; the drama issued by Messrs. Longman & Co.; the
+performance in 1886; estimate of "Strafford"; Browning's dramas;
+comparison between the Elizabethan and Victorian dramatic eras;
+Browning's soul-depictive faculty; his dramatic method; estimate of his
+dramas; Landor's acknowledgment of the dedication to him of "Luria".
+Page 73.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+"Profundity" and "Simplicity"; the faculty of wonder; Browning's first
+conception of "Pippa Passes"; his residence in London; his country
+walks; his ways and habits, and his heart-episodes; debates whether to
+become a clergyman; is "Pippa Passes" a drama? estimate of the poem;
+Browning's rambles on Wimbledon Common and in Dulwich Wood, where he
+composed his lines upon Shelley; asserts there is romance in Camberwell
+as well as in Italy; "Sordello"; the charge of obscurity against
+"Sordello"; the nature and intention of the poem; quotations therefrom;
+anecdote about Douglas Jerrold; Tennyson's, Carlyle's, and M. Odysse
+Barot's opinions on "Sordello"; "enigmatic" poetry; in 1863 Browning
+contemplated the re-writing of "Sordello"; dedication to the French
+critic, Milsand. Page 93.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Browning's three great dramatic poems; "The Ring and the Book" his
+finest work; its uniqueness; Carlyle's criticism of it; Poetry _versus_
+Tour-de-Force; "The Ring and the Book" begun in 1866; analysis of the
+poem; kinship of "The Ring and the Book" and "Aurora Leigh"; explanation
+of title; the idea taken from a parchment volume Browning picked up in
+Florence; the poem planned at Casa Guidi; "O Lyric Love," etc.;
+description and analysis of "The Ring and the Book," with quotations;
+compared as a poem with "The Inn Album," "Pauline," "Asolando," "Men and
+Women," etc.; imaginary volumes, to be entitled "Transcripts from Life"
+and "Flowers o' the Vine"; Browning's greatest period; Browning's
+primary importance. Page 113.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Early life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning; born in 1820; the chief sorrow
+of her life; the Barrett family settle in London; "The Cry of the
+Children" and its origin; Miss Barrett's friends; effect on her of
+Browning's poetry; she makes Browning's acquaintance in 1846; her early
+belief in him as a poet; her physical delicacy and her sensitiveness of
+feeling; personal appearance of Robert Browning; his "electric" hand;
+Elizabeth Barrett discerns his personal worth, and is susceptible to the
+strong humanity of Browning's song; Mr. Barrett's jealousy; their
+engagement; Miss Barrett's acquaintance with Mrs. Jameson; quiet
+marriage in 1846; Mr. Barrett's resentment; the Brownings go to Paris;
+thence to Italy with Mrs. Jameson; Wordsworth's comments; residence in
+Pisa; "Sonnets from the Portuguese"; in the spring they go to Florence,
+thence to Ancona, where "The Guardian Angel" was written; Casa Guidi;
+W.W. Story's account of the rooms at Casa Guidi; perfect union. Page 135.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+March 1849, birth of Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning; Browning writes
+his "Christmas Eve and Easter Day"; "Casa Guidi Windows" commenced;
+1850, they go to Rome; "Two in the Campagna"; proposal to confer
+poet-laureateship on Mrs. Browning; return to London; winter in Paris;
+summer in London; Kenyon's friendship; return in autumn to Casa Guidi;
+Browning's Essay on Shelley for the twenty-five spurious Shelley
+letters; midsummer at Baths of Lucca, where "In a Balcony" was in part
+written; winter of 1853-4 in Rome; record of work; "Pen's" illness; "Ben
+Karshook's Wisdom"; return to Florence; (1856) "Men and Women"
+published; the Brownings go to London; in summer "Aurora Leigh" issued;
+1858, Mrs. Browning's waning health; 1855-64 comparatively, unproductive
+period with R. Browning; record of work; July 1855, they travel to
+Normandy; "Legend of Pornic"; Mrs. Browning's ardent interest in the
+Italian struggle of 1859; winter in Rome; "Poems before Congress"; her
+last poem, "North and South"; death of Mrs. Browning at Casa Guidi, 28th
+June 1861. Page 157.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Browning's allusions to death of his wife; Miss Browning resides with
+her brother from 1866; 1868, collected works published; first part of
+"The Ring and the Book" published in November 1866; "Hervé Riel"
+written; Browning's growing popularity; Tauchnitz editions of his poems
+in 1872; also first book of selections; dedication to Lord Tennyson;
+1877, he goes to La Saisiaz, near Geneva; "La Saisiaz" and "The Two
+Poets of Croisic" published 1878; Browning's later poems; Browning
+Society established 1881; Browning's letter thereupon to Mr. Yates;
+trips abroad; his London residences; his last letter to Tennyson;
+revisits Asolo; Palazzo Rezzonico; his belief in immortality; his death,
+Thursday, Dec. 12th, 1889; funeral in Westminster Abbey; Sonnet by
+George Meredith; new star in Orion; R. Browning's place in literature;
+Summary, etc. Page 176.
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+
+In all important respects I leave this volume to speak for itself. For
+obvious reasons it does not pretend to be more than a _Mémoire pour
+servir_: in the nature of things, the definitive biography cannot appear
+for many years to come. None the less gratefully may I take the present
+opportunity to express my indebtedness to Mr. R. Barrett Browning, and
+to other relatives and intimate friends of Robert Browning, who have
+given me serviceable information, and otherwise rendered kindly aid. For
+some of the hitherto unpublished details my thanks are, in particular,
+due to Mrs. Fraser Corkran and Miss Alice Corkran, and to other old
+friends of the poet and his family, here, in Italy, and in America;
+though in one or two instances, I may add, I had them from Robert
+Browning himself. It is with pleasure that I further acknowledge my
+indebtedness to Dr. Furnivall, for the loan of the advance-proofs of his
+privately-printed pamphlet on "Browning's Ancestors"; and to the
+Browning Society's Publications--particularly to Mrs. Sutherland Orr's
+and Dr. Furnivall's biographical and bibliographical contributions
+thereto; to Mr. Gosse's biographical article in the _Century Magazine_
+for 1881; to Mr. Ingram's _Life of E.B. Browning_; and to the _Memoirs
+of Anna Jameson_, the _Italian Note-Books_ of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mr.
+G.S. Hillard's _Six Months in Italy_ (1853), and the Lives and
+Correspondence of Macready, Miss Mitford, Leigh Hunt, and Walter Savage
+Landor. I regret that the imperative need of concision has prevented the
+insertion of many of the letters, anecdotes, and reminiscences, so
+generously placed at my disposal; but possibly I may have succeeded in
+educing from them some essential part of that light which they
+undoubtedly cast upon the personality and genius of the poet.
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF BROWNING.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+It must, to admirers of Browning's writings, appear singularly
+appropriate that so cosmopolitan a poet was born in London. It would
+seem as though something of that mighty complex life, so confusedly
+petty to the narrow vision, so grandiose and even majestic to the larger
+ken, had blent with his being from the first. What fitter birthplace for
+the poet whom a comrade has called the "Subtlest Assertor of the Soul in
+Song," the poet whose writings are indeed a mirror of the age?
+
+A man may be in all things a Londoner and yet be a provincial. The
+accident of birthplace does not necessarily involve parochialism of the
+soul. It is not the village which produces the Hampden, but the Hampden
+who immortalises the village. It is a favourite jest of Rusticus that
+his urban brother has the manner of Omniscience and the knowledge of a
+parish beadle. Nevertheless, though the strongest blood insurgent in the
+metropolitan heart is not that which is native to it, one might well be
+proud to have had one's atom-pulse atune from the first with the large
+rhythm of the national life at its turbulent, congested, but ever
+ebullient centre. Certainly Browning was not the man to be ashamed of
+his being a Londoner, much less to deny his natal place. He was proud of
+it: through good sense, no doubt, but possibly also through some
+instinctive apprehension of the fact that the great city was indeed the
+fit mother of such a son. "Ashamed of having been born in the greatest
+city of the world!" he exclaimed on one occasion; "what an extraordinary
+thing to say! It suggests a wavelet in a muddy shallow grimily
+contorting itself because it had its birth out in the great ocean."
+
+On the day of the poet's funeral in Westminster Abbey, one of the most
+eminent of his peers remarked to me that Browning came to us as one
+coming into his own. This is profoundly true. There was in good sooth a
+mansion prepared against his advent. Long ago, we should have
+surrendered as to a conqueror: now, however, we know that princes of the
+mind, though they must be valorous and potent as of yore, can enter upon
+no heritance save that which naturally awaits them, and has been made
+theirs by long and intricate processes.
+
+The lustrum which saw the birth of Robert Browning, that is the third in
+the nineteenth century, was a remarkable one indeed. Thackeray came into
+the world some months earlier than the great poet, Charles Dickens
+within the same twelvemonth, and Tennyson three years sooner, when also
+Elizabeth Barrett was born, and the foremost naturalist of modern times
+first saw the light. It is a matter of significance that the great wave
+of scientific thought which ultimately bore forward on its crest so many
+famous men, from Brewster and Faraday to Charles Darwin, had just begun
+to rise with irresistible impulsion. Lepsius's birth was in 1813, and
+that of the great Flemish novelist, Henri Conscience, in 1812: about the
+same period were the births of Freiligrath, Gutzkow, and Auerbach,
+respectively one of the most lyrical poets, the most potent dramatist,
+the most charming romancer of Germany: and, also, in France, of
+Théophile Gautier and Alfred de Musset. Among representatives of the
+other arts--with two of which Browning must ever be closely
+associated--Mendelssohn and Chopin were born in 1809, and Schumann,
+Liszt, and Wagner within the four succeeding years: within which space
+also came Diaz and Meissonier and the great Millet. Other high names
+there are upon the front of the century. Macaulay, Cardinal Newman, John
+Stuart Mill (one of the earliest, by the way, to recognise the genius of
+Browning), Alexandre Dumas, George Sand, Victor Hugo, Ampère, Quinet,
+Prosper Merimée, Sainte-Beuve, Strauss, Montalembert, are among the
+laurel-bearers who came into existence betwixt 1800 and 1812.
+
+When Robert Browning was born in London in 1812, Sheridan had still four
+years to live; Jeremy Bentham was at the height of his contemporary
+reputation, and Godwin was writing glibly of the virtues of humanity and
+practising the opposite qualities, while Crabbe was looked upon as one
+of the foremost of living poets. Wordsworth was then forty, Sir Walter
+Scott forty-one, Coleridge forty-two, Walter Savage Landor and Charles
+Lamb each in his forty-fifth year. Byron was four-and-twenty, Shelley
+not yet quite of age, two radically different men, Keats and Carlyle,
+both youths of seventeen. Abroad, Laplace was in his maturity, with
+fifteen years more yet to live; Joubert with twelve; Goethe, with
+twenty; Lamarck, the Schlegels, Cuvier, Chateaubriand, Hegel, Niebühr
+(to specify some leading names only), had many years of work before
+them. Schopenhauer was only four-and-twenty, while Béranger was
+thirty-two. The Polish poet Mickiewicz was a boy of fourteen, and
+Poushkin was but a twelvemonth older; Heine, a lad of twelve, was
+already enamoured of the great Napoleonic legend. The foremost literary
+critic of the century was running about the sands of Boulogne, or
+perhaps wandering often along the ramparts of the old town,
+introspective even then, with something of that rare and insatiable
+curiosity which we all now recognise as so distinctive of Sainte-Beuve.
+Again, the greatest creative literary artist of the century, in prose at
+any rate, was leading an apparently somewhat indolent schoolboy life at
+Tours, undreamful yet of enormous debts, colossal undertakings, gigantic
+failures, and the _Comédie Humaine._ In art, Sir Henry Raeburn, William
+Blake, Flaxman, Canova, Thorwaldsen, Crome, Sir Thomas Lawrence,
+Constable, Sir David Wilkie, and Turner were in the exercise of their
+happiest faculties: as were, in the usage of theirs, Beethoven, Weber,
+Schubert, Spohr, Donizetti, and Bellini.
+
+It is not inadvisedly that I make this specification of great names, of
+men who were born coincidentally with, or were in the broader sense
+contemporaries of Robert Browning. There is no such thing as a
+fortuitous birth. Creation does not occur spontaneously, as in that
+drawing of David Scott's where from the footprint of the Omnipotent
+spring human spirits and fiery stars. Literally indeed, as a great
+French writer has indicated, a man is the child of his time. It is a
+matter often commented upon by students of literature, that great men do
+not appear at the beginning, but rather at the acme of a period. They
+are not the flying scud of the coming wave, but the gleaming crown of
+that wave itself. The epoch expends itself in preparation for these
+great ones.
+
+If Nature's first law were not a law of excess, the economy of life
+would have meagre results. I think it is Turgenïev who speaks somewhere
+of her as a gigantic Titan, working in gloomy silence, with the same
+savage intentness upon a subtler twist of a flea's joints as upon the
+Destinies of Man.
+
+If there be a more foolish cry than that poetry is on the wane, it is
+that the great days had passed away even before Robert Browning and
+Alfred Tennyson were born. The way was prepared for Browning, as it was
+for Shakspere: as it is, beyond doubt, for the next high peer of these.
+
+There were 'Roberts' among the sons of the Browning family for at least
+four generations. It has been affirmed, on disputable authority, that
+the surname is the English equivalent for Bruning, and that the family
+is of Teutonic origin. Possibly: but this origin is too remote to be of
+any practical concern. Browning himself, it may be added, told Mr.
+Moncure Conway that the original name was De Bruni. It is not a matter
+of much importance: the poet was, personally and to a great extent in
+his genius, Anglo-Saxon. Though there are plausible grounds for the
+assumption. I can find nothing to substantiate the common assertion
+that, immediately, or remotely, his people were Jews.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Fairly conclusive evidence to the contrary, on the paternal
+side, is afforded in the fact that, in 1757, the poet's
+great-grandfather gave one of his sons the baptismal name of Christian.
+Dr. Furnivall's latest researches prove that there is absolutely "no
+ground for supposing the presence of any Jewish blood in the poet's
+veins."]
+
+As to Browning's physiognomy and personal traits, this much may be
+granted: if those who knew him were told he was a Jew they would not be
+much surprised. In his exuberant vitality, in his sensuous love of music
+and the other arts, in his combined imaginativeness and shrewdness of
+common sense, in his superficial expansiveness and actual reticence, he
+would have been typical enough of the potent and artistic race for whom
+he has so often of late been claimed.
+
+What, however, is most to the point is that neither to curious
+acquaintances nor to intimate friends, neither to Jews nor Gentiles, did
+he ever admit more than that he was a good Protestant, and sprung of a
+Puritan stock. He was tolerant of all religious forms, but with a
+natural bias towards Anglican Evangelicalism.
+
+In appearance there was, perhaps, something of the Semite in Robert
+Browning: yet this is observable but slightly in the portraits of him
+during the last twenty years, and scarcely at all in those which
+represent him as a young man. It is most marked in the drawing by Rudolf
+Lehmann, representing Browning at the age of forty-seven, where he looks
+out upon us with a physiognomy which is, at least, as much distinctively
+Jewish as English. Possibly the large dark eyes (so unlike both in
+colour and shape what they were in later life) and curved nose and full
+lips, with the oval face, may have been, as it were, seen judaically by
+the artist. These characteristics, again, are greatly modified in Mr.
+Lehmann's subsequent portrait in oils.
+
+The poet's paternal great-grandfather, who was owner of the Woodyates
+Inn, in the parish of Pentridge, in Dorsetshire, claimed to come of good
+west-country stock. Browning believed, but always conscientiously
+maintained there was no proof in support of the assumption, that he was
+a descendant of the Captain Micaiah Browning who, as Macaulay relates in
+his _History of England_, raised the siege of Derry in 1689 by springing
+the boom across Lough Foyle, and perished in the act. The same ancestral
+line is said to comprise the Captain Browning who commanded the ship
+_The Holy Ghost_, which conveyed Henry V. to France before he fought the
+Battle of Agincourt, and in recognition of whose services two waves,
+said to represent waves of the sea, were added to his coat of arms. It
+is certainly a point of some importance in the evidence, as has been
+indicated, that these arms were displayed by the gallant Captain
+Micaiah, and are borne by the present family. That the poet was a
+pure-bred Englishman in the strictest sense, however, as has commonly
+been asserted, is not the case. His mother was Scottish, through her
+mother and by birth, but her father was the son of a German from
+Hamburg, named Wiedemann, who, by the way, in connection with his
+relationship as maternal grandfather to the poet, it is interesting to
+note, was an accomplished draughtsman and musician.[2] Browning's
+paternal grandmother, again, was a Creole. As Mrs. Orr remarks, this
+pedigree throws a valuable light on the vigour and variety of the poet's
+genius. Possibly the main current of his ancestry is as little strictly
+English as German. A friend sends me the following paragraph from a
+Scottish paper:--"What of the Scottish Brownings? I had it long ago from
+one of the name that the Brownings came originally from Ayrshire, and
+that several families of them emigrated to the North of Ireland during
+the times of the Covenanters. There is, moreover, a small town or
+village in the North of Ireland called Browningstown. Might not the poet
+be related to these Scottish Brownings?"
+
+[Footnote 2: It has frequently been stated that Browning's maternal
+grandfather, Mr. Wiedemann, was a Jew. Mr. Wiedemann, the son of a
+Hamburg merchant, was a small shipowner in Dundee. Had he, or his
+father, been Semitic, he would not have baptised one of his daughters
+'Christiana.']
+
+Browning's great-grandfather, as indicated above, was a small proprietor
+in Dorsetshire. His son, whether perforce or from choice, removed to
+London when he was a youth, and speedily obtained a clerkship in the
+Bank of England, where he remained for fifty years, till he was
+pensioned off in 1821 with over £400 a year. He died in 1833. His wife,
+to whom he was married in or about 1780, was one Margaret Morris Tittle,
+a Creole, born in the West Indies. Her portrait, by Wright of Derby,
+used to hang in the poet's dining-room. They resided, Mr. R. Barrett
+Browning tells me, in Battersea, where his grandfather was their
+first-born. The paternal grandfather of the poet decided that his three
+sons, Robert, William Shergold, and Reuben, should go into business,
+the two younger in London, the elder abroad. All three became efficient
+financial clerks, and attained to good positions and fair means.[3] The
+eldest, Robert, was a man of exceptional powers. He was a poet, both in
+sentiment and expression; and he understood, as well as enjoyed, the
+excellent in art. He was a scholar, too, in a reputable fashion: not
+indifferent to what he had learnt in his youth, nor heedless of the high
+opinion generally entertained for the greatest writers of antiquity, but
+with a particular care himself for Horace and Anacreon. As his son once
+told a friend. "The old gentleman's brain was a storehouse of literary
+and philosophical antiquities. He was completely versed in mediæval
+legend, and seemed to have known Paracelsus, Faustus, and even Talmudic
+personages, personally"--a significant detail, by the way. He was fond
+of metrical composition, and his ease and grace in the use of the heroic
+couplet were the admiration, not only of his intellectual associates,
+but, in later days, of his son, who was wont to affirm, certainly in all
+seriousness, that expressionally his father was a finer poetic artist
+than himself. Some one has recorded of him that he was an authority on
+the Letters of Junius: fortunately he had more tangible claims than this
+to the esteem of his fellows. It was his boast that, notwithstanding the
+exigencies of his vocation, he knew as much of the history of art as any
+professional critic. His extreme modesty is deducible from this naïve
+remark. He was an amateur artist, moreover, as well as poet, critic,
+and student. I have seen several of his drawings which are
+praise-worthy: his studies in portraiture, particularly, are ably
+touched: and, as is well known, he had an active faculty of pictorial
+caricature. In the intervals of leisure which beset the best regulated
+clerk he was addicted to making drawings of the habitual visitors to the
+Bank of England, in which he had obtained a post on his return, in 1803,
+from the West Indies, and in the enjoyment of which he remained till
+1853, when he retired on a small pension. His son had an independent
+income, but whether from a bequest, or in the form of an allowance from
+his then unmarried Uncle Reuben, is uncertain. In the first year of his
+marriage Mr. Browning resided in an old house in Southampton Street,
+Peckham, and there the poet was born. The house was long ago pulled
+down, and another built on its site. Mr. Browning afterwards removed to
+another domicile in the same Peckham district. Many years later, he and
+his family left Camberwell and resided at Hatcham, near New Cross, where
+his brothers and sisters (by his father's second marriage) lived. There
+was a stable attached to the Hatcham house, and in it Mr. Reuben
+Browning kept his horse, which he let his poet-nephew ride, while he
+himself was at his desk in Rothschild's bank. No doubt this horse was
+the 'York' alluded to by the poet in the letter quoted, as a footnote,
+at page 189 of this book. Some years after his wife's death, which
+occurred in 1849, Mr. Browning left Hatcham and came to Paddington, but
+finally went to reside in Paris, and lived there, in a small street off
+the Champs Élysées, till his death in 1866. The Creole strain seems to
+have been distinctly noticeable in Mr. Browning, so much so that it is
+possible it had something to do with his unwillingness to remain at St.
+Kitts, where he was certainly on one occasion treated cavalierly enough.
+The poet's complexion in youth, light and ivory-toned as it was in later
+life, has been described as olive, and it is said that one of his
+nephews, who met him in Paris in his early manhood, took him for an
+Italian. It has been affirmed that it was the emotional Creole strain in
+Browning which found expression in his passion for music.
+
+[Footnote 3: The three brothers were men of liberal education and
+literary tastes. Mr. W.S. Browning, who died in 1874, was an author of
+some repute. His _History of the Huguenots_ is a standard book on
+the subject.]
+
+By old friends of the family I have been told that Mr. Browning had a
+strong liking for children, with whom his really remarkable faculty of
+impromptu fiction made him a particular favourite. Sometimes he would
+supplement his tales by illustrations with pencil or brush. Miss Alice
+Corkran has shown me an illustrated coloured map, depictive of the main
+incidents and scenery of the _Pilgrim's Progress_, which he genially
+made for "the children."[4]
+
+[Footnote 4: Mrs. Fraser Corkran, who saw much of the poet's father
+during his residence in Paris, has spoken to me of his extraordinary
+analytical faculty in the elucidation of complex criminal cases. It was
+once said of him that his detective faculty amounted to genius. This is
+a significant trait in the father of the author of "The Ring and the
+Book."]
+
+He had three children himself--Robert, born May 7th, 1812, a daughter
+named Sarianna, after her mother, and Clara. His wife was a woman of
+singular beauty of nature, with a depth of religious feeling saved from
+narrowness of scope only by a rare serenity and a fathomless charity.
+Her son's loving admiration of her was almost a passion: even late in
+life he rarely spoke of her without tears coming to his eyes. She was,
+moreover, of an intellectual bent of mind, and with an artistic bias
+having its readiest fulfilment in music, and, to some extent, in poetry.
+In the latter she inclined to the Romanticists: her husband always
+maintained the supremacy of Pope. He looked with much dubiety upon his
+son's early writings, "Pauline" and "Paracelsus"; "Sordello," though he
+found it beyond either his artistic or his mental apprehension, he
+forgave, because it was written in rhymed couplets; the maturer works he
+regarded with sympathy and pride, with a vague admiration which passed
+into a clearer understanding only when his long life was drawing near
+its close.
+
+Of his children's company he never tired, even when they were scarce out
+of babyhood. He was fond of taking the little Robert in his arms, and
+walking to and fro with him in the dusk in "the library," soothing the
+child to sleep by singing to him snatches of Anacreon in the original,
+to a favourite old tune of his, "A Cottage in a Wood." Readers of
+"Asolando" will remember the allusions in that volume to "my father who
+was a scholar and knew Greek." A week or two before his death Browning
+told an American friend, Mrs. Corson, in reply to a statement of hers
+that no one could accuse him of letting his talents lie idle: "It would
+have been quite unpardonable in my case not to have done my best. My
+dear father put me in a condition most favourable for the best work I
+was capable of. When I think of the many authors who have had to fight
+their way through all sorts of difficulties, I have no reason to be
+proud of my achievements. My good father sacrificed a fortune to his
+convictions. He could not bear with slavery, and left India and
+accepted a humble bank-office in London. He secured for me all the ease
+and comfort that a literary man needs to do good work. It would have
+been shameful if I had not done my best to realise his expectations of
+me."[5]
+
+[Footnote 5: 'India' is a slip on the part either of Browning or of Mrs.
+Corson. The poet's father was never in India. He was quite a youth when
+he went to his mother's sugar-plantation at St. Kitts, in the West
+Indies.]
+
+The home of Mr. Browning was, as already stated, in Camberwell, a suburb
+then of less easy access than now, and where there were green trees, and
+groves, and enticing rural perspectives into "real" country, yet withal
+not without some suggestion of the metropolitan air.
+
+                              "The old trees
+     Which grew by our youth's home--the waving mass
+     Of climbing plants, heavy with bloom and dew--
+     The morning swallows with their songs like words--
+     All these seem clear....
+                            ...most distinct amid
+     The fever and the stir of after years."
+
+                                    (_Pauline_.)
+
+Another great writer of our time was born in the same parish: and those
+who would know Herne Hill and the neighbourhood as it was in Browning's
+youth will find an enthusiastic guide in the author of _Praeterita_.
+
+Browning's childhood was a happy one. Indeed, if the poet had been able
+to teach in song only what he had learnt in suffering, the larger part
+of his verse would be singularly barren of interest. From first to last
+everything went well with him, with the exception of a single profound
+grief. This must be borne in mind by those who would estimate aright the
+genius of Robert Browning. It would be affectation or folly to deny that
+his splendid physique--a paternal inheritance, for his father died at
+the age of eighty-four, without having ever endured a day's illness--and
+the exceptionally fortunate circumstances which were his throughout
+life, had something to do with that superb faith of his which finds
+concentrated expression in the lines in Pippa's song--"God's in His
+Heaven, All's right with the world!"
+
+It is difficult for a happy man with an imperturbable digestion to be a
+pessimist. He is always inclined to give Nature the benefit of the
+doubt. His favourite term for this mental complaisance is "catholicity
+of faith," or, it may be, "a divine hope." The less fortunate brethren
+bewail the laws of Nature, and doubt a future readjustment, because of
+stomachs chronically out of order. An eminent author with a weak
+digestion wrote to me recently animadverting on what he calls Browning's
+insanity of optimism: it required no personal acquaintanceship to
+discern the dyspeptic well-spring of this utterance. All this may be
+admitted lightly without carrying the physiological argument to
+extremes. A man may have a liberal hope for himself and for humanity,
+although his dinner be habitually a martyrdom. After all, we are only
+dictated to by our bodies: we have not perforce to obey them. A bitter
+wit once remarked that the soul, if it were ever discovered, would be
+found embodied in the gastric juice. He was not altogether a fool, this
+man who had learnt in suffering what he taught in epigram; yet was he
+wide of the mark.
+
+As a very young child Browning was keenly susceptible to music. One
+afternoon his mother was playing in the twilight to herself. She was
+startled to hear a sound behind her. Glancing round, she beheld a little
+white figure distinct against an oak bookcase, and could just discern
+two large wistful eyes looking earnestly at her. The next moment the
+child had sprung into her arms, sobbing passionately at he knew not
+what, but, as his paroxysm of emotion subsided, whispering over and
+over, with shy urgency, "Play! play!"
+
+It is strange that among all his father's collection of drawings and
+engravings nothing had such fascination for him as an engraving of a
+picture of Andromeda and Perseus by Caravaggio. The story of the
+innocent victim and the divine deliverer was one of which in his boyhood
+he never tired of hearing: and as he grew older the charm of its
+pictorial presentment had for him a deeper and more complex
+significance. We have it on the authority of a friend that Browning had
+this engraving always before his eyes as he wrote his earlier poems. He
+has given beautiful commemoration to his feeling for it in "Pauline":--
+
+                                 "Andromeda!
+     And she is with me--years roll, I shall change,
+     But change can touch her not--so beautiful
+     With her dark eyes, earnest and still, and hair
+     Lifted and spread by the salt-sweeping breeze;
+     And one red beam, all the storm leaves in heaven,
+     Resting upon her eyes and face and hair,
+     As she awaits the snake on the wet beach,
+     By the dark rock, and the white wave just breaking
+     At her feet; quite naked and alone,--a thing
+     You doubt not, nor fear for, secure that God
+     Will come in thunder from the stars to save her."
+
+One of his own early recollections was that of sitting on his father's
+knees in the library, and listening with enthralled attention to the
+Tale of Troy, with marvellous illustrations among the glowing coals in
+the fireplace; with, below all, the vaguely heard accompaniment--from
+the neighbouring room where Mrs. Browning sat "in her chief happiness,
+her hour of darkness and solitude and music"--of a wild Gaelic lament,
+with its insistent falling cadences. A story concerning his poetic
+precocity has been circulated, but is not worth repeating. Most children
+love jingling rhymes, and one need not be a born genius to improvise a
+rhyming couplet on an occasion.
+
+It is quite certain that in nothing in these early poemicules, in such
+at least as have been preserved without the poet's knowledge and against
+his will, is there anything of genuine promise. Hundreds of youngsters
+have written as good, or better, Odes to the Moon, Stanzas on a
+Favourite Canary, Lines on a Butterfly. What is much more to the point
+is, that at the age of eight he was able not only to read, but to take
+delight in Pope's translation of Homer. He used to go about declaiming
+certain couplets with an air of intense earnestness highly diverting to
+those who overheard him.
+
+About this time also he began to translate the simpler odes of Horace.
+One of these (viii. Bk. II.) long afterwards suggested to him the theme
+of his "Instans Tyrannus." It has been put on record that his sister
+remembers him, as a very little boy, walking round and round the
+dining-room table, and spanning out the scansion of his verses with his
+hand on the smooth mahogany. He was scarce more than a child when, one
+Guy Fawkes' day, he heard a woman singing an unfamiliar song, whose
+burden was, "Following the Queen of the Gipsies, O!" This refrain
+haunted him often in the after years. That beautiful fantastic romance,
+"The Flight of the Duchess," was born out of an insistent memory of this
+woman's snatch of song, heard in childhood. He was ten when, after
+several _passions malheureuses_, this precocious Lothario plunged into a
+love affair whose intensity was only equalled by its hopelessness. A
+trifle of fifteen years' seniority and a husband complicated matters,
+but it was not till after the reckless expenditure of a Horatian ode
+upon an unclassical mistress that he gave up hope. The outcome of this
+was what the elder Browning regarded as a startling effusion of much
+Byronic verse. The young Robert yearned for wastes of ocean and
+illimitable sands, for dark eyes and burning caresses, for despair that
+nothing could quench but the silent grave, and, in particular, for
+hollow mocking laughter. His father looked about for a suitable school,
+and decided to entrust the boy's further education to Mr. Ready, of
+Peckham.
+
+Here he remained till he was fourteen. But already he knew the dominion
+of dreams. His chief enjoyment, on holiday afternoons, was to gain an
+unfrequented spot, where three huge elms re-echoed the tones of
+incoherent human music borne thither-ward by the west winds across the
+wastes of London. Here he loved to lie and dream. Alas, those elms, that
+high remote coign, have long since passed to the "hidden way" whither
+the snows of yester year have vanished. He would lie for hours looking
+upon distant London--a golden city of the west literally enough,
+oftentimes, when the sunlight came streaming in long shafts from behind
+the towers of Westminster and flashed upon the gold cross of St. Paul's.
+The coming and going of the cloud-shadows, the sweeping of sudden rains,
+the dull silvern light emanating from the haze of mist shrouding the
+vast city, with the added transitory gleam of troubled waters, the
+drifting of fogs, at that distance seeming like gigantic veils
+constantly being moved forward and then slowly withdrawn, as though some
+sinister creature of the atmosphere were casting a net among all the
+dross and débris of human life for fantastic sustenance of its own--all
+this endless, ever-changing, always novel phantasmagoria had for him an
+extraordinary fascination. One of the memorable nights of his boyhood
+was an eve when he found his way, not without perturbation of spirit
+because of the unfamiliar solitary dark, to his loved elms. There, for
+the first time, he beheld London by night. It seemed to him then more
+wonderful and appalling than all the host of stars. There was something
+ominous in that heavy pulsating breath: visible, in a waning and waxing
+of the tremulous, ruddy glow above the black enmassed leagues of
+masonry; audible, in the low inarticulate moaning borne eastward across
+the crests of Norwood. It was then and there that the tragic
+significance of life first dimly awed and appealed to his questioning
+spirit: that the rhythm of humanity first touched deeply in him a
+corresponding chord.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+It was certainly about this time, as he admitted once in one of his rare
+reminiscent moods, that Browning felt the artistic impulse stirring
+within him, like the rising of the sap in a tree. He remembered his
+mother's music, and hoped to be a musician: he recollected his father's
+drawings, and certain seductive landscapes and seascapes by painters
+whom he had heard called "the Norwich men," and he wished to be an
+artist: then reminiscences of the Homeric lines he loved, of haunting
+verse-melodies, moved him most of all.
+
+     "I shall never, in the years remaining,
+      Paint you pictures, no, nor carve you statues,
+      Make you music that should all-express me:
+      ... verse alone, one life allows me."
+
+He now gave way to the compulsive Byronic vogue, with an occasional
+relapse to the polished artificialism of his father's idol among British
+poets. There were several ballads written at this time: if I remember
+aright, the poet specified the "Death of Harold" as the theme of one.
+Long afterwards he read these boyish forerunners of "Over the sea our
+galleys went," and "How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix,"
+and was amused by their derivative if delicate melodies. Mrs. Browning
+was very proud of these early blooms of song, and when her
+twelve-year-old son, tired of vain efforts to seduce a publisher from
+the wary ways of business, surrendered in disgust his neatly copied out
+and carefully stitched MSS., she lost no opportunity--when Mr. Browning
+was absent--to expatiate upon their merits. Among the people to whom she
+showed them was a Miss Flower. This lady took them home, perused them,
+discerned dormant genius lurking behind the boyish handwriting, read
+them to her sister (afterwards to become known as Sarah Flower Adams),
+copied them out before returning them, and persuaded the celebrated Rev.
+William Johnson Fox to read the transcripts. Mr. Fox agreed with Miss
+Flower as to the promise, but not altogether as to the actual
+accomplishment, nor at all as to the advisability of publication. The
+originals are supposed to have been destroyed by the poet during the
+eventful period when, owing to a fortunate gift, poetry became a new
+thing for him: from a dream, vague, if seductive, as summer-lightning,
+transformed to a dominating reality. Passing a bookstall one day, he
+saw, in a box of second-hand volumes, a little book advertised as "Mr.
+Shelley's Atheistical Poem: very scarce." He had never heard of Shelley,
+nor did he learn for a long time that the "Dæmon of the World," and the
+miscellaneous poems appended thereto, constituted a literary piracy.
+Badly printed, shamefully mutilated, these discarded blossoms touched
+him to a new emotion. Pope became further removed than ever: Byron,
+even, lost his magnetic supremacy. From vague remarks in reply to his
+inquiries, and from one or two casual allusions, he learned that there
+really was a poet called Shelley; that he had written several volumes;
+that he was dead.
+
+Strange as it may seem, Browning declared once that the news of this
+unknown singer's death affected him more poignantly than did, a year or
+less earlier, the tidings of Byron's heroic end at Missolonghi. He
+begged his mother to procure him Shelley's works, a request not easily
+complied with, for the excellent reason that not one of the local
+booksellers had even heard of the poet's name. Ultimately, however, Mrs.
+Browning learned that what she sought was procurable at the Olliers' in
+Vere Street, London.
+
+She was very pleased with the result of her visit. The books, it is
+true, seemed unattractive: but they would please Robert, no doubt. If
+that packet had been lost we should not have had "Pauline": we might
+have had a different Browning. It contained most of Shelley's writings,
+all in their first edition, with the exception of "The Cenci": in
+addition, there were three volumes by an even less known poet, John
+Keats, which kindly Mrs. Browning had been persuaded to include in her
+purchase on Mr. Ollier's assurance that they were the poetic kindred of
+Shelley's writings, and that Mr. Keats was the subject of the elegiac
+poem in the purple paper cover, with the foreign-looking type and the
+imprint "Pisa" at the foot of the title-page, entitled "Adonais." What
+an evening for the young poet that must have been. He told a friend it
+was a May night, and that in a laburnum, "heavy with its weight of
+gold," and in a great copper-beech at the end of a neighbour's garden,
+two nightingales strove one against the other. For a moment it is a
+pleasant fancy to imagine that there the souls of Keats and Shelley
+uttered their enfranchised music, not in rivalry but in welcome. We can
+realise, perhaps, something of the startled delight, of the sudden
+electric tremors, of the young poet when, with eager eyes, he turned
+over the pages of "Epipsychidion" or "Prometheus Unbound," "Alastor" or
+"Endymion," or the Odes to a Nightingale, on Melancholy, on a Grecian
+Urn.
+
+More than once Browning alluded to this experience as his first
+pervasive joy, his first free happiness in outlook. Often in after life
+he was fain, like his "wise thrush," to "recapture that first fine
+careless rapture." It was an eventful eve.
+
+     "And suddenly, without heart-wreck, I awoke
+      As from a dream."
+
+Thenceforth his poetic development was rapid, and continuous. Shelley
+enthralled him most. The fire and spirit of the great poet's verse, wild
+and strange often, but ever with an exquisiteness of music which seemed
+to his admirer, then and later, supreme, thrilled him to a very passion
+of delight. Something of the more richly coloured, the more human rhythm
+of Keats affected him also. Indeed, a line from the Ode to a
+Nightingale, in common with one of the loveliest passages in
+"Epipsychidion," haunted him above all others: and again and again in
+his poems we may encounter vague echoes of those "remote isles" and
+"perilous seas"--as, for example, in "the dim clustered isles of the
+blue sea" of "Pauline," and the "some isle, with the sea's silence on
+it--some unsuspected isle in the far seas!" of "Pippa Passes."
+
+But of course he had other matters for mental occupation besides poetry.
+His education at Mr. Ready's private academy seems to have been
+excellent so far as it went. He remained there till he was fourteen.
+Perhaps because of the few boarders at the school, possibly from his own
+reticence in self disclosure, he does not seem to have impressed any
+school-mate deeply. We hear of no one who "knew Browning at school." His
+best education, after all, was at home. His father and mother
+incidentally taught him as much as Mr. Ready: his love of painting and
+music was fostered, indirectly: and in the 'dovecot' bookshelf above the
+fireplace in his bedroom, were the precious volumes within whose sway
+and magic was his truest life.
+
+His father, for some reason which has not been made public, but was
+doubtless excellent, and is, in the light in which we now regard it, a
+matter for which to be thankful, decided to send his son neither to a
+large public school, nor, later, to Oxford or Cambridge. A more
+stimulative and wider training was awaiting him elsewhere.
+
+For a time Robert's education was superintended by a tutor, who came to
+the house in Camberwell for several hours daily. The afternoons were
+mainly devoted to music, to exercise, and occasionally to various
+experimental studies in technical science. In the evenings, after his
+preparatory tasks were over, when he was not in the entertaining company
+of his father, he read and assiduously wrote. After poetry, he cared
+most for history: but as a matter of fact, little came amiss to his
+eager intellectual appetite. It was a period of growth, with, it may
+be, a vague consciousness that his mind was expanding towards compulsive
+expression.
+
+     "So as I grew, I rudely shaped my life
+      To my immediate wants, yet strong beneath
+      Was a vague sense of powers folded up--
+      A sense that though those shadowy times were past,
+      Their spirit dwelt in me, and I should rule."
+
+When Mr. Browning was satisfied that the tutor had fulfilled his duty he
+sent his son to attend a few lectures at University College, in Gower
+Street, then just founded. Robert Browning's name is on the registrar's
+books for the opening session, 1829-30. "I attended with him the Greek
+class of Professor Long" (wrote a friend, in the _Times_, Dec. 14:'89),
+"and I well recollect the esteem and regard in which he was held by his
+fellow-students. He was then a bright, handsome youth, with long black
+hair falling over his shoulders." So short was his period of attendance,
+however, and so unimportant the instruction he there derived, that to
+all intents it may be said Browning had no University training.
+
+Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Browning but slightly appreciated his
+son's poetic idols and already found himself in an opposite literary
+camp, he had a profound sympathy with the boy's ideals and no little
+confidence in his powers. When the test came he acted wisely as well as
+with affectionate complaisance. In a word, he practically left the
+decision as to his course of life to Robert himself. The latter was
+helped thereto by the knowledge that his sister would be provided for,
+and that, if need be, there was sufficient for himself also. There was
+of course but one way open to him. He would not have been a true poet,
+an artist, if he had hesitated. With a strange misconception of the
+artistic spirit, some one has awarded the poet great credit for his
+choice, because he had "the singular courage to decline to be rich."
+Browning himself had nothing of this bourgeois spirit: he was the last
+man to speak of an inevitable artistic decision as "singular courage."
+There are no doubt people who estimate his resolve as Mr. Barrett, so
+his daughter declared, regarded Horne when he heard of that poet having
+published "Orion" at a farthing: "Perhaps he is going to shoot the
+Queen, and is preparing evidence of monomania."
+
+With Browning there never could have been two sides to the question: it
+were excusable, it were natural even, had his father wavered. The
+outcome of their deliberations was that Robert's further education
+should be obtained from travel, and intercourse with men and foreign
+literatures.
+
+By this time the poet was twenty. His youth had been uneventful; in a
+sense, more so than his boyhood. His mind, however, was rapidly
+unfolding, and great projects were casting a glory about the coming
+days. It was in his nineteenth year, I have been told on good authority,
+that he became ardently in love with a girl of rare beauty, a year or
+two older than himself, but otherwise, possibly, no inappropriate lover
+for this wooer. Why and when this early passion came to a close, or was
+rudely interrupted, is not known. What is certain is that it made a deep
+impression on the poet's mind. It may be that it, of itself, or wrought
+to a higher emotion by his hunger after ideal beauty, was the source of
+"Pauline," that very unequal but yet beautiful first fruit of Browning's
+genius.
+
+It was not till within the last few years that the poet spoke at all
+freely of his youthful life. Perhaps the earliest record of these
+utterances is that which appeared in the _Century Magazine_ in 1881.
+From this source, and from what the poet himself said at various times
+and in various ways, we know that just about the time Balzac, after
+years of apparently waste labour, was beginning to forecast the Titanic
+range of the _Comédie Humaine_, Browning planned "a series of
+monodramatic epics, narratives of the life of typical souls--a gigantic
+scheme at which a Victor Hugo or a Lope de Vega would start back
+aghast."
+
+Already he had set himself to the analysis of the human soul in its
+manifold aspects, already he had recognised that for him at least there
+was no other study worthy of a lifelong devotion. In a sense he has
+fulfilled this early dream: at any rate we have a unique series of
+monodramatic poems, illustrative of typical souls. In another sense, the
+major portion of Browning's life-work is, collectively, one monodramatic
+"epic." He is himself a type of the subtle, restless, curious, searching
+modern age of which he is the profoundest interpreter. Through a
+multitude of masks he, the typical soul, speaks, and delivers himself of
+a message which could not be presented emphatically enough as the
+utterance of a single individual. He is a true dramatic poet, though not
+in the sense in which Shakspere is. Shakspere and his kindred project
+themselves into the lives of their imaginary personages: Browning pays
+little heed to external life, or to the exigencies of action, and
+projects himself into the minds of his characters.
+
+In a word, Shakspere's method is to depict a human soul in action, with
+all the pertinent play of circumstance, while Browning's is to portray
+the processes of its mental and spiritual development: as he said in his
+dedicatory preface to "Sordello," "little else is worth study." The one
+electrifies us with the outer and dominant actualities; the other
+flashes upon our mental vision the inner, complex, shaping
+potentialities. The one deals with life dynamically, the other with life
+as Thought. Both methods are compassed by art. Browning, who is above
+all modern writers the poet of dramatic situations, is surpassed by many
+of inferior power in continuity of dramatic sequence. His finest work is
+in his dramatic poems, rather than in his dramas. He realised intensely
+the value of quintessential moments, as when the Prefect in "The Return
+of the Druses" thrusts aside the arras, muttering that for the first
+time he enters without a sense of imminent doom, "no draught coming as
+from a sepulchre" saluting him, while that moment the dagger of the
+assassin plunges to his heart: or, further in the same poem, when Anael,
+coming to denounce Djabal as an impostor, is overmastered by her
+tyrannic love, and falls dead with the too bitter freight of her
+emotion, though not till she has proclaimed him the God by her single
+worshipping cry, _Hakeem!_--or, once more, in "The Ring and the Book,"
+where, with the superbest close of any dramatic poem in our literature,
+the wretched Guido, at the point of death, cries out in the last
+extremity not upon God or the Virgin, but upon his innocent and
+murdered wife--"Abate,--Cardinal,--Christ,--Maria,--God, ... Pompilia,
+will you let them murder me?" Thus we can imagine Browning, with his
+characteristic perception of the profound significance of a circumstance
+or a single word even, having written of the knocking at the door in
+"Macbeth," or having used, with all its marvellous cumulative effect,
+the word 'wrought' towards the close of "Othello," when the Moor cries
+in his bitterness of soul, "But being wrought, perplext in the extreme":
+we can imagine this, and yet could not credit the suggestion that even
+the author of "The Ring and the Book" could by any possibility have
+composed the two most moving tragedies writ in our tongue.
+
+In the late autumn of 1832 Browning wrote a poem of singular promise and
+beauty, though immature in thought and crude in expression.[6]
+Thirty-four years later he included "Pauline" in his "Poetical Works"
+with reluctance, and in a note explained the reason of his
+decision--namely, to forestall piratical reprints abroad. "The thing was
+my earliest attempt at 'poetry always dramatic in principle, and so many
+utterances of so many imaginary persons, not mine,' which I have since
+written according to a scheme less extravagant, and scale less
+impracticable, than were ventured upon in this crude preliminary
+sketch--a sketch that, on reviewal, appears not altogether wide of some
+hint of the characteristic features of that particular _dramatis
+persona_ it would fain have reproduced: good draughtsmanship, however,
+and right handling were far beyond the artist at that time." These be
+hard words. No critic will ever adventure upon so severe a censure of
+"Pauline": most capable judges agree that, with all its shortcomings, it
+is a work of genius, and therefore ever to be held treasurable for its
+own sake as well as for its significance.
+
+[Footnote 6: Probably from the fact of "Richmond" having been added to
+the date at the end of the preface to "Pauline," have arisen the
+frequent misstatements as to the Browning family having moved west from
+Camberwell in or shortly before 1832. Mr. R. Barrett Browning tells me
+that his father "never lived at Richmond, and that that place was
+connected with 'Pauline,' when first printed, as a mystification."]
+
+On the fly-leaf of a copy of this initial work, the poet, six years
+after its publication, wrote: "Written in pursuance of a foolish plan I
+forget, or have no wish to remember; the world was never to guess that
+such an opera, such a comedy, such a speech proceeded from the same
+notable person.... Only this crab remains of the shapely Tree of Life in
+my fool's Paradise." It was in conformity with this plan that he not
+only issued "Pauline" anonymously, but enjoined secrecy upon those to
+whom he communicated the fact of his authorship.
+
+When he read the poem to his parents, upon its conclusion, both were
+much impressed by it, though his father made severe strictures upon its
+lack of polish, its terminal inconcision, and its vagueness of thought.
+That he was not more severe was accepted by his son as high praise. The
+author had, however, little hope of seeing it in print. Mr. Browning was
+not anxious to provide a publisher with a present. So one day the poet
+was gratified when his aunt, handing him the requisite sum, remarked
+that she had heard he had written a fine poem, and that she wished to
+have the pleasure of seeing it in print.
+
+To this kindly act much was due. Browning, of course, could not now have
+been dissuaded from the career he had forecast for himself, but his
+progress might have been retarded or thwarted to less fortunate grooves,
+had it not been for the circumstances resultant from his aunt's timely
+gift.
+
+The MS. was forthwith taken to Saunders & Otley, of Conduit Street, and
+the little volume of seventy pages of blank verse, comprising only a
+thousand and thirty lines, was issued by them in January 1833. It seems
+to us, who read it now, so manifestly a work of exceptional promise,
+and, to a certain extent, of high accomplishment, that were it not for
+the fact that the public auditory for a new poet is ever extraordinarily
+limited, it would be difficult to understand how it could have been
+overlooked.
+
+"Pauline" has a unique significance because of its autopsychical hints.
+The Browning whom we all know, as well as the youthful dreamer, is here
+revealed; here too, as well as the disciple of Shelley, we have the
+author of "The Ring and the Book." In it the long series culminating in
+"Asolando" is foreshadowed, as the oak is observable in the sapling. The
+poem is prefaced by a Latin motto from the _Occult Philosophy_ of
+Cornelius Agrippa, and has also a note in French, set forth as being by
+Pauline, and appended to her lover's manuscript after his death.
+Probably Browning placed it in the mouth of Pauline from his rooted
+determination to speak dramatically and impersonally: and in French, so
+as to heighten the effect of verisimilitude.[7]
+
+[Footnote 7: "I much fear that my poor friend will not be always
+perfectly understood in what remains to be read of this strange
+fragment, but it is less calculated than any other part to explain what
+of its nature can never be anything but dream and confusion. I do not
+know, moreover, whether in striving at a better connection of certain
+parts, one would not run the risk of detracting from the only merit to
+which so singular a production can pretend--that of giving a tolerably
+precise idea of the manner (_genre_) which it can merely indicate. This
+unpretending opening, this stir of passion, which first increases, and
+then gradually subsides, these transports of the soul, this sudden
+return upon himself, and above all, my friend's quite peculiar turn of
+mind, have made alterations almost impossible. The reasons which he
+elsewhere asserts, and others still more cogent, have secured my
+indulgence for this paper, which otherwise I should have advised him to
+throw into the fire. I believe none the less in the great principle of
+all composition--in that principle of Shakespeare, of Raphael, and of
+Beethoven, according to which concentration of ideas is due much more to
+their conception than to their execution; I have every reason to fear
+that the first of these qualities is still foreign to my friend, and I
+much doubt whether redoubled labour would enable him to acquire the
+second. It would be best to burn this, but what can I do?"--(_Mrs.
+Orr_.)]
+
+"Pauline" is a confession, fragmentary in detail but synthetic in range,
+of a young man of high impulses but weak determination. In its
+over-emphasis upon errors of judgment, as well as upon real if
+exaggerated misdeeds, it has all the crudeness of youth. An almost
+fantastic self-consciousness is the central motive: it is a matter of
+question if this be absolutely vicarious. To me it seems that the author
+himself was at the time confused by the complicated flashing of the
+lights of life.
+
+The autobiographical and autopsychical lines and passages scattered
+through the poem are of immediate interest. Generously the poet repays
+his debt to Shelley, whom he apostrophises as "Sun-treader," and invokes
+in strains of lofty emotion--"Sun-treader--life and light be thine for
+ever." The music of "Alastor," indeed, is audible ever and again
+throughout "Pauline." None the less is there a new music, a new poetic
+voice, in
+
+     "Thou wilt remember one warm morn, when Winter
+      Crept aged from the earth, and Spring's first breath
+      Blew soft from the moist hills--the black-thorn boughs,
+      So dark in the bare wood, when glistening
+      In the sunshine were white with coming buds,
+      Like the bright side of a sorrow--and the banks
+      Had violets opening from sleep like eyes."
+
+If we have an imaginary Browning, a Shelleyan phantasm, in
+
+     "I seemed the fate from which I fled; I felt
+      A strange delight in causing my decay;
+      I was a fiend, in darkness chained for ever
+      Within some ocean-wave:"
+
+we have the real Browning in
+
+     "So I will sing on--fast as fancies come
+      Rudely--the verse being as the mood it paints.
+            *       *       *       *       *
+      I am made up of an intensest life,"
+
+and all the succeeding lines down to "Their spirit dwelt in me, and I
+should rule."
+
+Even then the poet's inner life was animated by his love of the
+beautiful Greek literature. Telling how in "the first dawn of life,"
+"which passed alone with wisest ancient books," Pauline's lover
+incorporated himself in whatsoever he read--was the god wandering after
+beauty, the giant standing vast against the sunset-light, the
+high-crested chief sailing with troops of friends to Tenedos--his
+second-self cries, "I tell you, nought has ever been so clear as the
+place, the time, the fashion of those lives." Never for him, then, had
+there been that alchemy of the soul which turns the inchoate drift of
+the world into golden ore, not then had come to him the electric
+awakening flash from "work of lofty art, nor woman's beauty, nor sweet
+nature's face"--
+
+     "Yet, I say, never morn broke clear as those
+      On the dim clustered isles in the blue sea:
+      The deep groves, and white temples, and wet caves--
+      And nothing ever will surprise me now--
+      Who stood beside the naked Swift-footed,
+      Who bound my forehead with Proserpine's hair."
+
+Further, the allusion to Plato, and the more remote one to Agamemnon, the
+
+                                      "old lore
+      Loved for itself, and all it shows--the King
+      Treading the purple calmly to his death,"
+
+and the beautiful Andromeda passage, afford ample indication of how
+deeply Browning had drunk of that vital stream whose waters are the
+surest conserver of the ideal loveliness which we all of us, in some
+degree, cherish in various guises.
+
+Yet, as in every long poem that he has written (and, it must be
+admitted, in too many of the shorter pieces of his later period) there
+is an alloy of prose, of something that is not poetry, so in "Pauline,"
+written though it was in the first flush of his genius and under the
+inspiring stimulus of Shelley, the reader encounters prosaic passages,
+decasyllabically arranged. "Twas in my plan to look on real life, which
+was all new to me; my theories were firm, so I left them, to look upon
+men, and their cares, and hopes, and fears, and joys; and, as I
+pondered on them all, I sought how best life's end might be attained, an
+end comprising every joy." Again: "Then came a pause, and long restraint
+chained down my soul, till it was changed. I lost myself, and were it
+not that I so loathe that time, I could recall how first I learned to
+turn my mind against itself ... at length I was restored, yet long the
+influence remained; and nought but the still life I led, apart from all,
+which left my soul to seek its old delights, could e'er have brought me
+thus far back to peace." No reader, alert to the subtle and haunting
+music of rarefied blank verse (and unless it be rarefied it should not
+be put forward as poetry), could possibly accept these lines as
+expressionally poetical. It would seem as though, from the first,
+Browning's ear was keener for the apprehension than for the sustained
+evocation of the music of verse. Some flaw there was, somewhere. His
+heart, so to say, beat too fast, and the singing in his ears from the
+o'er-fevered blood confused the serene rhythm haunting the far
+perspectives of the brain, "as Arab birds float sleeping in the wind."
+
+I have dwelt at this length upon "Pauline" partly because of its
+inherent beauty and autopsychical significance, and partly because it is
+the least familiar of Browning's poems, long overshadowed as it has been
+by his own too severe strictures: mainly, however, because of its
+radical importance to the student who would arrive at a broad and true
+estimate of the power and scope and shaping constituents of its author's
+genius. Almost every quality of his after-verse may be found here, in
+germ or outline. It is, in a word, more physiognomic than any other
+single poem by Browning, and so must ever possess a peculiar interest
+quite apart from its many passages of haunting beauty.
+
+To these the lover of poetry will always turn with delight. Some will
+even regard them retrospectively with alien emotion to that wherewith
+they strive to possess their souls in patience over some one or other of
+the barbarisms, the Titanic excesses, the poetic banalities recurrent in
+the later volumes.
+
+How many and how haunting these delicate oases are! Those who know and
+love "Pauline" will remember the passage where the poet, with that
+pantheistic ecstasy which was possibly inspired by the singer he most
+loved, tells how he can live the life of plants, content to watch the
+wild bees flitting to and fro, or to lie absorbent of the ardours of the
+sun, or, like the night-flowering columbine, to trail up the tree-trunk
+and through its rustling foliage "look for the dim stars;" or, again,
+can live the life of the bird, "leaping airily his pyramid of leaves and
+twisted boughs of some tall mountain-tree;" or be a fish, breathing the
+morning air in the misty sun-warm water. Close following this is another
+memorable passage, that beginning "Night, and one single ridge of narrow
+path;" which has a particular interest for two notes of a deeper and
+broader music to be evolved long afterwards. For, as it seems to me, in
+
+     "Thou art so close by me, the roughest swell
+      Of wind in the tree-tops hides not the panting
+      Of thy soft breasts -----"
+
+(where, by the way, should be noticed the subtle correspondence between
+the conceptive and the expressional rhythm) we have a hint of that
+superb scene in "Pippa Passes," where, on a sinister night of July, a
+night of spiritual storm as well as of aerial tempest, Ottima and Sebald
+lie amid the lightning-searcht forest, with "the thunder like a whole
+sea overhead." Again, in the lovely Turneresque, or rather Shelleyan
+picture of morning, over "the rocks, and valleys, and old woods," with
+the high boughs swinging in the wind above the sun-brightened mists, and
+the golden-coloured spray of the cataract amid the broken rocks,
+whereover the wild hawks fly to and fro, there is at least a suggestion,
+an outline, of the truly magnificent burst of morning music in the
+poet's penultimate volume, beginning--
+
+     "But morning's laugh sets all the crags alight
+      Above the baffled tempest: tree and tree
+      Stir themselves from the stupor of the night,
+      And every strangled branch resumes its right
+      To breathe, shakes loose dark's clinging dregs, waves free
+      In dripping glory. Prone the runnels plunge,
+      While earth, distent with moisture like a sponge,
+      Smokes up, and leaves each plant its gem to see,
+      Each grass-blade's glory-glitter," etc.
+
+Who that has ever read "Pauline" will forget the masterful poetry
+descriptive of the lover's wild-wood retreat, the exquisite lines
+beginning "Walled in with a sloped mound of matted shrubs, tangled, old
+and green"? There is indeed a new, an unmistakable voice here.
+
+     "And tongues of bank go shelving in the waters,
+      Where the pale-throated snake reclines his head,
+      And old grey stones lie making eddies there;
+      The wild mice cross them dry-shod"....
+
+What lovelier image in modern poetry than that depictive of the
+forest-pool in depths of savage woodlands, unvisited but by the shadows
+of passing clouds,--
+
+                     "the trees bend
+      O'er it as wild men watch a sleeping girl."
+
+How the passionate sexual emotion, always deep and true in Browning,
+finds lovely utterance in the lines where Pauline's lover speaks of the
+blood in her lips pulsing like a living thing, while her neck is as
+"marble misted o'er with love-breath," and
+
+     "... her delicious eyes as clear as heaven,
+      When rain in a quick shower has beat down mist,
+      And clouds float white in the sun like broods of swans."
+
+In the quotations I have made, and in others that might be selected
+(_e.g._, "Her fresh eyes, and soft hair, and _lips which bleed like a
+mountain berry_"), it is easy to note how intimate an observer of nature
+the youthful poet was, and with what conscious but not obtrusive art he
+brings forward his new and striking imagery. Browning, indeed, is the
+poet of new symbols.
+
+"Pauline" concludes with lines which must have been in the minds of many
+on that sad day when the tidings from Venice sent a thrill of startled,
+half-incredulous, bewildered pain throughout the English nations--
+
+     "Sun-treader, I believe in God, and truth,
+      And love; ...
+      ... but chiefly when I die ...
+      All in whom this wakes pleasant thoughts of me,
+      Know my last state is happy--free from doubt,
+      Or touch of fear."
+
+Never again was Browning to write a poem with such conceptive crudeness,
+never again to tread the byways of thought so falteringly or so
+negligently: but never again, perhaps, was he to show so much
+over-rapturing joy in the world's loveliness, such Bacchic abandon to
+the ideal beauty which the true poet sees glowing upon the forlornest
+height and brooding in the shadow-haunted hollows of the hills. The
+Browning who might have been is here: henceforth the Browning we know
+and love stands unique among all the lords of song. But sometimes do we
+not turn longingly, wonderingly at least, to the young Dionysos upon
+whose forehead was the light of another destiny than that which
+descended upon him? The Icelanders say there is a land where all the
+rainbows that have ever been, or are yet to be, forever drift to and
+fro, evanishing and reappearing, like immortal flowers of vapour. In
+that far country, it may be, are also the unfulfilled dreams, the
+visions too perfect to be fashioned into song, of the young poets who
+have gained the laurel.
+
+We close the little book lovingly:
+
+     "And I had dimly shaped my first attempt,
+      And many a thought did I build up on thought,
+      As the wild bee hangs cell to cell--in vain;
+      For I must still go on: my mind rests not."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+It has been commonly asserted that "Pauline" was almost wholly
+disregarded, and swiftly lapsed into oblivion.
+
+This must be accepted with qualification. It is like the other general
+assertion, that Browning had to live fifty years before he gained
+recognition--a statement as ludicrous when examined as it is unjust to
+the many discreet judges who awarded, publicly and privately, that
+intelligent sympathy which is the best sunshine for the flower of a
+poet's genius. If by "before he gained recognition" is meant a general
+and indiscriminate acclaim, no doubt Browning had, still has indeed,
+longer to wait than many other eminent writers have had to do: but it is
+absurd to assert that from the very outset of his poetic career he was
+met by nothing but neglect, if not scornful derision. None who knows the
+true artistic temperament will fall into any such mistake.
+
+It is quite certain that neither Shakspere nor Milton ever met with such
+enthusiastic praise and welcome as Browning encountered on the
+publication of "Pauline" and "Paracelsus." Shelley, as far above
+Browning in poetic music as the author of so many parleyings with other
+people's souls is the superior in psychic insight and intellectual
+strength, had throughout his too brief life not one such review of
+praiseful welcome as the Rev. W.J. Fox wrote on the publication of
+"Pauline" (or, it may be added, as Allan Cunningham's equally kindly but
+less able review in the _Athenæum_), or as John Forster wrote in _The
+Examiner_ concerning "Paracelsus," and later in the _New Monthly
+Magazine_, where he had the courage to say of the young and quite
+unknown poet, "without the slightest hesitation we name Mr. Robert
+Browning at once with Shelley, Coleridge, Wordsworth." His plays even
+(which are commonly said to have "fallen flat") were certainly not
+failures. There is something effeminate, undignified, and certainly
+uncritical, in this confusion as to what is and what is not failure in
+literature. So enthusiastic was the applause he encountered, indeed,
+that had his not been too strong a nature to be thwarted by adulation
+any more than by contemptuous neglect, he might well have become
+spoilt--so enthusiastic, that were it not for the heavy and prolonged
+counterbalancing dead weight of public indifference, a huge amorphous
+mass only of late years moulded into harmony with the keenest minds of
+the century, we might well be suspicious of so much and long-continued
+eulogium, and fear the same reversal of judgment towards him on the part
+of those who come after us as we ourselves have meted to many an one
+among the high gods of our fathers.
+
+Fortunately the deep humanity of his work in the mass conserves it
+against the mere veerings of taste. A reaction against it will
+inevitably come; but this will pass: what, in the future, when the
+unborn readers of Browning will look back with clear eyes untroubled by
+the dust of our footsteps, not to subside till long after we too are
+dust, will be the place given to this poet, we know not, nor can more
+than speculatively estimate. That it will, however, be a high one, so
+far as his weightiest (in bulk, it may possibly be but a relatively
+slender) accomplishment is concerned, we may rest well assured: for
+indeed "It lives, If precious be the soul of man to man."
+
+So far as has been ascertained there were only three reviews or notices
+of "Pauline": the very favourable article by Mr. Fox in the _Monthly
+Repository_, the kindly paper by Allan Cunningham in the _Athenæum_,
+and, in _Tait's Edinburgh Magazine_, the succinctly expressed impression
+of either an indolent or an incapable reviewer: "Pauline; a Fragment of
+a Confession; a piece of pure bewilderment"--a "criticism" which
+anticipated and thus prevented the insertion of a highly favourable
+review which John Stuart Mill voluntarily wrote.
+
+Browning must have regarded his first book with mingled feelings. It was
+a bid for literary fortune, in one sense, but a bid so handicapped by
+the circumstances of its publication as to be almost certainly of no
+avail. Probably, however, he was well content that it should have mere
+existence. Already the fever of an abnormal intellectual curiosity was
+upon him: already he had schemed more potent and more vital poems:
+already, even, he had developed towards a more individualistic method.
+So indifferent was he to an easily gained reputation that he seems to
+have been really urgent upon his relatives and intimate acquaintances
+not to betray his authorship. The Miss Flower, how ever, to whom
+allusion has already been made, could not repress her admiration to the
+extent of depriving her friend, Mr. Fox, of a pleasure similar to that
+she had herself enjoyed. The result was the generous notice in the
+_Monthly Repository_. The poet never forgot his indebtedness to Mr. Fox,
+to whose sympathy and kindness much direct and indirect good is
+traceable. The friendship then begun was lifelong, and was continued
+with the distinguished Unitarian's family when Mr. Fox himself ended his
+active and beneficent career.
+
+But after a time the few admirers of "Pauline" forgot to speak about it:
+the poet himself never alluded to it: and in a year or two it was almost
+as though it had never been written. Many years after, when articles
+upon Robert Browning were as numerous as they once had been scarce,
+never a word betrayed that their authors knew of the existence of
+"Pauline." There was, however, yet another friendship to come out of
+this book, though not until long after it was practically forgotten by
+its author.
+
+One day a young poet-painter came upon a copy of the book in the British
+Museum Library, and was at once captivated by its beauty. One of the
+earliest admirers of Browning's poetry, Dante Gabriel Rossetti--for it
+was he--felt certain that "Pauline" could be by none other than the
+author of "Paracelsus." He himself informed me that he had never heard
+this authorship suggested, though some one had spoken to him of a poem
+of remarkable promise, called "Pauline," which he ought to read. If I
+remember aright, Rossetti told me that it was on the forenoon of the day
+when the "Burden of Nineveh" was begun, conceived rather, that he read
+this story of a soul by the soul's ablest historian. So delighted was he
+with it, and so strong his opinion it was by Browning, that he wrote to
+the poet, then in Florence, for confirmation, stating at the same time
+that his admiration for "Pauline" had led him to transcribe the whole of
+it.
+
+Concerning this episode, Robert Browning wrote to me, some seven years
+ago, as follows:--
+
+    "St. Pierre de Chartreuse, Isère, France.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Rossetti's 'Pauline' letter was addressed to me at Florence more
+    than thirty years ago. I have preserved it, but, even were I at
+    home, should be unable to find it without troublesome searching. It
+    was to the effect that the writer, personally and altogether unknown
+    to me, had come upon a poem in the British Museum, which he copied
+    the whole of, from its being not otherwise procurable--that he
+    judged it to be mine, but could not be sure, and wished me to
+    pronounce in the matter--which I did. A year or two after, I had a
+    visit in London from Mr. (William) Allingham and a friend--who
+    proved to be Rossetti. When I heard he was a painter I insisted on
+    calling on him, though he declared he had nothing to show me--which
+    was far enough from the case. Subsequently, on another of my returns
+    to London, he painted my portrait, not, I fancy, in oils, but
+    water-colours, and finished it in Paris shortly after. This must
+    have been in the year when Tennyson published 'Maud,' for I remember
+    Tennyson reading the poem one evening while Rossetti made a rapid
+    pen-and-ink sketch of him, very good, from one obscure corner of
+    vantage, which I still possess, and duly value. This was before
+    Rossetti's marriage."[8]
+
+
+[Footnote 8: The highly interesting and excellent portrait of Browning
+here alluded to has never been exhibited.]
+
+As a matter of fact, as recorded on the back of the original drawing,
+the eventful reading took place at 13 Dorset Street, Portman Square, on
+the 27th of September 1855, and those present, besides the
+Poet-Laureate, Browning, and Rossetti, were Mrs. E. Barrett Browning and
+Miss Arabella Barrett.
+
+When, a year or two ago, the poet learned that a copy of his first work,
+which in 1833 could not find a dozen purchasers at a few shillings, went
+at a public sale for twenty-five guineas, he remarked that had his dear
+old aunt been living he could have returned to her, much to her
+incredulous astonishment, no doubt, he smilingly averred, the cost of
+the book's publication, less £3 15s. It was about the time of the
+publication of "Pauline" that Browning began to see something of the
+literary and artistic life for which he had such an inborn taste. For a
+brief period he went often to the British Museum, particularly the
+Library, and to the National Gallery. At the British Museum Reading Room
+he perused with great industry and research those works in philosophy
+and medical history which are the bases of "Paracelsus," and those
+Italian Records bearing upon the story of Sordello. Residence in
+Camberwell, in 1833, rendered night engagements often impracticable: but
+nevertheless he managed to mix a good deal in congenial society. It is
+not commonly known that he was familiar to these early associates as a
+musician and artist rather than as a poet. Among them, and they
+comprised many well-known workers in the several arts, were Charles
+Dickens and "Ion" Talfourd. Mr. Fox, whom Browning had met once or twice
+in his early youth, after the former had been shown the Byronic verses
+which had in one way gratified and in another way perturbed the poet's
+father, saw something more of his young friend after the publication of
+"Pauline." He very kindly offered to print in his magazine any short
+poems the author of that book should see fit to send--an offer, however,
+which was not put to the test for some time.
+
+Practically simultaneously with the publication of "Pauline" appeared
+another small volume, containing the "Palace of Art," "Oenone,"
+"Mariana," etc. Those early books of Tennyson and Browning have
+frequently, and somewhat uncritically, been contrasted. Unquestionably,
+however, the elder poet showed a consummate and continuous mastery of
+his art altogether beyond the intermittent expressional power of
+Browning in his most rhythmic emotion at any time of his life. To affirm
+that there is more intellectual fibre, what Rossetti called fundamental
+brain-work, in the product of the younger poet, would be beside the
+mark. The insistence on the supremacy of Browning over all poets since
+Shakspere because he has the highest "message" to deliver, because his
+intellect is the most subtle and comprehensive, because his poems have
+this or that dynamic effect upon dormant or sluggish or other active
+minds, is to be seriously and energetically deprecated. It is with
+presentment that the artist has, fundamentally, to concern himself. If
+he cannot _present_ poetically then he is not, in effect, a poet, though
+he may be a poetic thinker, or a great writer. Browning's eminence is
+not because of his detachment from what some one has foolishly called
+"the mere handiwork, the furnisher's business, of the poet." It is the
+delight of the true artist that the product of his talent should be
+wrought to a high technique equally by the shaping brain and the
+dexterous hand. Browning is great because of his formative energy:
+because, despite the excess of burning and compulsive thought--
+
+     "Thoughts swarming thro' the myriad-chambered brain
+      Like multitudes of bees i' the innumerous cells,
+      Each staggering 'neath the undelivered freight--"
+
+he strikes from the _furor_ of words an electric flash so transcendently
+illuminative that what is commonplace becomes radiant with that light
+which dwells not in nature, but only in the visionary eye of man. Form
+for the mere beauty of form, is a playing with the wind, the acceptance
+of a shadow for the substance. If nothing animate it, it may possibly be
+fair of aspect, but only as the frozen smile upon a dead face.
+
+We know little of Browning's inner or outer life in 1833 and 1834. It
+was a secretive, not a productive period. One by one certain pinnacles
+of his fair snow-mountain of Titanic aim melted away. He began to
+realise the first disenchantment of the artist: the sense of dreams
+never to be accomplished. That land of the great unwritten poems, the
+great unpainted pictures: what a heritance there for the enfranchised
+spirits of great dreamers!
+
+In the autumn of 1833 he went forth to his University, that of the world
+of men and women. It was ever a favourite answer of his, when asked if
+he had been at either Oxford or Cambridge,--"Italy was my University."
+
+But first he went to Russia, and spent some time in St. Petersburg,
+attracted thither by the invitation of a friend. The country interested
+him, but does not seem to have deeply or permanently engaged his
+attention. That, however, his Russian experiences were not fruitless is
+manifest from the remarkably picturesque and technically very
+interesting poem, "Ivàn Ivànovitch" (the fourth of the _Dramatic Idyls_,
+1879). Of a truth, after his own race and country--readers will at once
+think of "Home Thoughts from the Sea," or the thrilling lines in "Home
+Thoughts from Abroad," beginning--
+
+     "Oh, to be in England,
+      Now that April's there!"--
+
+or perhaps, those lines in his earliest work--
+
+                           "I cherish most
+      My love of England--how, her name, a word
+      Of hers in a strange tongue makes my heart beat!"
+
+--it was of the mystic Orient or of the glowing South that he oftenest
+thought and dreamed. With Heine he might have cried: "O Firdusi! O
+Ischami! O Saadi! How do I long after the roses of Schiraz!" As for
+Italy, who of all our truest poets has not loved her: but who has
+worshipped her with so manly a passion, so loyal a love, as Browning?
+One alone indeed may be mated with him here, she who had his heart of
+hearts, and who lies at rest in the old Florentine cemetery within sound
+of the loved waters of Arno. Who can forget his lines in "De Gustibus,"
+"Open my heart and you will see, graved inside of it, Italy."
+
+It would be no difficult task to devote a volume larger than the present
+one to the descriptive analysis of none but the poems inspired by Italy,
+Italian personages and history, Italian Painting, Sculpture,
+Architecture, and Music. From Porphyria and her lover to Pompilia and
+all the direful Roman tragedy wherein she is as a moon of beauty above
+conflicting savage tides of passion, what an unparalleled gallery of
+portraits, what a brilliant phantasmagoria, what a movement of intensest
+life!
+
+It is pleasant to know of one of them, "The Italian in England," that
+Browning was proud, because Mazzini told him he had read this poem to
+certain of his fellow-exiles in England to show how an Englishman could
+sympathise with them.
+
+After leaving Russia the young poet spent the rest of his _Wanderjahr_
+in Italy. Among other places he visited was Asolo, that white little
+hill-town of the Veneto, whence he drew hints for "Sordello," and "Pippa
+Passes," and whither he returned in the last year of his life, as with
+unconscious significance he himself said, "on his way homeward."
+
+In the summer of 1834, that is, when he was in his twenty-second year,
+he returned to Camberwell. "Sordello" he had in some fashion begun, but
+had set aside for a poem which occupied him throughout the autumn of
+1834 and winter of 1835, "Paracelsus." In this period, also, he wrote
+some short poems, two of them of particular significance. The first of
+the series was a sonnet, which appeared above the signature 'Z' in the
+August number of the _Monthly Repository_ for 1834. It was never
+reprinted by the author, whose judgment it is impossible not to approve
+as well as to respect. Browning never wrote a good sonnet, and this
+earliest effort is not the most fortunate. It was in the _Repository_
+also, in 1835 and 1836, that the other poems appeared, four in all.
+
+The song in "Pippa Passes," beginning "A King lived long ago," was one
+of these; and the lyric, "Still ailing, wind? Wilt be appeased or no?"
+afterwards revised and incorporated in "James Lee," was another. But the
+two which are much the most noteworthy are "Johannes Agricola" and
+"Porphyria." Even more distinctively than in "Pauline," in their novel
+sentiment, new method, and generally unique quality, is a new voice
+audible in these two poems. They are very remarkable as the work of so
+young a poet, and are interesting as showing how rapidly he had outgrown
+the influence of any other of his poetic kindred. "Johannes Agricola" is
+significant as being the first of those dramatic studies of warped
+religiosity, of strange self-sophistication, which have afforded so much
+matter for thought. In its dramatic concision, its complex psychological
+significance, and its unique, if to unaccustomed ears somewhat barbaric,
+poetic beauty, "Porphyria" is still more remarkable.
+
+It may be of this time, though possibly some years later, that Mrs.
+Bridell-Fox writes:--"I remember him as looking in often in the
+evenings, having just returned from his first visit to Venice. I cannot
+tell the date for certain. He was full of enthusiasm for that Queen of
+Cities. He used to illustrate his glowing descriptions of its beauties,
+the palaces, the sunsets, the moonrises, by a most original kind of
+etching. Taking up a bit of stray notepaper, he would hold it over a
+lighted candle, moving the paper about gently till it was cloudily
+smoked over, and then utilising the darker smears for clouds, shadows,
+water, or what not, would etch with a dry pen the forms of lights on
+cloud and palace, on bridge or gondola on the vague and dreamy surface
+he had produced. My own passionate longing to see Venice dates from
+those delightful, well-remembered evenings of my childhood."
+
+"Paracelsus," begun about the close of October or early in November
+1834, was published in the summer of the following year. It is a poem in
+blank verse, about four times the length of "Pauline," with interspersed
+songs. The author divided it into five sections of unequal length, of
+which the third is the most extensive: "Paracelsus Aspires"; "Paracelsus
+Attains"; "Paracelsus"; "Paracelsus Aspires"; "Paracelsus Attains." In
+an interesting note, which was not reprinted in later editions of his
+first acknowledged poem, the author dissuades the reader from mistaking
+his performance for one of a class with which it has nothing in common,
+from judging it by principles on which it was not moulded, and from
+subjecting it to a standard to which it was never meant to conform. He
+then explains that he has composed a dramatic poem, and not a drama in
+the accepted sense; that he has not set forth the phenomena of the mind
+or the passions by the operation of persons and events, or by recourse
+to an external machinery of incidents to create and evolve the crisis
+sought to be produced. Instead of this, he remarks, "I have ventured to
+display somewhat minutely the mood itself in its rise and progress, and
+have suffered the agency, by which it is influenced and determined, to
+be generally discernible in its effects alone, and subordinate
+throughout, if not altogether excluded: and this for a reason. I have
+endeavoured to write a poem, not a drama." A little further, he states
+that a work like "Paracelsus" depends, for its success, immediately upon
+the intelligence and sympathy of the reader: "Indeed, were my scenes
+stars, it must be his co-operating fancy which, supplying all chasms,
+shall connect the scattered lights into one constellation--a Lyre or a
+Crown."
+
+In the concluding paragraph of this note there is a point of
+interest--the statement of the author's hope that the readers of
+"Paracelsus" will not "be prejudiced against other productions which may
+follow in a more popular, and perhaps less difficult form." From this it
+might fairly be inferred that Browning had not definitively adopted his
+characteristic method: that he was far from unwilling to gain the
+general ear: and that he was alert to the difficulties of popularisation
+of poetry written on lines similar to those of "Paracelsus." Nor would
+this inference be wrong: for, as a matter of fact, the poet, immediately
+upon the publication of "Paracelsus," determined to devote himself to
+poetic work which should have so direct a contact with actual life that
+its appeal should reach even to the most uninitiate in the mysteries and
+delights of verse.
+
+In his early years Browning had always a great liking for walking in the
+dark. At Camberwell he was wont to carry this love to the point of
+losing many a night's rest. There was, in particular, a wood near
+Dulwich, whither he was wont to go. There he would walk swiftly and
+eagerly along the solitary and lightless byways, finding a potent
+stimulus to imaginative thought in the happy isolation thus enjoyed,
+with all the concurrent delights of natural things, the wind moving like
+a spirit through the tree-branches, the drifting of poignant fragrances,
+even in winter-tide, from herb and sappy bark, imperceptible almost by
+the alertest sense in the day's manifold detachments. At this time, too,
+he composed much in the open air. This he rarely, if ever, did in later
+life. Not only many portions of "Paracelsus," but several scenes in
+"Strafford," were enacted first in these midnight silences of the
+Dulwich woodland. Here, too, as the poet once declared, he came to know
+the serene beauty of dawn: for every now and again, after having read
+late, or written long, he would steal quietly from the house, and walk
+till the morning twilight graded to the pearl and amber of the new day.
+
+As in childhood the glow of distant London had affected him to a
+pleasure that was not without pain, perhaps to a pain rather that was a
+fine delirium, so in his early manhood the neighbourhood of the huge
+city, felt in those midnight walks of his, and apprehended more by the
+transmutive shudder of reflected glare thrown fadingly upward against
+the stars, than by any more direct vision or even far-borne
+indeterminate hum, dominated his imagination. At that distance, in those
+circumstances, humanity became more human. And with the thought, the
+consciousness of this imperative kinship, arose the vague desire, the
+high resolve to be no curious dilettante in novel literary experiments,
+but to compel an interpretative understanding of this complex human
+environment.
+
+Those who knew the poet intimately are aware of the loving regard he
+always had for those nocturnal experiences: but perhaps few recognise
+how much we owe to the subtle influences of that congenial isolation he
+was wont to enjoy on fortunate occasions.
+
+It is not my intention--it would, obviously, be a futile one, if
+entertained--to attempt an analysis or elaborate criticism of the many
+poems, long and short, produced by Robert Browning. Not one volume, but
+several, of this size, would have to be allotted to the adequate
+performance of that end. Moreover, if readers are unable or unwilling to
+be their own expositors, there are several trustworthy hand-books which
+are easily procurable. Some one, I believe, has even, with unselfish
+consideration for the weaker brethren, turned "Sordello" into prose--a
+superfluous task, some scoffers may exclaim. Personally, I cannot but
+think this craze for the exposition of poetry, this passion for
+"dissecting a rainbow," is harmful to the individual as well as
+humiliating to the high office of Poetry itself, and not infrequently it
+is ludicrous.
+
+I must be content with a few words anent the more important or
+significant poems, and in due course attempt an estimate by a broad
+synthesis, and not by cumulative critical analyses.
+
+In the selection of Paracelsus as the hero of his first mature poem,
+Browning was guided first of all by his keen sympathy with the
+scientific spirit--the spirit of dauntless inquiry, of quenchless
+curiosity, of a searching enthusiasm. Pietro of Abano, Giordano Bruno,
+Galileo, were heroes whom he regarded with an admiration which would
+have been boundless but for the wise sympathy which enabled him to
+apprehend and understand their weaknesses as well as their lofty
+qualities. Once having come to the conclusion that Paracelsus was a
+great and much maligned man, it was natural for him to wish to portray
+aright the features he saw looming through the mists of legend and
+history. But over and above this, he half unwittingly, half consciously,
+felt the fascination of that mysticism associated with the name of the
+celebrated German scientist--a mysticism, in all its various phases, of
+which he is now acknowledged to be the subtlest poetic interpreter in
+our language, though, profound as its attraction always was for him,
+never was poet with a more exquisite balance of intellectual sanity.
+
+Latest research has proved that whatsoever of a pretender Paracelsus may
+have been in certain respects, he was unquestionably a man of
+extraordinary powers: and, as a pioneer in a science of the first
+magnitude of importance, deserving of high honour. If ever the famous
+German attain a high place in the history of the modern intellectual
+movement in Europe, it will be primarily due to Browning's championship.
+
+But of course the extent or shallowness of Paracelsus' claim is a matter
+of quite secondary interest. We are concerned with the poet's
+presentment of the man--of that strange soul whom he conceived of as
+having anticipated so far, and as having focussed all the vagrant
+speculations of the day into one startling beam of light, now lambently
+pure, now lurid with gross constituents.[9]
+
+[Footnote 9: Paracelsus has two particular claims upon our regard. He
+gave us laudanum, a discovery of incalculable blessing to mankind. And
+from his fourth baptismal name, which he inherited from his father, we
+have our familiar term, 'bombast.' Readers interested in the known facts
+concerning the "master-mind, the thinker, the explorer, the creator,"
+the forerunner of Mesmer and even of Darwin and Wallace, who began life
+with the sounding appellation "Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus
+ab Hohenheim," should consult Browning's own learned appendical note,
+and Mr. Berdoe's interesting essay in the Browning Society Papers,
+No. xlix.]
+
+Paracelsus, his friends Festus and his wife Michal, and Aprile, an
+Italian poet, are the characters who are the personal media through
+which Browning's already powerful genius found expression. The poem is,
+of a kind, an epic: the epic of a brave soul striving against baffling
+circumstance. It is full of passages of rare technical excellence, as
+well as of conceptive beauty: so full, indeed, that the sympathetic
+reader of it as a drama will be too apt to overlook its radical
+shortcomings, cast as it is in the dramatic mould. But it must not be
+forgotten that Browning himself distinctly stated he had attempted to
+write "a poem, not a drama": and in the light of this simple statement
+half the objections that have been made fall to the ground.
+
+Paracelsus is the protagonist: the others are merely incidental. The
+poem is the soul-history of the great medical student who began life so
+brave of aspect and died so miserably at Salzburg: but it is also the
+history of a typical human soul, which can be read without any knowledge
+of actual particulars.
+
+Aprile is a projection of the poet's own poetical ideal. He speaks, but
+he does not live as Festus lives, or even as Michal, who, by the way, is
+interesting as being the first in the long gallery of Browning's
+women--a gallery of superbly-drawn portraits, of noble and striking and
+always intensely human women, unparalleled except in Shakspere. Pauline,
+of course, exists only as an abstraction, and Porphyria is in no exact
+sense a portrait from the life. Yet Michal can be revealed only to the
+sympathetic eye, for she is not drawn, but again and again suddenly
+silhouetted. We see her in profile always: but when she exclaims at the
+last, "I ever did believe," we feel that she has withdrawn the veil
+partially hiding her fair and generous spirit.
+
+To the lover of poetry "Paracelsus" will always be a Golconda. It has
+lines and passages of extraordinary power, of a haunting beauty, and of
+a unique and exquisite charm. It may be noted, in exemplification of
+Browning's artistic range, that in the descriptive passages he paints as
+well in the elaborate Pre-Raphaelite method as with a broad synthetic
+touch: as in
+
+              "One old populous green wall
+      Tenanted by the ever-busy flies,
+      Grey crickets and shy lizards and quick spiders,
+      Each family of the silver-threaded moss--
+      Which, look through near, this way, and it appears
+      A stubble-field or a cane-brake, a marsh
+      Of bulrush whitening in the sun...."
+
+But oftener he prefers the more succinct method of landscape-painting,
+the broadest impressionism: as in
+
+     "Past the high rocks the haunts of doves, the mounds
+      Of red earth from whose sides strange trees grow out,
+      Past tracks of milk-white minute blinding sand."
+
+And where in modern poetry is there a superber union of the scientific
+and the poetic vision than in this magnificent passage--the
+quintessence of the poet's conception of the rapture of life:--
+
+     "The centre-fire heaves underneath the earth,
+      And the earth changes like a human face;
+      The molten ore bursts up among the rocks,
+      Winds into the stone's heart, outbranches bright
+      In hidden mines, spots barren river-beds,
+      Crumbles into fine sand where sunbeams bask--
+      God joys therein. The wroth sea's waves are edged
+      With foam, white as the bitten lip of hate,
+      When in the solitary waste, strange groups
+      Of young volcanoes come up, cyclops-like,
+      Staring together with their eyes on flame--
+      God tastes a pleasure in their uncouth pride.
+      Then all is still; earth is a wintry clod:
+      But Spring-wind, like a dancing psaltress, passes
+      Over its breast to waken it, rare verdure
+      Buds tenderly upon rough banks, between
+      The withered tree-rests and the cracks of frost,
+      Like a smile striving with a wrinkled face;
+      The grass grows bright, the boughs are swoln with blooms
+      Like chrysalids impatient for the air,
+      The shining dorrs are busy, beetles run
+      Along the furrows, ants make their ado;
+      Above, birds fly in merry flocks, the lark
+      Soars up and up, shivering for very joy;
+      Afar the ocean sleeps; white fishing gulls
+      Flit where the strand is purple with its tribe
+      Of nested limpets; savage creatures seek
+      Their loves in wood and plain--and God renews
+      His ancient rapture."
+
+In these lines, particularly in their close, is manifest the influence
+of the noble Hebraic poetry. It must have been at this period that
+Browning conned over and over with an exultant delight the simple but
+lordly diction of Isaiah and the other prophets, preferring this
+Biblical poetry to that even of his beloved Greeks. There is an anecdote
+of his walking across a public park (I am told Richmond, but more
+probably it was Wimbledon Common) with his hat in his left hand and his
+right waving to and fro declamatorily, while the wind blew his hair
+around his head like a nimbus: so rapt in his ecstasy over the solemn
+sweep of the Biblical music that he did not observe a small following
+consisting of several eager children, expectant of thrilling
+stump-oratory. He was just the man, however, to accept an anti-climax
+genially, and to dismiss his disappointed auditory with something more
+tangible than an address.
+
+The poet-precursor of scientific knowledge is again and again manifest:
+as, for example, in
+
+     "Hints and previsions of which faculties
+      Are strewn confusedly everywhere about
+      The inferior natures, and all lead up higher,
+      All shape out dimly the superior race,
+      The heir of hopes too fair to turn out false,
+      And man appears at last."[10]
+
+[Footnote 10: Readers interested in Browning's inspiration from, and
+treatment of, Science, should consult the excellent essay on him as "A
+Scientific Poet" by Mr. Edward Berdoe, F.R.C.S., and, in particular,
+compare with the originals the references given by Mr. Berdoe to the
+numerous passages bearing upon Evolution and the several sciences, from
+Astronomy to Physiology.]
+
+There are lines, again, which have a magic that cannot be defined. If it
+be not felt, no sense of it can be conveyed through another's words.
+
+     "Whose memories were a solace to me oft,
+      As mountain-baths to wild fowls in their flight."
+
+     "Ask the gier-eagle why she stoops at once
+      Into the vast and unexplored abyss,
+      What full-grown power informs her from the first,
+      Why she not marvels, strenuously beating
+      The silent boundless regions of the sky."
+
+There is one passage, beautiful in itself, which has a pathetic
+significance henceforth. Gordon, our most revered hero, was wont to
+declare that nothing in all nonscriptural literature was so dear to him,
+nothing had so often inspired him in moments of gloom:--
+
+                             "I go to prove my soul!
+      I see my way as birds their trackless way.
+      I shall arrive! What time, what circuit first,
+      I ask not: but unless God send His hail
+      Or blinding fireballs, sleet or stifling snow,
+      In some time, His good time, I shall arrive:
+      He guides me and the bird. In his good time."
+
+As for the much misused 'Shaksperian' comparison, so often mistakenly
+applied to Browning, there is nothing in "Paracelsus" in the least way
+derivative. Because Shakspere is the greatest genius evolved from our
+race, it does not follow that every lofty intellect, every great
+objective poet, should be labelled "Shaksperian." But there is a certain
+quality in poetic expression which we so specify, because the intense
+humanity throbbing in it finds highest utterance in the greatest of our
+poets: and there is at least one instance of such poignant speech in
+"Paracelsus," worthy almost to be ranked with the last despairing cry of
+Guido calling upon murdered Pompilia:--
+
+     "Festus, strange secrets are let out by death
+      Who blabs so oft the follies of this world:
+      And I am death's familiar, as you know.
+      I helped a man to die, some few weeks since,
+      Warped even from his go-cart to one end--
+      The living on princes' smiles, reflected from
+      A mighty herd of favourites. No mean trick
+      He left untried, and truly well-nigh wormed
+      All traces of God's finger out of him:
+      Then died, grown old. And just an hour before,
+      Having lain long with blank and soulless eyes,
+      He sat up suddenly, and with natural voice
+      Said that in spite of thick air and closed doors
+      God told him it was June; and he knew well
+      Without such telling, harebells grew in June;
+      And all that kings could ever give or take
+      Would not be precious as those blooms to him."
+
+Technically, I doubt if Browning ever produced any finer long poem,
+except "Pippa Passes," which is a lyrical drama, and neither exactly a
+'play' nor exactly a 'poem' in the conventional usage of the terms.
+Artistically, "Paracelsus" is disproportionate, and has faults,
+obtrusive enough to any sensitive ear: but in the main it has a beauty
+without harshness, a swiftness of thought and speech without tumultuous
+pressure of ideas or stammering. It has not, in like degree, the intense
+human insight of, say, "The Inn Album," but it has that charm of sequent
+excellence too rarely to be found in many of Browning's later writings.
+It glides onward like a steadfast stream, the thought moving with the
+current it animates and controls, and throbbing eagerly beneath. When we
+read certain portions of "Paracelsus," and the lovely lyrics
+interspersed in it, it is difficult not to think of the poet as
+sometimes, in later life, stooping like the mariner in Roscoe's
+beautiful sonnet, striving to reclaim "some loved lost echo from the
+fleeting strand." But it is the fleeting shore of exquisite art, not of
+the far-reaching shadowy capes and promontories of "the poetic land."
+
+Of the four interlusive lyrics the freer music is in the unique chant,
+"Over the sea our galleys went:" a song full of melody and blithe lilt.
+It is marvellously pictorial, and yet has a freedom that places it among
+the most delightful of spontaneous lyrics:--
+
+     "We shouted, every man of us,
+      And steered right into the harbour thus,
+      With pomp and pæan glorious."
+
+It is, however, too long for present quotation, and as an example of
+Browning's early lyrics I select rather the rich and delicate second of
+these "Paracelsus" songs, one wherein the influence of Keats is so
+marked, and yet where all is the poet's own:--
+
+     "Heap cassia, sandal-buds and stripes
+        Of labdanum, and aloe-balls,
+      Smeared with dull nard an Indian wipes
+        From out her hair: such balsam falls
+        Down sea-side mountain pedestals,
+      From tree-tops where tired winds are fain,
+      Spent with the vast and howling main,
+      To treasure half their island-gain.
+
+     "And strew faint sweetness from some old
+        Egyptian's fine worm-eaten shroud
+      Which breaks to dust when once unrolled;
+        Or shredded perfume, like a cloud
+        From closet long to quiet vowed,
+      With mothed and dropping arras hung,
+      Mouldering her lute and books among,
+      As when a queen, long dead, was young."
+
+With this music in our ears we can well forgive some of the prosaic
+commonplaces which deface "Paracelsus"--some of those lapses from
+rhythmic energy to which the poet became less and less sensitive, till
+he could be so deaf to the vanishing "echo of the fleeting strand" as to
+sink to the level of doggerel such as that which closes the poem called
+"Popularity."
+
+"Paracelsus" is not a great, but it is a memorable poem: a notable
+achievement, indeed, for an author of Browning's years. Well may we
+exclaim with Festus, when we regard the poet in all the greatness of his
+maturity--
+
+                                      "The sunrise
+      Well warranted our faith in this full noon!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+The _Athenæum_ dismissed "Paracelsus" with a half contemptuous line or
+two. On the other hand, the _Examiner_ acknowledged it to be a work of
+unequivocal power, and predicted for its author a brilliant career. The
+same critic who wrote this review contributed an article of about twenty
+pages upon "Paracelsus" to the _New Monthly Magazine_, under the
+heading, "Evidences of a New Dramatic Poetry." This article is ably
+written, and remarkable for its sympathetic insight. "Mr. Browning," the
+critic writes, "is a man of genius, he has in himself all the elements
+of a great poet, philosophical as well as dramatic."
+
+The author of this enthusiastic and important critique was John Forster.
+When the _Examiner_ review appeared the two young men had not met: but
+the encounter, which was to be the seed of so fine a flower of
+friendship, occurred before the publication of the _New Monthly_
+article. Before this, however, Browning had already made one of the most
+momentous acquaintanceships of his life.
+
+His good friend and early critic, Mr. Fox, asked him to his house one
+evening in November, a few months after the publication of "Paracelsus."
+The chief guest of the occasion was Macready, then at the height of his
+great reputation. Mr. Fox had paved the way for the young poet, but the
+moment he entered he carried with him his best recommendation. Every one
+who met Browning in those early years of his buoyant manhood seems to
+have been struck by his comeliness and simple grace of manner. Macready
+stated that he looked more like a poet than any man he had ever met. As
+a young man he appears to have had a certain ivory delicacy of
+colouring, what an old friend perhaps somewhat exaggeratedly described
+to me as an almost flower-like beauty, which passed ere long into a less
+girlish and more robust complexion. He appeared taller than he was, for
+he was not above medium height, partly because of his rare grace of
+movement, and partly from a characteristic high poise of the head when
+listening intently to music or conversation. Even then he had that
+expressive wave o' the hand, which in later years was as full of various
+meanings as the _Ecco_ of an Italian. A swift alertness pervaded him,
+noticeable as much in the rapid change of expression, in the deepening
+and illuming colours of his singularly expressive eyes, and in his
+sensitive mouth, with the upper lip ever so swift to curve or droop in
+response to the most fluctuant emotion, as in his greyhound-like
+apprehension, which so often grasped the subject in its entirety before
+its propounder himself realised its significance. A lady, who remembers
+Browning at that time, has told me that his hair--then of a brown so
+dark as to appear black--was so beautiful in its heavy sculpturesque
+waves as to attract frequent notice. Another, and more subtle, personal
+charm was his voice, then with a rare flute-like tone, clear, sweet,
+and resonant. Afterwards, though always with precise clarity, it became
+merely strong and hearty, a little too loud sometimes, and not
+infrequently as that of one simulating keen immediate interest while the
+attention was almost wholly detached.
+
+Macready, in his Journal,[11] about a week later than the date of his
+first meeting with the poet, wrote--"Read 'Paracelsus,' a work of great
+daring, starred with poetry of thought, feeling, and diction, but
+occasionally obscure: the writer can scarcely fail to be a leading
+spirit of his time." The tragedian's house, whither he went at week-ends
+and on holidays, was at Elstree, a short distance to the northward of
+Hampstead: and there he invited Browning, among other friends, to come
+on the last day of December and spend New Year's Day (1836).[12] When
+alluding, in after years, to this visit, Browning always spoke of it as
+one of the red-letter days of his life. It was here he first met
+Forster, with whom he at once formed what proved to be an enduring
+friendship; and on this occasion, also, that he was urged by his host to
+write a poetic play.
+
+[Footnote 11: For many interesting particulars concerning Macready and
+Browning, and the production of "Strafford," etc., _vide_ the
+_Reminiscences_, vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 12: It was for Macready's eldest boy, William Charles, that
+Browning wrote one of the most widely popular of his poems, "The Pied
+Piper of Hamelin." It is said to have been an impromptu performance, and
+to have been so little valued by the author that he hesitated about its
+inclusion in "Bells and Pomegranates." It was inserted at the last
+moment, in the third number, which was short of "copy." Some one
+(anonymous, but whom I take to be Mr. Nettleship) has publicly alluded
+to his possession of a rival poem (entitled, simply, "Hamelin") by
+Robert Browning the elder, and of a letter which he had sent to a friend
+along with the verses, in which he writes: "Before I knew that Robert
+had begun the story of the 'Rats' I had contemplated a tale on the same
+subject, and proceeded with it as far as you see, but, on hearing that
+Robert had a similar one on hand, I desisted." This must have been in
+1842, for it was in that year that the third part of _Bells and
+Pomegranates_ was published. In 1843, however, he finished it.
+Browning's "Pied Piper" has been translated into French, Russian,
+Italian, and German. The latter (or one German) version is in prose. It
+was made in 1880, for a special purpose, and occupied the whole of one
+number of the local paper of Hameln, which is a quaint townlet in
+Hanover.]
+
+Browning promised to consider the suggestion. Six weeks later, in
+company with Forster, with whom he had become intimate, he called upon
+Macready, to discuss the plot of a tragedy which he had pondered. He
+told the tragedian how deeply he had been impressed by his performance
+of "Othello," and how this had deflected his intention from a modern and
+European to an Oriental and ancient theme. "Browning said that I had
+_bit_ him by my performance of 'Othello,' and I told him I hoped I
+should make the blood come." The "blood" had come in the guise of a
+drama-motive based on the crucial period in the career of Narses, the
+eunuch-general of Justinian. Macready liked the suggestion, though he
+demurred to one or two points in the outline: and before Browning left
+he eagerly pressed him to "go on with 'Narses.'" But whether Browning
+mistrusted his own interest in the theme, or was dubious as to the
+success with which Macready would realise his conception, or as to the
+reception a play of such a nature would win from an auditory no longer
+reverent of high dramatic ideals, he gave up the idea. Some three
+months later (May 26th) he enjoyed another eventful evening. It was the
+night of the first performance of Talfourd's "Ion," and he was among the
+personal friends of Macready who were invited to the supper at
+Talfourd's rooms. After the fall of the curtain, Browning, Forster, and
+other friends sought the tragedian and congratulated him upon the
+success both of the play and of his impersonation of the chief
+character. They then adjourned to the house of the author of "Ion." To
+his surprise and gratification Browning found himself placed next but
+one to his host, and immediately opposite Macready, who sat between two
+gentlemen, one calm as a summer evening, and the other with a
+tempestuous youth dominating his sixty years, whom the young poet at
+once recognised as Wordsworth and Walter Savage Landor. Every one was in
+good spirits: the host perhaps most of all, who was celebrating his
+birthday as well as the success of "Ion." Possibly Macready was the only
+person who felt at all bored--unless it was Landor--for Wordsworth was
+not, at such a function, an entertaining conversationalist. There is
+much significance in the succinct entry in Macready's journal concerning
+the Lake-poet--"Wordsworth, who pinned me." ... When Talfourd rose to
+propose the toast of "The Poets of England" every one probably expected
+that Wordsworth would be named to respond. But with a kindly grace the
+host, after flattering remarks upon the two great men then honouring him
+by sitting at his table, coupled his toast with the name of the youngest
+of the poets of England--"Mr. Robert Browning, the author of
+'Paracelsus.'" It was a very proud moment for Browning, singled out
+among that brilliant company: and it is pleasant to know, on the
+authority of Miss Mitford, who was present, that "he performed his task
+with grace and modesty," looking, the amiable lady adds, even younger
+than he was. Perhaps, however, he was prouder still when Wordsworth
+leaned across the table, and with stately affability said, "I am proud
+to drink your health, Mr. Browning:" when Landor, also, with a superbly
+indifferent and yet kindly smile, also raised his glass to his lips in
+courteous greeting.
+
+Of Wordsworth Browning saw not a little in the ensuing few years, for on
+the rare visits the elderly poet paid to London, Talfourd never failed
+to ask the author of "Paracelsus," for whom he had a sincere admiration,
+to meet the great man. It was not in the nature of things that the two
+poets could become friends, but though the younger was sometimes annoyed
+by the elder's pooh-poohing his republican sympathies, and
+contemptuously waiving aside as a mere nobody no less an individual than
+Shelley, he never failed of respect and even reverence. With what
+tenderness and dignity he has commemorated the great poet's falling away
+from his early ideals, may be seen in "The Lost Leader," one of the most
+popular of Browning's short poems, and likely to remain so. For several
+reasons, however, it is best as well as right that Wordsworth should not
+be more than merely nominally identified with the Lost Leader. Browning
+was always imperative upon this point.
+
+Towards Landor, on the other hand, he entertained a sentiment of genuine
+affection, coupled with a profound sympathy and admiration: a sentiment
+duly reciprocated. The care of the younger for the elder, in the old
+age of the latter, is one of the most beautiful incidents in a
+beautiful life.
+
+But the evening was not to pass without another memorable incident, one
+to which we owe "Strafford," and probably "A Blot on the 'Scutcheon."
+Just as the young poet, flushed with the triumphant pleasure of the
+evening, was about to leave, Macready arrested him by a friendly grip of
+the arm. In unmistakable earnestness he asked Browning to write him a
+play. With a simplicity equal to the occasion, the poet contented
+himself with replying, "Shall it be historical and English? What do you
+say to a drama on Strafford?"
+
+Macready was pleased with the idea, and hopeful that his friend would be
+more successful with the English statesman than with the eunuch Narses.
+
+A few months elapsed before the poet, who had set aside the long work
+upon which he was engaged ("Sordello"), called upon Macready with the
+manuscript of "Strafford." The latter hoped much from it. In March the
+MS. was ready. About the end of the month Macready took it to Covent
+Garden Theatre, and read it to Mr. Osbaldiston, "who caught at it with
+avidity, and agreed to produce it without delay."
+
+It was an eventful first of May--an eventful twelvemonth, indeed, for it
+was the initial year of the Victorian era, notable, too, as that wherein
+the Electric Telegraph was established, and, in letters, wherein a new
+dramatic literature had its origin. For "Strafford," already significant
+of a novel movement, and destined, it seems to me, to be still more
+significant in that great dramatic period towards which we are fast
+converging, was not less important to the Drama in England, as a new
+departure in method and radically indicative of a fresh standpoint, than
+"Hernani" was in France. But in literary history the day itself is
+doubly memorable, for in the forenoon Carlyle gave the first of his
+lectures in London. The play was a success, despite the shamefully
+inadequate acting of some of those entrusted with important parts. There
+was once, perhaps there were more occasions than one, where success
+poised like the soul of a Mohammedan on the invisible thread leading to
+Paradise, but on either side of which lies perdition. There was none to
+cry _Timbul_ save Macready, except Miss Helen Faucit, who gained a
+brilliant triumph as Lady Carlisle. The part of Charles I. was enacted
+so execrably that damnation for all was again and again within
+measurable distance. "The Younger Vane" ranted so that a hiss, like an
+embodied scorn, vibrated on vagrant wings throughout the house. There
+was not even any extraneous aid to a fortunate impression. The house was
+in ill repair: the seats dusty, the "scenery" commonplace and sometimes
+noticeably inappropriate, the costumes and accessories almost sordid.
+But in the face of all this, a triumph was secured. For a brief while
+Macready believed that the star of regeneration had arisen.
+Unfortunately 'twas, in the words of a contemporary dramatic poet, "a
+rising sorrow splendidly forlorn." The financial condition of Covent
+Garden Theatre was so ruinous that not even the most successful play
+could have restored its doomed fortunes.
+
+After the fifth night one of the leading actors, having received a
+better offer elsewhere, suddenly withdrew.
+
+This was the last straw. A collapse forthwith occurred. In the scramble
+for shares in the few remaining funds every one gained something, except
+the author, who was to have received £12 for each performance for the
+first twenty-five nights, and, £10 each for ten nights further. This
+disaster was a deep disappointment to Browning, and a by no means
+transitory one, for three or four years later he wrote (_Advt._ of
+"Bells and Pomegranates"): "Two or three years ago I wrote a play, about
+which the chief matter I much care to recollect at present is, that a
+pitful of good-natured people applauded it. Ever since, I have been
+desirous of doing something in the same way that should better reward
+their attention." But, except in so far as its abrupt declension from
+the stage hurt its author in the eyes of the critics, and possibly in
+those of theatrical managers, "Strafford" was certainly no failure. It
+has the elements of a great acting play. Everything, even the language
+(and here was a stumbling-block with most of the critics and
+criticasters), was subordinated to dramatic exigencies: though the
+subordination was in conformity with a novel shaping method. "Strafford"
+was not, however, allowed to remain unknown to those who had been unable
+to visit Covent Garden Theatre.[13] Browning's name had quite sufficient
+literary repute to justify a publisher in risking the issue of a drama
+by him; one, at any rate, that had the advantage of association with
+Macready's name. The Longmans issued it, and the author had the pleasure
+of knowing that his third poetic work was not produced at the expense of
+a relative, but at that of the publishers. It had but an indifferent
+reception, however.
+
+[Footnote 13: "It is time to deny a statement that has been repeated _ad
+nauseam_ in every notice that professes to give an account of Mr.
+Browning's career. Whatever is said or not said, it is always that his
+plays have 'failed' on the stage. In point of fact, the three plays
+which he has brought out have all succeeded, and have owed it to
+fortuitous circumstances that their tenure on the boards has been
+comparatively short."--E.W. GOSSE, in article in _The Century
+Magazine._]
+
+Most people who saw the performance of "Strafford" given in 1886, under
+the auspices of the Browning Society, were surprised as well as
+impressed: for few, apparently, had realised from perusal the power of
+the play as made manifest when acted. The secret of this is that the
+drama, when privily read, seems hard if not heavy in its diction, and to
+be so inornate, though by no means correspondingly simple, as to render
+any comparison between it and the dramatic work of Shakspere out of the
+question. But when acted, the artistry of the play is revealed. Its
+intense naturalness is due in great part to the stern concision of the
+lines, where no word is wasted, where every sentence is fraught with the
+utmost it can convey. The outlines which disturbed us by their vagueness
+become more clear: in a word, we all see in enactment what only a few of
+us can discern in perusal. The play has its faults, but scarcely those
+of language, where the diction is noble and rhythmic, because it is, so
+to speak, the genuine rind of the fruit it envelops. But there are
+dramatic faults--primarily, in the extreme economy of the author in the
+presentment of his _dramatis personæ_, who are embodied
+abstractions--monomaniacs of ideas, as some one has said of Hugo's
+personages--rather than men as we are, with manifold complexities in
+endless friction or fusion. One cardinal fault is the lack of humour,
+which to my mind is the paramount objection to its popular acceptance.
+Another, is the misproportionate length of some of the speeches. Once
+again, there is, as in the greater portion of Browning's longer poems
+and dramas, a baneful equality of emphasis. The conception of Charles I.
+is not only obviously weak, but strangely prejudiced adversely for so
+keen an analyst of the soul as Browning. For what a fellow-dramatist
+calls this "Sunset Shadow of a King," no man or woman could abase every
+hope and energy. Shakspere would never have committed the crucial
+mistake of making Charles the despicable deformity he is in Browning's
+drama. Strafford himself disappears too soon: in the fourth act there is
+the vacuum abhorred of dramatic propriety.
+
+When he again comes on the scene, the charm is partly broken. But withal
+the play is one of remarkable vigour and beauty. It seems to me that too
+much has been written against it on the score of its metrical rudeness.
+The lines are beat out by a hammer, but in the process they are wrought
+clear of all needless alloy. To urge, as has been lately urged, that it
+lacks all human touch and is a mere intellectual fanfaronade, and that
+there is not once a line of poignant insight, is altogether uncritical.
+Readers of this mind must have forgotten or be indifferent to those
+lines, for example, where the wretched Charles stammeringly excuses
+himself to his loyal minister for his death-warrant, crying out that it
+was wrung from him, and begging Strafford not to curse him: or, again,
+that wonderfully significant line, so full of a too tardy knowledge and
+of concentrated scorn, where Strafford first begs the king to "be good
+to his children," and then, with a contempt that is almost sublime,
+implores, "Stay, sir, do not promise, do not swear!" The whole of the
+second scene in the fifth act is pure genius. The reader, or spectator,
+knows by this time that all hope is over: that Strafford, though all
+unaware, is betrayed and undone. It is a subtle dramatic ruse, that of
+Browning's representing him sitting in his apartment in the Tower with
+his young children, William and Anne, blithely singing.
+
+Can one read and ever forget the lines giving the gay Italian rhyme,
+with the boy's picturesquely childish prose-accompaniment? Strafford is
+seated, weary and distraught:--
+
+                             "_O bell'andare
+                                 Per barca in mare,
+                                 Verso la sera
+                                 Di Primavera!_
+
+_William_.   The boat's in the broad moonlight all this while--
+
+                              _Verso la sera
+                                 Di Primavera!_
+
+                  And the boat shoots from underneath the moon
+                  Into the shadowy distance; only still
+                  You hear the dipping oar--
+
+                              _Verso la sera,_
+
+                  And faint, and fainter, and then all's quite gone,
+                  Music and light and all, like a lost star.
+
+_Anne_.      But you should sleep, father: you were to sleep.
+
+_Strafford_. I do sleep, Anne; or if not--you must know
+                  There's such a thing as ...
+
+_William_.   You're too tired to sleep.
+
+_Strafford_. It will come by-and-by and all day long,
+                  In that old quiet house I told you of:
+                  We sleep safe there.
+
+_Anne_.                          Why not in Ireland?
+
+_Strafford_.                                         No!
+                  Too many dreams!--"
+
+To me this children's-song and the fleeting and now plaintive echo of
+it, as "Voices from Within"--"_Verso la sera, Di Primavera_"--in the
+terrible scene where Strafford learns his doom, is only to be paralleled
+by the song of Mariana in "Measure for Measure," wherein, likewise, is
+abduced in one thrilling poignant strain the quintessential part of the
+tense life of the whole play.
+
+So much has been written concerning the dramas of Robert
+Browning--though indeed there is still room for a volume of careful
+criticism, dealing solely with this theme--that I have the less regret
+in having so inadequately to pass in review works of such poetic
+magnitude as those enumerated above.
+
+But it would be impossible, in so small a book as this, to examine them
+in detail without incurring a just charge of misproportion. The
+greatness and the shortcomings of the dramas and dramatic poems must be
+noted as succinctly as practicable; and I have dwelt more liberally upon
+"Pauline," "Paracelsus," and "Strafford," partly because (certainly
+without more than one exception, "Sordello") these are the three least
+read of Browning's poems, partly because they indicate the sweep and
+reach of his first orient eagle-flight through new morning-skies, and
+mainly because in them we already find Browning at his best and at his
+weakest, because in them we hear not only the rush of his sunlit
+pinions, but also the low earthward surge of dullard wings.
+
+Browning is foreshadowed in his earliest writings, as perhaps no other
+poet has been to like extent. In the "Venus and Adonis," and the "Rape
+of Lucrece," we have but the dimmest foreview of the author of "Hamlet,"
+"Othello," and "Macbeth"; had Shakspere died prematurely none could
+have predicted, from the exquisite blossoms of his adolescence, the
+immortal fruit of his maturity. But, in Browning's three earliest works,
+we clearly discern him, as the sculptor of Melos provisioned his Venus
+in the rough-hewn block.
+
+Thenceforth, to change the imagery, he developed rapidly upon the same
+lines, or doubled upon himself in intricate revolutions; but already his
+line of life, his poetic parallel, was definitely established.
+
+In the consideration of Browning's dramas it is needful to be sure of
+one's vantage for judgment. The first step towards this assurance is the
+ablation of the chronic Shaksperian comparison. Primarily, the shaping
+spirit of the time wrought Shakspere and Browning to radically divergent
+methods of expression, but each to a method in profound harmony with the
+dominant sentiment of the age in which he lived. Above all others, the
+Elizabethan era was rich in romantic adventure, of the mind as well as
+of the body, and above all others, save that of the Renaissance in
+Italy, animated by a passionate curiosity. So, too, supremely, the
+Victorian era has been prolific of novel and vast Titanic struggles of
+the human spirit to reach those Gates of Truth whose lowest steps are
+the scarce discernible stars and furthest suns we scan, by piling Ossas
+of searching speculation upon Pelions of hardly-won positive knowledge.
+The highest exemplar of the former is Shakspere, Browning the
+profoundest interpreter of the latter. To achieve supremacy the one had
+to create a throbbing actuality, a world of keenest living, of acts and
+intervolved situations and episodes: the other to fashion a mentality so
+passionately alive that its manifold phases should have all the reality
+of concrete individualities. The one reveals individual life to us by
+the play of circumstance, the interaction of events, the correlative
+eduction of personal characteristics: the other by his apprehension of
+that quintessential movement or mood or phase wherein the soul is
+transitorily visible on its lonely pinnacle of light. The elder poet
+reveals life to us by the sheer vividness of his own vision: the
+younger, by a newer, a less picturesque but more scientific abduction,
+compels the complex rayings of each soul-star to a singular simplicity,
+as by the spectrum analysis. The one, again, fulfils his aim by a broad
+synthesis based upon the vivid observance and selection of vital
+details: the other by an extraordinary acute psychic analysis. In a
+word, Shakspere works as with the clay of human action: Browning as with
+the clay of human thought.
+
+As for the difference in value of the two methods it is useless to
+dogmatise. The psychic portraiture produced by either is valuable only
+so far as it is convincingly true.
+
+The profoundest insight cannot reach deeper than its own possibilities
+of depth. The physiognomy of the soul is never visible in its entirety,
+barely ever even its profile. The utmost we can expect to reproduce,
+perhaps even to perceive in the most quintessential moment, is a
+partially faithful, partially deceptive silhouette. As no human being
+has ever seen his or her own soul, in all its rounded completeness of
+good and evil, of strength and weakness, of what is temporal and
+perishable and what is germinal and essential, how can we expect even
+the subtlest analyst to adequately depict other souls than his own. It
+is Browning's high distinction that he has this soul-depictive
+faculty--restricted as even in his instance it perforce is--to an extent
+unsurpassed by any other poet, ancient or modern. As a sympathetic
+critic has remarked, "His stage is not the visible phenomenal England
+(or elsewhere) of history; it is a point in the spiritual universe,
+where naked souls meet and wrestle, as they play the great game of life,
+for counters, the true value of which can only be realised in the
+bullion of a higher life than this." No doubt there is "a certain
+crudeness in the manner in which these naked souls are presented," not
+only in "Strafford" but elsewhere in the plays. Browning markedly has
+the defects of his qualities.
+
+As part of his method, it should be noted that his real trust is upon
+monologue rather than upon dialogue. To one who works from within
+outward--in contradistinction to the Shaksperian method of striving to
+win from outward forms "the passion and the life whose fountains are
+within"--the propriety of this dramatic means can scarce be gainsaid.
+The swift complicated mental machinery can thus be exhibited infinitely
+more coherently and comprehensibly than by the most electric succinct
+dialogue. Again and again Browning has nigh foundered in the morass of
+monologue, but, broadly speaking, he transcends in this dramatic method.
+
+At the same time, none must take it for granted that the author of the
+"Blot on the 'Scutchcon," "Luria," "In a Balcony," is not dramatic in
+even the most conventional sense. Above all, indeed--as Mr. Walter Pater
+has said--his is the poetry of situations. In each of the _dramatis
+personæ_, one of the leading characteristics is loyalty to a dominant
+ideal. In Strafford's case it is that of unswerving devotion to the
+King: in Mildred's and in Thorold's, in the "Blot on the 'Scutcheon," it
+is that of subservience respectively to conventional morality and family
+pride (Lord Tresham, it may be added, is the most hopelessly
+monomaniacal of all Browning's "monomaniacs"): in Valence's, in
+"Colombe's Birthday," to chivalric love: in Charles, in "King Victor and
+King Charles," to kingly and filial duty: in Anael's and Djabal's, in
+"The Return of the Druses," respectively to religion and unscrupulous
+ambition modified by patriotism: in Chiappino's, in "A Soul's Tragedy,"
+to purely sordid ambition: in Luria's, to noble steadfastness: and in
+Constance's, in "In a Balcony," to self-denial. Of these plays, "The
+Return of the Druses" seems to me the most picturesque, "Luria" the most
+noble and dignified, and "In a Balcony" the most potentially a great
+dramatic success. The last is in a sense a fragment, but, though the
+integer of a great unaccomplished drama, is as complete in itself as the
+Funeral March in Beethoven's _Eroica_ Symphony. The "Blot on the
+'Scutcheon" has the radical fault characteristic of writers of
+sensational fiction, a too promiscuous "clearing the ground" by syncope
+and suicide. Another is the juvenility of Mildred:--a serious infraction
+of dramatic law, where the mere tampering with history, as in the
+circumstances of King Victor's death in the earlier play, is at least
+excusable by high precedent. More disastrous, poetically, is the ruinous
+banality of Mildred's anticlimax when, after her brother reveals himself
+as her lover's murderer, she, like the typical young _Miss Anglaise_
+of certain French novelists, betrays her incapacity for true passion by
+exclaiming, in effect, "What, you've murdered my lover! Well, tell me
+all. Pardon? Oh, well, I pardon you: at least I _think_ I do. Thorold,
+my dear brother, how very wretched you must be!"
+
+I am unaware if this anticlimax has been pointed out by any one, but
+surely it is one of the most appalling lapses of genius which could be
+indicated. Even the beautiful song in the third scene of the first act,
+"There's a woman like a dew-drop, she's so purer than the purest," is,
+in the circumstances, nearly over the verge which divides the sublime
+from the ridiculous. No wonder that, on the night the play was first
+acted, Mertoun's song, as he clambered to his mistress's window, caused
+a sceptical laugh to ripple lightly among the tolerant auditory. It is
+with diffidence I take so radically distinct a standpoint from that of
+Dickens, who declared he knew no love like that of Mildred and Mertoun,
+no passion like it, no moulding of a splendid thing after its
+conception, like it; who, further, at a later date, affirmed that he
+would rather have written this play than any work of modern times: nor
+with less reluctance, that I find myself at variance with Mr. Skelton,
+who speaks of the drama as "one of the most perfectly conceived and
+perfectly executed tragedies in the language." In the instance of Luria,
+that second Othello, suicide has all the impressiveness of a plenary act
+of absolution: the death of Anael seems as inevitable as the flash of
+lightning after the concussion of thunder-clouds. But Thorold's suicide
+is mere weakness, scarce a perverted courage; and Mildred's broken heart
+was an ill not beyond the healing of a morally robust physician.
+"Colombe's Birthday" has a certain remoteness of interest, really due to
+the reader's more or less acute perception of the radical divergence,
+for all Valence's greatness of mind and spirit, between the fair young
+Duchess and her chosen lover: a circumstance which must surely stand in
+the way of its popularity. Though "A Soul's Tragedy" has the saving
+quality of humour, it is of too grim a kind to be provocative of
+laughter.
+
+In each of these plays[14] the lover of Browning will recall passage
+after passage of superbly dramatic effect. But supreme in his
+remembrance will be the wonderful scene in "The Return of the Druses,"
+where the Prefect, drawing a breath of relief, is almost simultaneously
+assassinated; and that where Anael, with every nerve at tension in her
+fierce religious resolve, with a poignant, life-surrendering cry, hails
+Djabal as _Hakeem_--as Divine--and therewith falls dead at his feet.
+Nor will he forget that where, in the "Blot on the 'Scutcheon," Mildred,
+with a dry sob in her throat, stammeringly utters--
+
+                "I--I--was so young!
+      Besides I loved him, Thorold--and I had
+      No mother; God forgot me: so I fell----"
+
+or that where, "at end of the disastrous day," Luria takes the phial of
+poison from his breast, muttering--
+
+     "Strange! This is all I brought from my own land
+      To help me."
+
+[Footnote 14: "Strafford," 1837; "King Victor and King Charles," 1842;
+"The Return of the Druses," and "A Blot on the 'Scutcheon," 1843;
+"Colombe's Birthday," 1844; "Luria," and "A Soul's Tragedy," 1845.]
+
+Before passing on from these eight plays to Browning's most imperishable
+because most nearly immaculate dramatic poem, "Pippa Passes," and to
+"Sordello," that colossal derelict upon the ocean of poetry, I should
+like--out of an embarrassing quantity of alluring details--to remind the
+reader of two secondary matters of interest pertinent to the present
+theme. One is that the song in "A Blot on the 'Scutcheon," "There's a
+woman like a dew-drop," written several years before the author's
+meeting with Elizabeth Barrett, is so closely in the style of "Lady
+Geraldine's Courtship," and other ballads by the sweet singer who
+afterwards became a partner in the loveliest marriage of which we have
+record in literary history, that, even were there nothing to
+substantiate the fact, it were fair to infer that Mertoun's song to
+Mildred was the electric touch which compelled to its metric shape one
+of Mrs. Browning's best-known poems.
+
+The further interest lies in the lordly acknowledgment of the dedication
+to him of "Luria," which Landor sent to Browning--lines pregnant with
+the stateliest music of his old age:--
+
+     "Shakespeare is not our poet but the world's,
+      Therefore on him no speech! and brief for thee,
+      Browning! Since Chaucer was alive and hale
+      No man has walked along our roads with step
+      So active, so enquiring eye, or tongue
+      So varied in discourse. But warmer climes
+      Give brighter plumage, stronger wing: the breeze
+      Of Alpine heights thou playest with, borne on
+      Beyond Sorrento and Amalfi, where
+      The Siren waits thee, singing song for song."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+In my allusion to "Pippa Passes," towards the close of the preceding
+chapter, as the most imperishable because the most nearly immaculate of
+Browning's dramatic poems, I would not have it understood that its
+pre-eminence is considered from the standpoint of technical achievement,
+of art, merely. It seems to me, like all simple and beautiful things,
+profound enough for the searching plummet of the most curious explorer
+of the depths of life. It can be read, re-read, learned by heart, and
+the more it is known the wider and more alluring are the avenues of
+imaginative thought which it discloses. It has, more than any other long
+composition by its author, that quality of symmetry, that _symmetria
+prisca_ recorded of Leonardo da Vinci in the Latin epitaph of Platino
+Piatto; and, as might be expected, its mental basis, what Rossetti
+called fundamental brain-work, is as luminous, depth within depth, as
+the morning air. By its side, the more obviously "profound" poems,
+Bishop Blougram and the rest, are mere skilled dialectics.
+
+The art that is most profound and most touching must ever be the
+simplest. Whenever Æschylus, Dante, Shakspere, Milton, are at white heat
+they require no exposition, but meditation only--the meditation akin to
+the sentiment of little children who listen, intent upon every syllable,
+and passionately eager of soul, to hearth-side tragedies. The play of
+genius is like the movement of the sea. It has its solemn rhythm: its
+joy, irradiate of the sun; its melancholy, in the patient moonlight: its
+surge and turbulence under passing tempests: below all, the deep oceanic
+music. There are, of course, many to whom the sea is but a waste of
+water, at best useful as a highway and as the nursery of the winds and
+rains. For them there is no hint "of the incommunicable dream" in the
+curve of the rising wave, no murmur of the oceanic undertone in the
+short leaping sounds, invisible things that laugh and clap their hands
+for joy and are no more. To them it is but a desert: obscure,
+imponderable, a weariness. The "profundity" of Browning, so dear a claim
+in the eyes of the poet's fanatical admirers, exists, in their sense,
+only in his inferior work. There is more profound insight in Blake's
+Song of Innocence, "Piping down the valleys wild," or in Wordsworth's
+line, "Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears," or in Keats'
+single verse, "There is a budding morrow in midnight," or in this
+quatrain on Poetry, by a young living poet--
+
+     "She comes like the husht beauty of the night,
+        But sees too deep for laughter;
+      Her touch is a vibration and a light
+        From worlds before and after--"
+
+there is more "profundity" in any of these than in libraries of "Sludge
+the Medium" literature. Mere hard thinking does not involve profundity,
+any more than neurotic excitation involves spiritual ecstasy. _De
+profundis,_ indeed, must the poet come: there must the deep rhythm of
+life have electrified his "volatile essence" to a living rhythmic joy.
+In this deep sense, and this only, the poet is born, not made. He may
+learn to fashion anew that which he hath seen: the depth of his insight
+depends upon the depth of his spiritual heritage. If wonder dwell not in
+his eyes and soul there can be no "far ken" for him. Here it seems apt
+to point out that Browning was the first writer of our day to indicate
+this transmutive, this inspired and inspiring wonder-spirit, which is
+the deepest motor in the evolution of our modern poetry.
+Characteristically, he puts his utterance into the mouth of a dreamy
+German student, the shadowy Schramm who is but metaphysics embodied,
+metaphysics finding apt expression in tobacco-smoke: "Keep but ever
+looking, whether with the body's eye or the mind's, and you will soon
+find something to look on! Has a man done wondering at women?--there
+follow men, dead and alive, to wonder at. Has he done wondering at
+men?--there's God to wonder at: and the faculty of wonder may be, at the
+same time, old and tired enough with respect to its first object, and
+yet young and fresh sufficiently, so far as concerns its novel one."
+
+This wonder is akin to that 'insanity' of the poet which is but
+impassioned sanity. Plato sums the matter when he says, "He who, having
+no touch of the Muse's madness in his soul, comes to the door and thinks
+he will get into the temple by the help of Art--he, I say, and his
+poetry, are not admitted."
+
+In that same wood beyond Dulwich to which allusion has already been
+made, the germinal motive of "Pippa Passes" flashed upon the poet. No
+wonder this resort was for long one of his sacred places, and that he
+lamented its disappearance as fervently as Ruskin bewailed the
+encroachment of the ocean of bricks and mortar upon the wooded privacies
+of Denmark Hill.
+
+Save for a couple of brief visits abroad, Browning spent the years,
+between his first appearance as a dramatic writer and his marriage, in
+London and the neighbourhood. Occasionally he took long walks into the
+country. One particular pleasure was to lie beside a hedge, or deep in
+meadow-grasses, or under a tree, as circumstances and the mood
+concurred, and there to give himself up so absolutely to the life of the
+moment that even the shy birds would alight close by, and sometimes
+venturesomely poise themselves on suspicious wings for a brief space
+upon his recumbent body. I have heard him say that his faculty of
+observation at that time would not have appeared despicable to a
+Seminole or an Iroquois: he saw and watched everything, the bird on the
+wing, the snail dragging its shell up the pendulous woodbine, the bee
+adding to his golden treasure as he swung in the bells of the campanula,
+the green fly darting hither and thither like an animated seedling, the
+spider weaving her gossamer from twig to twig, the woodpecker heedfully
+scrutinising the lichen on the gnarled oak-hole, the passage of the wind
+through leaves or across grass, the motions and shadows of the clouds,
+and so forth. These were his golden holidays. Much of the rest of his
+time, when not passed in his room in his father's house, where he wrote
+his dramas and early poems, and studied for hours daily, was spent in
+the Library of the British Museum, in an endless curiosity into the more
+or less unbeaten tracks of literature. These London experiences were
+varied by whole days spent at the National Gallery, and in communion
+with kindred spirits. At one time he had rooms, or rather a room, in the
+immediate neighbourhood of the Strand, whither he could go when he
+wished to be in town continuously for a time, or when he had any social
+or theatrical engagement.
+
+Browning's life at this period was distraught by more than one episode
+of the heart. It would be strange were it otherwise. He had in no
+ordinary degree a rich and sensuous nature, and his responsiveness was
+so quick that the barriers of prudence were apt to be as shadowy to him
+as to the author of "The Witch of Atlas." But he was the earnest student
+for the most part, and, above all, the poet. His other pleasure, in his
+happy vagrant days, was to join company with any tramps, gipsies, or
+other wayfarers, and in good fellowship gain much knowledge of life that
+was useful at a later time. Rustic entertainments, particularly
+peripatetic "Theatres Royal," had a singular fascination for him, as for
+that matter had rustic oratory, whether of the alehouse or the pulpit.
+At one period he took the keenest interest in sectaries of all kinds:
+and often he incurred a gentle reproof from his mother because of his
+nomad propensities in search of "_pastors_ new." There was even a time
+when he seriously deliberated whether he should not combine literature
+and religious ministry, as Faraday combined evangelical fervour with
+scientific enthusiasm. "'Twas a girl with eyes like two dreams of night"
+that saved him from himself, and defrauded the Church Independent of a
+stalwart orator.
+
+It was, as already stated, while he strolled through Dulwich Wood one
+day that the thought occurred to him which was to find development and
+expression in "Pippa Passes." "The image flashed upon him," writes his
+intimate friend, Mrs. Sutherland Orr, "of some one walking thus alone
+through life; one apparently too obscure to leave a trace of his or her
+passage, yet exercising a lasting though unconscious influence at every
+step of it; and the image shaped itself into the little silk-winder of
+Asolo, Felippa or Pippa."
+
+It has always seemed to me a radical mistake to include "Pippa Passes"
+among Browning's dramas. Not only is it absolutely unactable, but
+essentially undramatic in the conventional sense. True dramatic writing
+concerns itself fundamentally with the apt conjunction of events, and
+the more nearly it approximates to the verity of life the more likely is
+it to be of immediate appeal. There is a _vraie vérité_ which only the
+poet, evolving from dramatic concepts rather than attempting to
+concentrate these in a quick, moving verisimilitude, can attempt. The
+passing hither and thither of Pippa, like a beneficent Fate, a wandering
+chorus from a higher amid the discordant medley of a lower world,
+changing the circumstances and even the natures of certain more or less
+heedless listeners by the wild free lilt of her happy song of innocence,
+is of this _vraie vérité_. It is so obviously true, spiritually, that
+it is unreal in the commonplace of ordinary life. Its very effectiveness is
+too apt for the dramatist, who can ill afford to tamper further with the
+indifferent banalities of actual existence. The poet, unhampered by the
+exigencies of dramatic realism, can safely, and artistically, achieve an
+equally exact, even a higher verisimilitude, by means which are, or
+should be, beyond adoption by the dramatist proper.
+
+But over and above any 'nice discrimination,' "Pippa Passes" is simply a
+poem, a lyrical masque with interspersed dramatic episodes, and
+subsidiary interludes in prose. The suggestion recently made that it
+should be acted is a wholly errant one. The finest part of it is
+unrepresentable. The rest would consist merely of a series of tableaux,
+with conversational accompaniment.
+
+The opening scene, "the large mean airy chamber," where Pippa, the
+little silk-winder from the mills at Asolo, springs from bed, on her New
+Year's Day _festa_, and soliloquises as she dresses, is as true as it
+is lovely when viewed through the rainbow glow of the poetic atmosphere:
+but how could it succeed on the stage? It is not merely that the
+monologue is too long: it is too inapt, in its poetic richness, for its
+purpose. It is the poet, not Pippa, who evokes this sweet sunrise-music,
+this strain of the "long blue solemn hours serenely flowing." The
+dramatic poet may occupy himself with that deeper insight, and the wider
+expression of it, which is properly altogether beyond the scope of the
+playwright. In a word, he may irradiate his theme with the light that
+never was on sea or land, nor will he thereby sacrifice aught of
+essential truth: but his comrade must see to it that he is content with
+the wide liberal air of the common day. The poetic alchemist may turn a
+sword into pure gold: the playwright will concern himself with the due
+usage of the weapon as we know it, and attribute to it no transcendent
+value, no miraculous properties. What is permissible to Blake, painting
+Adam and Eve among embowering roses and lilies, while the sun, moon, and
+stars simultaneously shine, is impermissible to the portrait-painter or
+the landscapist, who has to idealise actuality to the point only of
+artistic realism, and not to transmute it at the outset from
+happily-perceived concrete facts to a glorified abstract concept.
+
+In this opening monologue the much-admired song, "All service ranks the
+same with God," is no song at all, properly, but simply a beautiful
+short poem. From the dramatist's point of view, could anything be more
+shaped for disaster than the second of the two stanzas?--
+
+     "Say not 'a small event!' Why 'small'?
+      Costs it more pain than this, ye call
+      A 'great event,' should come to pass,
+      Than that? Untwine me from the mass
+      Of deeds which make up life, one deed
+      Power shall fall short in or exceed!"
+
+The whole of this lovely prologue is the production of a dramatic poet,
+not of a poet writing a drama. On the other hand, I cannot agree with
+what I read somewhere recently--that Sebald's song, at the opening of
+the most superb dramatic writing in the whole range of Victorian
+literature, is, in the circumstances, wholly inappropriate. It seems to
+me entirely consistent with the character of Ottima's reckless lover. He
+is akin to the gallant in one of Dumas' romances, who lingered atop of
+the wall of the prison whence he was escaping in order to whistle the
+concluding bar of a blithe chanson of freedom. What is, dramatically,
+disastrous in the instance of Mertoun singing "There's a woman like a
+dewdrop," when he ought to be seeking Mildred's presence in profound
+stealth and silence, is, dramatically, electrically startling in the
+mouth of Sebald, among the geraniums of the shuttered shrub-house, where
+he has passed the night with Ottima, while her murdered husband lies
+stark in the adjoining room.
+
+It must, however, be borne in mind that this thrilling dramatic effect
+is fully experienced only in retrospection, or when there is knowledge
+of what is to follow.
+
+A conclusive objection to the drama as an actable play is that three of
+the four main episodes are fragmentary. We know nothing of the fate of
+Luigi: we can but surmise the future of Jules and Phené: we know not how
+or when Monsignor will see Pippa righted. Ottima and Sebald reach a
+higher level in voluntary death than they ever could have done in life.
+
+It is quite unnecessary, here, to dwell upon this exquisite flower of
+genius in detail. Every one who knows Browning at all knows "Pippa
+Passes." Its lyrics have been unsurpassed, for birdlike spontaneity and
+a rare high music, by any other Victorian poet: its poetic insight is
+such as no other poet than the author of "The Ring and the Book" and
+"The Inn Album" can equal. Its technique, moreover, is superb. From the
+outset of the tremendous episode of Ottima and Sebald, there is a note
+of tragic power which is almost overwhelming. Who has not known what
+Jakob Boehme calls "the shudder of a divine excitement" when Luca's
+murderer replies to his paramour,
+
+                            "morning?
+      It seems to me a night with a sun added."
+
+How deep a note, again, is touched when Sebald exclaims, in allusion to
+his murder of Luca, that he was so "wrought upon," though here, it may
+be, there is an unconscious reminiscence of the tenser and more
+culminative cry of Othello, "but being wrought, perplext in the
+extreme." Still more profound a touch is that where Ottima, daring her
+lover to the "one thing that must be done; you know what thing: Come in
+and help to carry," says, with affected lightsomeness, "This dusty pane
+might serve for looking-glass," and simultaneously exclaims, as she
+throws them rejectingly from her nervous fingers, "Three, four--four
+grey hairs!" then with an almost sublime coquetry of horror turns
+abruptly to Sebald, saying with a voice striving vainly to be blithe--
+
+                              "Is it so you said
+      A plait of hair should wave across my neck?
+      No--this way."
+
+Who has not been moved by the tragic grandeur of the verse, as well as
+by the dramatic intensity of the episode of the lovers' "crowning
+night"?
+
+     "_Ottima_.             The day of it too, Sebald!
+      When heaven's pillars seemed o'erbowed with heat,
+      Its black-blue canopy suffered descend
+      Close on us both, to weigh down each to each,
+      And smother up all life except our life.
+      So lay we till the storm came.
+
+      _Sebald_.                     How it came!
+
+      _Ottima_. Buried in woods we lay, you recollect;
+      Swift ran the searching tempest overhead;
+      And ever and anon some bright white shaft
+      Burned thro' the pine-tree roof, here burned and there,
+      As if God's messenger thro' the close wood screen
+      Plunged and replunged his weapon at a venture,
+      Feeling for guilty thee and me: then broke
+      The thunder like a whole sea overhead ----"
+
+Surely there is nothing in all our literature more poignantly dramatic
+than this first part of "Pippa Passes." The strains which Pippa sings
+here and throughout are as pathetically fresh and free as a thrush's
+song in the heart of a beleaguered city, and as with the same
+unconsidered magic. There is something of the mavis-note, liquid falling
+tones, caught up in a moment in joyous caprice, in
+
+     "_Give her but a least excuse to love me!
+      When--where----_"
+
+No one of these songs, all acutely apt to the time and the occasion, has
+a more overwhelming effect than that which interrupts Ottima and Sebald
+at the perilous summit of their sin, beyond which lies utter darkness,
+behind which is the narrow twilit backward way.
+
+     "_Ottima_. Bind it thrice about my brow;
+      Crown me your queen, your spirit's arbitress,
+      Magnificent in sin. Say that!
+
+      _Sebald_.                  I crown you
+      My great white queen, my spirit's arbitress,
+      Magnificent..
+
+      [_From without is heard the voice of_ PIPPA _singing_--]
+
+           The year's at the spring,
+           And day's at the morn;
+           Morning's at seven;
+           The hill-side's dew-pearled;
+           The lark's on the wing;
+           The snail's on the thorn:
+           God's in his heaven--
+           All's right with the world! [PIPPA _passes_,
+
+      _Sebald_. God's in his heaven! Do you hear that?
+      Who spoke?"
+
+This sweet voice of Pippa reaches the guilty lovers, reaches Luigi in
+his tower, hesitating between love and patriotic duty, reaches Jules and
+Phené when all the happiness of their unborn years trembles in the
+balance, reaches the Prince of the Church just when his conscience is
+sore beset by a seductive temptation, reaches one and all at a crucial
+moment in the life of each. The ethical lesson of the whole poem is
+summed up in
+
+     "All service ranks the same with God--
+      With God, whose puppets, best and worst,
+      Are we: there is no last nor first,"
+
+and in
+
+     "God's in his heaven--
+      All's right with the world!"
+
+"With God there is no lust of Godhood," says Rossetti in "Hand and
+Soul": _Und so ist der blaue Himmel grosser als jedes Gewölk darin, und
+dauerhafter dazu_, meditates Jean Paul: "There can be nothing good, as
+we know it, nor anything evil, as we know it, in the eye of the
+Omnipresent and the Omniscient," utters the Oriental mystic.
+
+It is interesting to know that many of the nature touches were
+indirectly due to the poet's solitary rambles, by dawn, sundown, and
+"dewy eve," in the wooded districts south of Dulwich, at Hatcham, and
+upon Wimbledon Common, whither he was often wont to wander and to
+ramble for hours, and where he composed one day the well-known lines
+upon Shelley, with many another unrecorded impulse of song. Here, too,
+it was, that Carlyle, riding for exercise, was stopped by 'a beautiful
+youth,' who introduced himself as one of the philosopher's profoundest
+admirers.
+
+It was from the Dulwich wood that, one afternoon in March, he saw a
+storm glorified by a double rainbow of extraordinary beauty; a memorable
+vision, recorded in an utterance of Luigi to his mother: here too that,
+in autumnal dusks, he saw many a crescent moon with "notched and burning
+rim." He never forgot the bygone "sunsets and great stars" he saw in
+those days of his fervid youth. Browning remarked once that the romance
+of his life was in his own soul; and on another occasion I heard him
+smilingly add, to some one's vague assertion that in Italy only was
+there any romance left, "Ah, well, I should like to include poor old
+Camberwell!" Perhaps he was thinking of his lines in "Pippa Passes," of
+the days when that masterpiece came ebullient from the fount of his
+genius--
+
+     "May's warm slow yellow moonlit summer nights--
+      Gone are they, but I have them in my soul!"
+
+There is all the distinction between "Pippa Passes" and "Sordello" that
+there is between the Venus of Milos and a gigantic Theban Sphinx. The
+latter is, it is true, proportionate in its vastness; but the symmetry
+of mere bulk is not the _symmetria prisca_ of ideal sculpture. I have
+already alluded to "Sordello" as a derelict upon the ocean of poetry.
+This, indeed, it still seems to me, notwithstanding the well-meaning
+suasion of certain admirers of the poem who have hoped "I should do it
+justice," thereby meaning that I should eulogise it as a masterpiece. It
+is a gigantic effort, of a kind; so is the sustained throe of a
+wrestling Titan. That the poem contains much which is beautiful is
+undeniable, also that it is surcharged with winsome and profound
+thoughts and a multitude of will-o'-the-wisp-like fancies which all
+shape towards high thinking.
+
+But it is monotonous as one of the enormous American inland seas to a
+lover of the ocean, to whom the salt brine is as the breath of delight.
+The fatal facility of the heroic couplet to lapse into diffuseness, has,
+coupled with a warped anxiety for irreducible concision, been Browning's
+ruin here.
+
+There is one charge even yet too frequently made against "Sordello,"
+that of "obscurity." Its interest may be found remote, its treatment
+verbose, its intricacies puzzling to those unaccustomed to excursions
+from the familiar highways of old usage, but its motive thought is not
+obscure. It is a moonlit plain compared with the "_silva oscura_" of the
+"Divina Commedia."
+
+Surely this question of Browning's obscurity was expelled to the Limbo
+of Dead Stupidities when Mr. Swinburne, in periods as resplendent as the
+whirling wheels of Phoebus Apollo's chariot, wrote his famous incidental
+passage in his "Essay on Chapman."
+
+Too probably, in the dim disintegrating future which will reduce all our
+o'ertoppling extremes, "Sordello" will be as little read as "The Faerie
+Queene," and, similarly, only for the gleam of the quenchless lamps amid
+its long deserted alleys and stately avenues. Sadly enough, for to poets
+it will always be an unforgotten land--a continent with
+amaranth-haunted Vales of Tempe, where, as Spenser says in one of the
+Aeclogues of "The Shepherd's Calendar," they will there oftentimes
+"sitten as drouned in dreme."
+
+It has, for those who are not repelled, a charm all its own. I know of
+no other poem in the language which is at once so wearisome and so
+seductive. How can one explain paradoxes? There is a charm, or there is
+none: that is what it amounts to, for each individual. _Tutti ga, i so
+gusti, e mi go i mii_--"everybody follows his taste, and I follow mine,"
+as the Venetian saying, quoted by Browning at the head of his Rawdon
+Brown sonnet, has it.
+
+All that need be known concerning the framework of "Sordello," and of
+the real Sordello himself, will be found in the various Browning
+hand-books, in Mr. Nettleship's and other dissertations, and,
+particularly, in Mrs. Ball's most circumspect and able historical essay.
+It is sufficient here to say that while the Sordello and Palma of the
+poet are traceable in the Cunizza and the strange comet-like Sordello of
+the Italian and Provençal Chronicles (who has his secure immortality, by
+Dante set forth in leonine guise--_a guisa di leon quando si posa_--in
+the "Purgatorio"), both these are the most shadowy of prototypes. The
+Sordello of Browning is a typical poetic soul: the narrative of the
+incidents in the development of this soul is adapted to the historical
+setting furnished by the aforesaid Chronicles. Sordello is a far more
+profound study than Aprile in "Paracelsus," in whom, however, he is
+obviously foreshadowed. The radical flaw in his nature is that indicated
+by Goethe of Heine, that "he had no heart." The poem is the narrative
+of his transcendent aspirations, and more or less futile accomplishment.
+
+It would be vain to attempt here any adequate excerption of lines of
+singular beauty. Readers familiar with the poem will recall passage
+after passage--among which there is probably none more widely known than
+the grandiose sunset lines:--
+
+                "That autumn eve was stilled:
+      A last remains of sunset dimly burned
+      O'er the far forests,--like a torch-flame turned
+      By the wind back upon its bearer's hand
+      In one long flare of crimson; as a brand,
+      The woods beneath lay black." ...
+
+What haunting lines there are, every here and there--such as those of
+Palma, with her golden hair like spilt sunbeams, or those on Elys, with
+her
+
+                          "Few fine locks
+      Coloured like honey oozed from topmost rocks
+      Sun-blanched the livelong summer," ...
+
+or these,
+
+                                "Day by day
+      New pollen on the lily-petal grows,
+      And still more labyrinthine buds the rose----"
+
+or, once more,
+
+                            "A touch divine--
+      And the sealed eyeball owns the mystic rod;
+      Visibly through his garden walketh God----"
+
+But, though sorely tempted, I must not quote further, save only the
+concluding lines of the unparalleled and impassioned address to Dante:--
+
+                       "Dante, pacer of the shore
+      Where glutted hell disgorgeth filthiest gloom,
+      Unbitten by its whirring sulphur-spume,
+      Or whence the grieved and obscure waters slope
+      Into a darkness quieted by hope;
+      Plucker of amaranths grown beneath God's eye
+      In gracious twilights where his chosen lie----"
+             *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is a fair land, for those who have lingered in its byways: but, alas,
+a troubled tide of strange metres, of desperate rhythms, of wild
+conjunctions, of panic-stricken collocations, oftentimes overwhelms it.
+"Sordello" grew under the poet's fashioning till, like the magic vapour
+of the Arabian wizard, it passed beyond his control, "voluminously
+vast."
+
+It is not the truest admirers of what is good in it who will refuse to
+smile at the miseries of conscientious but baffled readers. Who can fail
+to sympathise with Douglas Jerrold when, slowly convalescent from a
+serious illness, he found among some new books sent him by a friend a
+copy of "Sordello." Thomas Powell, writing in 1849, has chronicled the
+episode. A few lines, he says, put Jerrold in a state of alarm. Sentence
+after sentence brought no consecutive thought to his brain. At last the
+idea occurred to him that in his illness his mental faculties had been
+wrecked. The perspiration rolled from his forehead, and smiting his head
+he sank back on the sofa, crying, "O God, I _am_ an idiot!" A little
+later, adds Powell, when Jerrold's wife and sister entered, he thrust
+"Sordello" into their hands, demanding what they thought of it. He
+watched them intently while they read. When at last Mrs. Jerrold
+remarked, "I don't understand what this man means; it is gibberish,"
+her delighted husband gave a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "Thank God, I
+am _not_ an idiot!"
+
+Many friends of Browning will remember his recounting this incident
+almost in these very words, and his enjoyment therein: though he would
+never admit justification for such puzzlement.
+
+But more illustrious personages than Douglas Jerrold were puzzled by the
+poem. Lord Tennyson manfully tackled it, but he is reported to have
+admitted in bitterness of spirit: "There were only two lines in it that
+I understood, and they were both lies; they were the opening and closing
+lines, '_Who will may hear Sordello's story told_,' and '_Who would
+has heard Sordello's story told!_'" Carlyle was equally candid: "My
+wife," he writes, "has read through 'Sordello' without being able to make
+out whether 'Sordello' was a man, or a city, or a book."
+
+In an article on this poem, in a French magazine, M. Odysse Barot quotes
+a passage where the poet says "God gave man two faculties"--and adds, "I
+wish while He was about it (_pendant qu'il était en train_) God had
+supplied another--viz., the power of understanding Mr. Browning."
+
+And who does not remember the sad experience of generous and delightful
+Gilead P. Beck, in "The Golden Butterfly": how, after "Fifine at the
+Fair," frightful symptoms set in, till in despair he took up "Red Cotton
+Nightcap Country," and fell for hours into a dull comatose misery. "His
+eyes were bloodshot, his hair was pushed in disorder about his head, his
+cheeks were flushed, his hands were trembling, the nerves in his face
+were twitching. Then he arose, and solemnly cursed Robert Browning. And
+then he took all his volumes, and, disposing them carefully in the
+fireplace, set light to them. 'I wish,' he said, 'that I could put the
+poet there too.'" One other anecdote of the kind was often, with evident
+humorous appreciation, recounted by the poet. On his introduction to the
+Chinese Ambassador, as a "brother-poet," he asked that dignitary what
+kind of poetic expression he particularly affected. The great man
+deliberated, and then replied that his poetry might be defined as
+"enigmatic." Browning at once admitted his fraternal kinship.
+
+That he was himself aware of the shortcomings of "Sordello" as a work of
+art is not disputable. In 1863, Mrs. Orr says, he considered the
+advisability of "rewriting it in a more transparent manner, but
+concluded that the labour would be disproportionate to the result, and
+contented himself with summarising the contents of each 'book' in a
+continuous heading, which represents the main thread of the story."
+
+The essential manliness of Browning is evident in the famous dedication
+to the French critic Milsand, who was among his early admirers. "My own
+faults of expression were many; but with care for a man or book such
+would be surmounted, and without it what avails the faultlessness of
+either? I blame nobody, least of all myself, who did my best then and
+since."
+
+Whatever be the fate of "Sordello," one thing pertinent to it shall
+survive: the memorable sentence in the dedicatory preface--"My stress
+lay on the incidents in the development of a soul: little else is worth
+study."
+
+The poem has disastrous faults, but is a magnificent failure. "Vast as
+night," to borrow a simile from Victor Hugo, but, like night,
+innumerously starred.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+"Pippa Passes," "The Ring and the Book," "The Inn Album," these are
+Browning's three great dramatic poems, as distinct from his poetic
+plays. All are dramas in the exact sense, though the three I have named
+are dramas for mental and not for positive presentation. Each reader
+must embody for himself the images projected on his brain by the
+electric quality of the poet's genius: within the ken of his imagination
+he may perceive scenes not less moving, incidents not less thrilling,
+complexities of motive and action not less intricately involved, than
+upon the conventional stage.
+
+The first is a drama of an idea, the second of the immediate and remote
+consequences of a single act, the third of the tyranny of the passions.
+
+I understand the general opinion among lovers and earnest students of
+Browning's poetry to be that the highest peaks of his genius tower from
+the vast tableland of "The Ring and the Book"; that thenceforth there
+was declension. But Browning is not to be measured by common estimates.
+It is easy to indicate, in the instances of many poets, just where the
+music reaches its sweetest, its noblest, just where the extreme glow
+wanes, just where the first shadows come leaping like greyhounds, or
+steal almost imperceptibly from slow-closing horizons.
+
+But with Browning, as with Shakspere, as with Victor Hugo, it is
+difficult for our vision to penetrate the glow irradiating the supreme
+heights of accomplishment. Like Balzac, like Shakspere again, he has
+revealed to us a territory so vast, that while we bow down before the
+sun westering athwart distant Andes, the gold of sunrise is already
+flashing behind us, upon the shoulder of Atlas.
+
+It is certain that "The Ring and the Book" is unique. Even Goethe's
+masterpiece had its forerunners, as in Marlowe's "Faustus," and its
+ambitious offspring, as in Bailey's "Festus." But is it a work of art?
+Here is the only vital question which at present concerns us.
+
+It is altogether useless to urge, as so many admirers of Browning do,
+that "The Ring and the Book" is as full of beauties as the sea is of
+waves. Undeniably it is, having been written in the poet's maturity.
+But, to keep to the simile, has this epical poem the unity of ocean?
+Does it consist of separate seas, or is it really one, as the wastes
+which wash from Arctic to Antarctic, through zones temperate and
+equatorial, are yet one and indivisible? If it have not this unity it is
+still a stupendous accomplishment, but it is not a work of art. And
+though art is but the handmaiden of genius, what student of Comparative
+Literature will deny that nothing has survived the ruining breath of
+Time--not any intellectual greatness nor any spiritual beauty, that is
+not clad in perfection, be it absolute or relative--for relative
+perfection there is, despite the apparent paradox.
+
+The mere bulk of "The Ring and the Book" is, in point of art, nothing.
+One day, after the publication of this poem, Carlyle hailed the author
+with enthusiastic praise in which lurked damning irony: "What a
+wonderful fellow you are, Browning: you have written a whole series of
+'books' about what could be summed up in a newspaper paragraph!" Here,
+Carlyle was at once right and wrong. The theme, looked at
+dispassionately, is unworthy of the monument in which it is entombed for
+eternity. But the poet looked upon the central incident as the inventive
+mechanician regards the tiny pivot remote amid the intricate maze of his
+machinery. Here, as elsewhere, Browning's real subject is too often
+confounded with the accidents of the subject. His triumph is not that he
+has created so huge a literary monument, but rather that,
+notwithstanding its bulk, he has made it shapely and impressive. Stress
+has frequently been laid on the greatness of the achievement in the
+writing of twelve long poems in the exposition of one theme. Again, in
+point of art, what significance has this? None. There is no reason why
+it should not have been in nine or eleven parts; no reason why, having
+been demonstrated in twelve, it should not have been expanded through
+fifteen or twenty. Poetry ever looks askance at that gipsy-cousin of
+hers, "Tour-de-force."
+
+Of the twelve parts--occupying in all about twenty-one thousand
+lines--the most notable as poetry are those which deal with the plea of
+the implicated priest, Caponsacchi, with the meditation of the Pope, and
+with the pathetic utterance of Pompilia. It is not a dramatic poem in
+the sense that "Pippa Passes" is, for its ten Books (the first and
+twelfth are respectively introductory and appendical) are monologues.
+"The Ring and the Book," in a word, consists, besides the two
+extraneous parts, of ten monodramas, which are as ten huge facets to a
+poetic Koh-i-Noor.
+
+The square little Italian volume, in its yellow parchment and with its
+heavy type, which has now found a haven in Oxford, was picked up by
+Browning for a _lira_ (about eightpence), on a second-hand bookstall
+in the Piazza San Lorenzo at Florence, one June day, 1865. Therein is set
+forth, in full detail, all the particulars of the murder of his wife
+Pompilia, for her supposed adultery, by a certain Count Guido
+Franceschini; and of that noble's trial, sentence, and doom. It is much
+the same subject matter as underlies the dramas of Webster, Ford, and
+other Elizabethan poets, but subtlety of insight rather than intensity
+of emotion and situation distinguishes the Victorian dramatist from his
+predecessors. The story fascinated Browning, who, having in this book
+and elsewhere mastered all the details, conceived the idea of writing
+the history of the crime in a series of monodramatic revelations on the
+part of the individuals more or less directly concerned. The more he
+considered the plan the more it shaped itself to a great accomplishment,
+and early in 1866 he began the most ambitious work of his life.
+
+An enthusiastic admirer has spoken of the poem as "one of the most
+extraordinary feats of which we have any record in literature." But
+poetry is not mental gymnastics. All this insistence upon "extraordinary
+feats" is to be deprecated: it presents the poet as Hercules, not as
+Apollo: in a word, it is not criticism. The story is one of vulgar fraud
+and crime, romantic to us only because the incidents occurred in Italy,
+in the picturesque Rome and Arezzo of two centuries ago. The old
+bourgeois couple, Pietro and Violante Comparini, manage to wed their
+thirteen-year-old putative daughter to a middle-aged noble of Arezzo.
+They expect the exquisite repute of an aristocratic connection, and
+other tangible advantages. He, impoverished as he is, looks for a
+splendid dowry. No one thinks of the child-wife, Pompilia. She becomes
+the scapegoat, when the gross selfishness of the contracting parties
+stands revealed. Count Guido has a genius for domestic tyranny. Pompilia
+suffers. When she is about to become a mother she determines to leave
+her husband, whom she now dreads as well as dislikes. Since the child is
+to be the inheritor of her parents' wealth, she will not leave it to the
+tender mercies of Count Guido. A young priest, a canon of Arezzo,
+Giuseppe Caponsacchi, helps her to escape. In due course she gives birth
+to a son. She has scarce time to learn the full sweetness of her
+maternity ere she is done to death like a trampled flower. Guido, who
+has held himself thrall to an imperative patience, till his hold upon
+the child's dowry should be secure, hires four assassins, and in the
+darkness of night betakes himself to Rome. He and his accomplices enter
+the house of Pietro Comparini and his wife, and, not content with
+slaying them, also murders Pompilia. But they are discovered, and Guido
+is caught red-handed. Pompilia's evidence alone is damnatory, for she
+was not slain outright, and lingers long enough to tell her story.
+Franceschini is not foiled yet, however. His plea is that he simply
+avenged the wrong done to him by his wife's adulterous connection with
+the priest Caponsacchi. But even in the Rome of that evil day justice
+was not extinct. Guido's motive is proved to be false; he himself is
+condemned to death. An appeal to the Pope is futile. Finally, the
+wretched man pays the too merciful penalty of his villainy.
+
+There is nothing grand, nothing noble here: at most only a tragic pathos
+in the fate of the innocent child-wife Pompilia. It is clear, therefore,
+that the greatness of "The Ring and the Book" must depend even less upon
+its subject, its motive, than upon its being "an extraordinary feat" in
+the gymnastics of verse.
+
+In a sense, Browning's longest work is akin to that of his wife. Both
+"The Ring and the Book" and "Aurora Leigh" are metrical novels. The one
+is discursive in episodes and spiritual experiences: the other in
+intricacies of evidence. But there the parallel ends. If "The Ring and
+the Book" were deflowered of its blooms of poetry and rendered into a
+prose narrative, it might interest a barrister "getting up" a criminal
+case, but it would be much inferior to, say, "The Moonstone"; its author
+would be insignificant beside the ingenious M. Gaboriau. The
+extraordinariness of the feat would then be but indifferently commented
+upon.
+
+As neither its subject, nor its extraordinariness as a feat, nor its
+method, will withstand a searching examination, we must endeavour to
+discern if transcendent poetic merit be discoverable in the treatment.
+To arrive at a just estimate it is needful to free the mind not merely
+from preconceptions, but from that niggardliness of insight which can
+perceive only the minor flaws and shortcomings almost inevitable to any
+vast literary achievement, and be blind to the superb merits. One must
+prepare oneself to listen to a new musician, with mind and body alert
+to the novel harmonies, and oblivious of what other musicians have done
+or refrained from doing.
+
+"The Ring and the Book," as I have said, was not begun in the year of
+its imagining.[15] It is necessary to anticipate the biographical
+narrative, and state that the finding of the parchment-booklet happened
+in the fourth year of the poet's widowerhood, for his happy married
+period of less than fifteen years came to a close in 1861.
+
+[Footnote 15: The title is explained as follows:--"The story of the
+Franceschini case, as Mr. Browning relates it, forms a circle of
+evidence to its one central truth; and this circle was constructed in
+the manner in which the worker in Etruscan gold prepares the ornamental
+circlet which will be worn as a ring. The pure metal is too soft to bear
+hammer or file; it must be mixed with alloy to gain the necessary power
+of resistance. The ring once formed and embossed, the alloy is
+disengaged, and a pure gold ornament remains. Mr. Browning's material
+was also inadequate to his purpose, though from a different cause. It
+was too _hard_. It was 'pure crude fact,' secreted from the fluid
+being of the men and women whose experience it had formed. In its existing
+state it would have broken up under the artistic attempt to weld and
+round it. He supplied an alloy, the alloy of fancy, or--as he also calls
+it--of one fact more: this fact being the echo of those past existences
+awakened within his own. He breathed into the dead record the breath of
+his own life; and when his ring of evidence had re-formed, first in
+elastic then in solid strength, here delicately incised, there broadly
+stamped with human thought and passion, he could cast fancy aside, and
+bid his readers recognise in what he set before them unadulterated human
+truth."--_Mrs. Orr_.]
+
+On the afternoon of the day on which he made his purchase he read the
+book from end to end. "A Spirit laughed and leapt through every limb."
+The midsummer heats had caused thunder-clouds to congregate above
+Vallombrosa and the whole valley of Arno: and the air in Florence was
+painfully sultry. The poet stood by himself on his terrace at Casa
+Guidi, and as he watched the fireflies wandering from the enclosed
+gardens, and the sheet-lightnings quivering through the heated
+atmosphere, his mind was busy in refashioning the old tale of loveless
+marriage and crime.
+
+                                            "Beneath
+      I' the street, quick shown by openings of the sky
+      When flame fell silently from cloud to cloud,
+      Richer than that gold snow Jove rained on Rhodes,
+      The townsmen walked by twos and threes, and talked,
+      Drinking the blackness in default of air--
+      A busy human sense beneath my feet:
+      While in and out the terrace-plants, and round
+      One branch of tall datura, waxed and waned
+      The lamp-fly lured there, wanting the white flower."
+
+Scene by scene was re-enacted, though of course only in certain
+essential details. The final food for the imagination was found in a
+pamphlet of which he came into possession of in London, where several
+important matters were given which had no place in the volume he had
+picked up in Florence.
+
+Much, far the greater part, of the first "book" is--interesting! It is
+mere verse. As verse, even, it is often so involved, so musicless
+occasionally, so banal now and again, so inartistic in colour as well as
+in form, that one would, having apprehended its explanatory interest,
+pass on without regret, were it not for the noble close--the passionate,
+out-welling lines to "the truest poet I have ever known," the beautiful
+soul who had given her all to him, whom, but four years before he wrote
+these words, he had laid to rest among the cypresses and ilexes of the
+old Florentine garden of the dead.
+
+     "O lyric Love, half angel and half bird
+      And all a wonder and a wild desire,--
+      Boldest of hearts that ever braved the sun,
+      Took sanctuary within the holier blue,
+      And sang a kindred soul out to his face,--
+      Yet human at the red-ripe of the heart--
+      When the first summons from the darkling earth
+      Reached thee amid thy chambers, blanched their blue,
+      And bared them of the glory--to drop down,
+      To toil for man, to suffer or to die,--
+      This is the same voice: can thy soul know change?
+      Hail then, and hearken from the realms of help!
+      Never may I commence my song, my due
+      To God who best taught song by gift of thee,
+      Except, with bent head and beseeching hand--
+      That still, despite the distance and the dark,
+      What was, again may be; some interchange
+      Of grace, some splendour once thy very thought,
+      Some benediction anciently thy smile:
+      --Never conclude, but raising hand and head
+      Thither where eyes, that cannot reach, yet yearn
+      For all hope, all sustainment, all reward,
+      Their utmost up and on,--so blessing back
+      In those thy realms of help, that heaven thy home,
+      Some whiteness which, I judge, thy face makes proud,
+      Some wanness where, I think, thy foot may fall!"
+             *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thereafter, for close upon five thousand words, the poem descends again
+to the level of a versified tale. It is saved from ruin by subtlety of
+intellect, striking dramatic verisimilitude, an extraordinary vigour,
+and occasional lines of real poetry. Retrospectively, apart from the
+interest, often strained to the utmost, most readers, I fancy, will
+recall with lingering pleasure only the opening of "The Other Half
+Rome," the description of Pompilia, "with the patient brow and
+lamentable smile," with flower-like body, in white hospital array--a
+child with eyes of infinite pathos, "whether a flower or weed, ruined:
+who did it shall account to Christ."
+
+In these three introductory books we have the view of the matter taken
+by those who side with Count Guido, of those who are all for Pompilia,
+and of the "superior person," impartial because superciliously
+indifferent, though sufficiently interested to "opine."
+
+In the ensuing three books a much higher poetic level is reached. In the
+first, Guido speaks; in the second, Caponsacchi; the third, that
+lustrous opal set midway in the "Ring," is Pompilia's narrative. Here
+the three protagonists live and move before our eyes. The sixth book may
+be said to be the heart of the whole poem. The extreme intellectual
+subtlety of Guido's plea stands quite unrivalled in poetic literature.
+In comparing it, for its poetic beauty, with other sections, the reader
+must bear in mind that in a poem of a dramatic nature the dramatic
+proprieties must be dominant. It would be obviously inappropriate to
+make Count Guido Franceschini speak with the dignity of the Pope, with
+the exquisite pathos of Pompilia, with the ardour, like suppressed
+molten lava, of Caponsacchi. The self-defence of the latter is a superb
+piece of dramatic writing. Once or twice the flaming volcano of his
+heart bursts upward uncontrollably, as when he cries--
+
+     "No, sirs, I cannot have the lady dead!
+      That erect form, flashing brow, fulgurant eye,
+      That voice immortal (oh, that voice of hers!)--
+      That vision of the pale electric sword
+      Angels go armed with--that was not the last
+      O' the lady. Come, I see through it, you find,
+      Know the manoeuvre! Also herself said
+      I had saved her: do you dare say she spoke false?
+      Let me see for myself if it be so!"
+
+Than the poignant pathos and beauty of "Pompilia," there is nothing more
+exquisite in our literature. It stands alone. Here at last we have the
+poet who is the Lancelot to Shakspere's Arthur. It takes a supreme
+effort of genius to be as simple as a child. How marvellously, after the
+almost sublime hypocrisy of the end of Guido's defence, after the
+beautiful dignity of Caponsacchi's closing words, culminating abruptly
+in the heart-wrung cry, "O great, just, good God! miserable me!"--how
+marvellously comes upon the reader the delicate, tearful tenderness of
+the innocent child-wife--
+
+     "I am just seventeen years and five months old,
+      And, if I lived one day more, three full weeks;
+      'Tis writ so in the church's register,
+      Lorenzo in Lucina, all my names
+      At length, so many names for one poor child,
+      --Francesca Camilla Vittoria Angela
+      Pompilia Comparini--laughable!"
+
+Only two writers of our age have depicted women with that imaginative
+insight which is at once more comprehensive and more illuminative than
+women's own invision of themselves--Robert Browning and George Meredith,
+but not even the latter, most subtle and delicate of all analysts of the
+tragi-comedy of human life, has surpassed "Pompilia." The meeting and
+the swift uprising of love between Lucy and Richard, in "The Ordeal of
+Richard Feveral," is, it is true, within the highest reach of prose
+romance: but between even the loftiest height of prose romance and the
+altitudes of poetry, there is an impassable gulf.
+
+And as it is with simplicity so it is with tenderness. Only the sternly
+strong can be supremely tender. And infinitely tender is the poetry of
+"Pompilia"--
+
+     "Oh, how good God is that my babe was born,
+      --Better than born, baptised and hid away
+      Before this happened, safe from being hurt!
+      That had been sin God could not well forgive:
+      _He was too young to smile and save himself_----"
+
+or the lines which tell how as a little girl she gave her roses not to
+the spick and span Madonna of the Church, but to the poor, dilapidated
+Virgin, "at our street-corner in a lonely niche," with the babe that had
+sat upon her knees broken off: or that passage, with its exquisite
+naïveté, where Pompilia relates why she called her boy Gaetano, because
+she wished "no old name for sorrow's sake," so chose the latest addition
+to the saints, elected only twenty-five years before--
+
+                          "So, carefuller, perhaps,
+      To guard a namesake than those old saints grow,
+      Tired out by this time,--see my own five saints!"
+
+or these--
+
+                            "Thus, all my life,
+      I touch a fairy thing that fades and fades.
+      --Even to my babe! I thought, when he was born,
+      Something began for once that would not end,
+      Nor change into a laugh at me, but stay
+      For evermore, eternally quite mine----"
+
+once more--
+
+                           "One cannot judge
+      Of what has been the ill or well of life
+      The day that one is dying....
+      Now it is over, and no danger more ...
+      To me at least was never evening yet
+      But seemed far beautifuller than its day,
+      For past is past----"
+
+Lovely, again, are the lines in which she speaks of the first "thrill of
+dawn's suffusion through her dark," the "light of the unborn face sent
+long before:" or those unique lines of the starved soul's Spring (ll.
+1512-27): or those, of the birth of her little one--
+
+     "A whole long fortnight; in a life like mine
+      A fortnight filled with bliss is long and much.
+      All women are not mothers of a boy....
+      I never realised God's birth before--
+      How he grew likest God in being born.
+      This time I felt like Mary, had my babe
+      Lying a little on my breast like hers."
+
+When she has weariedly, yet with surpassing triumph, sighed out her last
+words--
+
+     "God stooping shows sufficient of His light
+      For us i' the dark to rise by. And I rise----"
+
+who does not realise that to life's end he shall not forget that
+plaintive voice, so poignantly sweet, that ineffable dying smile, those
+wistful eyes with so much less of earth than heaven?
+
+But the two succeeding "books" are more tiresome and more unnecessary
+than the most inferior of the three opening sections--the first of the
+two, indeed, is intolerably wearisome, a desolate boulder-strewn gorge
+after the sweet air and sunlit summits of "Caponsacchi" and "Pompilia."
+In the next "book" Innocent XII. is revealed. All this section has a
+lofty serenity, unsurpassed in its kind. It must be read from first to
+last for its full effect, but I may excerpt one passage, the high-water
+mark of modern blank-verse:--
+
+     "For the main criminal I have no hope
+      Except in such a suddenness of fate.
+      I stood at Naples once, a night so dark
+      I could have scarce conjectured there was earth
+      Anywhere, sky or sea or world at all:
+      But the night's black was burst through by a blaze--
+      Thunder struck blow on blow, earth groaned and bore,
+      Through her whole length of mountain visible:
+      There lay the city thick and plain with spires,
+      And, like a ghost disshrouded, white the sea.
+      So may the truth be flashed out by one blow,
+      And Guido see, one instant, and be saved."
+
+Finally comes that throbbing, terrible last "book" where the murderer
+finds himself brought to bay and knows that all is lost. Who can forget
+its unparalleled close, when the wolf-like Guido suddenly, in his
+supreme agony, transcends his lost manhood in one despairing cry--
+
+     "Abate,--Cardinal,--Christ,--Maria,--God, ...
+      Pompilia, will you let them murder me?"
+
+Lastly, the Epilogue rounds off the tale. But is this Epilogue
+necessary? Surely the close should have come with the words just quoted?
+
+It will not be after a first perusal that the reader will be able to
+arrive at a definite conviction. No individual or collective estimate of
+to-day can be accepted as final. Those who come after us, perhaps not
+the next generation, nor the next again, will see "The Ring and the
+Book" free of all the manifold and complex considerations which confuse
+our judgment. Meanwhile, each can only speak for himself. To me it seems
+that "The Ring and the Book" is, regarded as an artistic whole, the most
+magnificent failure in our literature. It enshrines poetry which no
+other than our greatest could have written; it has depths to which many
+of far inferior power have not descended. Surely the poem must be judged
+by the balance of its success and failure? It is in no presumptuous
+spirit, but out of my profound admiration of this long-loved and
+often-read, this superb poem, that I, for one, wish it comprised but the
+Prologue, the Plea of Guido, "Caponsacchi," "Pompilia," "The Pope," and
+Guido's last Defence. I cannot help thinking that this is the form in
+which it will be read in the years to come. Thus circumscribed, it seems
+to me to be rounded and complete, a great work of art void of the dross,
+the mere _débris_ which the true artist discards. But as it is, in all
+its lordly poetic strength and flagging impulse, is it not, after all,
+the true climacteric of Browning's genius?
+
+"The Inn Album," a dramatic poem of extraordinary power, has so much
+more markedly the defects of his qualities that I take it to be, at the
+utmost, the poise of the first gradual refluence. This analogy of the
+tidal ebb and flow may be observed with singular aptness in Browning's
+life-work--the tide that first moved shoreward in the loveliness of
+"Pauline," and, with "long withdrawing roar," ebbed in slow, just
+perceptible lapse to the poet's penultimate volume. As for "Asolando," I
+would rather regard it as the gathering of a new wave--nay, again
+rather, as the deep sound of ocean which the outward surge has reached.
+
+But for myself I do not accept "The Inn Album" as the first hesitant
+swing of the tide. I seem to hear the resilient undertone all through
+the long slow poise of "The Ring and the Book." Where then is the full
+splendour and rush of the tide, where its culminating reach and power?
+
+I should say in "Men and Women"; and by "Men and Women" I mean not
+merely the poems comprised in the collection so entitled, but all in the
+"Dramatic Romances," "Lyrics," and the "Dramatis Personæ," all the short
+pieces of a certain intensity of note and quality of power, to be found
+in the later volumes, from "Pacchiarotto" to "Asolando."
+
+And this because, in the words of the poet himself when speaking of
+Shelley, I prefer to look for the highest attainment, not simply the
+high--and, seeing it, to hold by it. Yet I am not oblivious of the mass
+of Browning's lofty achievement, "to be known enduringly among men,"--an
+achievement, even on its secondary level, so high, that around its
+imperfect proportions, "the most elaborated productions of ordinary art
+must arrange themselves as inferior illustrations."
+
+How am I to convey concisely that which it would take a volume to do
+adequately--an idea of the richest efflorescence of Browning's genius in
+these unfading blooms which we will agree to include in "Men and
+Women"? How better--certainly it would be impossible to be more
+succinct--than by the enumeration of the contents of an imagined volume,
+to be called, say "Transcripts from Life"?
+
+It would be to some extent, but not rigidly, arranged chronologically.
+It would begin with that masterpiece of poetic concision, where a whole
+tragedy is burned in upon the brain in fifty-six lines, "My Last
+Duchess." Then would follow "In a Gondola," that haunting lyrical drama
+_in petto_, where the lover is stabbed to death as his heart is
+beating against that of his mistress; "Cristina," with its keen
+introspection; those delightfully stirring pieces, the "Cavalier-Tunes,"
+"Through the Metidja to Abd-el-Kadr," and "The Pied Piper of Hamelin";
+"The Flower's Name"; "The Flight of the Duchess"; "The Tomb at St.
+Praxed's," the poem which educed Ruskin's enthusiastic praise for its
+marvellous apprehension of the spirit of the Middle Ages; "Pictor Ignotus,"
+and "The Lost Leader." But as there is not space for individual detail, and
+as many of the more important are spoken of elsewhere in this volume, I
+must take the reader's acquaintance with the poems for granted. So,
+following those first mentioned, there would come "Home Thoughts from
+Abroad"; "Home Thoughts from the Sea"; "The Confessional"; "The
+Heretic's Tragedy"; "Earth's Immortalities"; "Meeting at Night: Parting
+at Morning"; "Saul"; "Karshish"; "A Death in the Desert"; "Rabbi Ben
+Ezra"; "A Grammarian's Funeral"; "Love Among the Ruins"; _Song_, "Nay
+but you"; "A Lover's Quarrel"; "Evelyn Hope"; "A Woman's Last Word";
+"Fra Lippo Lippi"; "By the Fireside"; "Any Wife to Any Husband"; "A
+Serenade at the Villa"; "My Star"; "A Pretty Woman"; "A Light Woman";
+"Love in a Life"; "Life in a Love"; "The Last Ride Together"; "A Toccata
+of Galuppi's"; "Master Hugues of Saxe Gotha"; "Abt Vogler";
+"Memorabilia"; "Andrea Del Sarto"; "Before"; "After"; "In Three Days";
+"In a Year"; "Old Pictures in Florence"; "De Gustibus"; "Women and
+Roses"; "The Guardian Angel"; "Cleon"; "Two in the Campagna"; "One Way
+of Love"; "Another Way of Love"; "Misconceptions"; "May and Death";
+"James Lee's Wife"; "Dîs Aliter Visum"; "Too Late"; "Confessions";
+"Prospice"; "Youth and Art"; "A Face"; "A Likeness"; "Apparent Failure."
+Epilogue to Part I.--"O Lyric Voice," etc., from end of First Part of
+"The Ring and the Book." Part II.--"Hervé Riel"; "Amphibian"; "Epilogue
+to Fifine"; "Pisgah Sights"; "Natural Magic"; "Magical Nature";
+"Bifurcation"; "Numpholeptos"; "Appearances"; "St. Martin's Summer"; "A
+Forgiveness"; Epilogue to Pacchiarotto volume; Prologue to "La Saisiaz";
+Prologue to "Two Poets of Croisic"; "Epilogue"; "Pheidippides";
+"Halbert and Hob"; "Ivàn Ivànovitch"; "Echetlos"; "Muléykeh"; "Pan and
+Luna"; "Touch him ne'er so lightly"; Prologue to "Jocoseria"; "Cristina
+and Monaldeschi"; "Mary Wollstonecraft and Fuseli"; "Ixion"; "Never the
+Time and the Place"; _Song_, "Round us the wild creatures ";
+_Song_, "Wish no word unspoken "; _Song_, "You groped your way";
+_Song_:, "Man I am"; _Song_, "Once I saw"; "Verse-making";
+"Not with my Soul Love"; "Ask not one least word of praise"; "Why from
+the world"; "The Round of Day" (Pts. 9, 10, 11, 12 of Gérard de Lairesse);
+Prologue to "Asolando"; "Rosny"; "Now"; "Poetics"; "Summum Bonum";
+"A Pearl"; "Speculative"; "Inapprehensiveness"; "The Lady and the Painter;"
+"Beatrice Signorini"; "Imperante Augusto"; "Rephan"; "Reverie";
+Epilogue to "Asolando" (in all, 122).
+
+But having drawn up this imaginary anthology, possibly with faults of
+commission and probably with worse errors of omission, I should like to
+take the reader into my confidence concerning a certain volume,
+originally compiled for my own pleasure, though not without thought of
+one or two dear kinsmen of a scattered Brotherhood--a volume half the
+size of the projected Transcripts, and rare as that star in the tip of
+the moon's horn of which Coleridge speaks.
+
+_Flower o' the Vine_, so it is called, has for double-motto these two
+lines from the Epilogue to the Pacchiarotto volume--
+
+     "Man's thoughts and loves and hates!
+      Earth is my vineyard, these grew there--"
+
+and these words, already quoted, from the Shelley Essay, "I prefer to
+look for the highest attainment, not simply the high."
+
+1. From "Pauline"[16]--i. "Sun-treader, life and light be thine for
+ever!" 2. The Dawn of Beauty; 3. Andromeda; 4. Morning. II. "Heap
+Cassia, Sandal-buds," etc. (song from "Paracelsus"). III. "Over the Sea
+our Galleys went" (song from "Paracelsus"). IV. The Joy of the World
+("Paracelsus").[17] V. From "Sordello"--1. Sunset;[18] 2. The Fugitive
+Ethiop;[19] 3. Dante.[20] VI. Ottima and Sebald (Pt. i., "Pippa
+Passes"). VII. Jules and Phene (Pt. ii., "Pippa Passes"). VIII. My Last
+Duchess. IX. In a Gondola. X. Home Thoughts from Abroad (i. and ii.).
+XI. Meeting at Night: Parting at Morning. XII. A Grammarian's Funeral.
+XIII. Saul. XIV. Rabbi Ben Ezra. XV. Love among the Ruins. XVI. Evelyn
+Hope. XVII. My Star. XVIII. A Toccata of Galuppi's. XIX. Abt Vogler. XX.
+Memorabilia. XXI. Andrea del Sarto. XXI. Two in the Campagna. XXII.
+James Lee's Wife. XXIII. Prospice. XXIV. From "The Ring and the
+Book"--1. O Lyric Love (The Invocation: 26 lines); 2. Caponsacchi (ll.
+2069 to 2103); 3. Pompilia (ll. 181 to 205); 4. Pompilia (ll. 1771 to
+1845); 5. The Pope (ll. 2017 to 2228); 6. Count Guido (Book XI., ll.
+2407 to 2427). XXV. Prologue to "La Saisiaz." XXVI. Prologue to "Two
+Poets of Croisic." XXVII. Epilogue to "Two Poets of Croisic." XXVIII.
+Never the Time and Place. XXIX. "Round us the Wild Creatures," etc.
+(song from "Ferishtah's Fancies"). XXX. "The Walk" (Pts. ix., x., xi.,
+xii., of "Gérard de Lairesse.") XXXI. "One word more" (To E.B.B.).[21]
+
+[Footnote 16: The first, from the line quoted, extends through 55
+lines--"To see thee for a moment as thou art." No. 2 consists of the
+xviii ll. beginning, "They came to me in my first dawn of life." No. 3,
+the xi ll. of the Andromeda picture. No. 4, the lix ll. beginning,
+"Night, and one single ridge of narrow path" (to "delight").]
+
+[Footnote 17: No. IV. comprises the xxix ll. beginning, "The centre fire
+heaves underneath the earth," down to "ancient rapture."]
+
+[Footnote 18: No. V. The vi. ll. beginning, "That autumn ere has stilled."]
+
+[Footnote 19: The xxii ll. beginning, "As, shall I say, some Ethiop."]
+
+[Footnote 20: The xxix ll. beginning, "For he,--for he."]
+
+[Footnote 21: To these XXXI selections there must now be added "Now,"
+"Summum Bonum," "Reverie" and the "Epilogue," from "Asolando."]
+
+It is here--I will not say in _Flower o' the Vine_, nor even venture
+to restrictively affirm it of that larger and fuller compilation we have
+agreed, for the moment, to call "Transcripts from Life"--it is here, in
+the worthiest poems of Browning's most poetic period, that, it seems to
+me, his highest greatness is to be sought. In these "Men and Women" he
+is, in modern times, an unparalleled dramatic poet. The influence he
+exercises through these, and the incalculably cumulative influence which
+will leaven many generations to come, is not to be looked for in
+individuals only, but in the whole thought of the age, which he has
+moulded to new form, animated anew, and to which he has imparted a fresh
+stimulus. For this a deep debt is due to Robert Browning. But over and
+above this shaping force, this manipulative power upon character and
+thought, he has enriched our language, our literature, with a new wealth
+of poetic diction, has added to it new symbols, has enabled us to inhale
+a more liberal if an unfamiliar air, has, above all, raised us to a
+fresh standpoint, a standpoint involving our construction of a new
+definition.
+
+Here, at least, we are on assured ground: here, at any rate, we realise
+the scope and quality of his genius. But, let me hasten to add, he, at
+his highest, not being of those who would make Imagination the handmaid
+of the Understanding, has given us also a Dorado of pure poetry, of
+priceless worth. Tried by the severest tests, not merely of substance,
+but of form, not merely of the melody of high thinking, but of rare and
+potent verbal music, the larger number of his "Men and Women" poems are
+as treasurable acquisitions, in kind, to our literature, as the shorter
+poems of Milton, of Shelley, of Keats, and of Tennyson. But once again,
+and finally, let me repeat that his primary importance--not greatness,
+but importance--is in having forced us to take up a novel standpoint,
+involving our construction of a new definition.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+There are, in literary history, few _scènes de la vie privée_ more
+affecting than that of the greatest of English poetesses, in the
+maturity of her first poetic period, lying, like a fading flower, for
+hours, for days continuously, in a darkened room in a London house. So
+ill was Miss Elizabeth Barrett, early in the second half of the forties,
+that few friends, herself even, could venture to hope for a single one
+of those Springs which she previsioned so longingly. To us, looking back
+at this period, in the light of what we know of a story of singular
+beauty, there is an added pathos in the circumstance that, as the singer
+of so many exquisite songs lay on her invalid's sofa, dreaming of things
+which, as she thought, might never be, all that was loveliest in her
+life was fast approaching--though, like all joy, not without an equally
+unlooked-for sorrow. "I lived with visions for my company, instead of
+men and women ... nor thought to know a sweeter music than they played
+to me."
+
+This is not the occasion, and if it were, there would still be
+imperative need for extreme concision, whereon to dwell upon the early
+life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The particulars of it are familiar
+to all who love English literature: for there is, in truth, not much to
+tell--not much, at least, that can well be told. It must suffice, here,
+that Miss Barrett was born on the 4th of March 1809, and so was the
+senior, by three years, of Robert Browning.
+
+By 1820, in remote Herefordshire, the not yet eleven-year-old poetess
+had already "cried aloud on obsolete Muses from childish lips" in
+various "nascent odes, epics, and didactics." At this time, she tells
+us, the Greeks were her demi-gods, and she dreamt much of Agamemnon. In
+the same year, in suburban Camberwell, a little boy was often wont to
+listen eagerly to his father's narrative of the same hero, and to all
+the moving tale of Troy. It is significant that these two children, so
+far apart, both with the light of the future upon their brows, grew up
+in familiarity with something of the antique beauty. It was a lifelong
+joy to both, that "serene air of Greece." Many an hour of gloom was
+charmed away by it for the poetess who translated the "Prometheus Bound"
+of Æschylus, and wrote "The Dead Pan": many a happy day and memorable
+night were spent in that "beloved environment" by the poet who wrote
+"Balaustion's Adventure" and translated the "Agamemnon."
+
+The chief sorrow of her life, however, occurred in her thirty-first
+year. She never quite recovered from the shock of her well-loved brother
+Edward's tragic death, a mysterious disaster, for the foundering of the
+little yacht _La Belle Sauvage_ is almost as inexplicable as that of
+the _Ariel_ in the Spezzian waters beyond Lerici. Not only through the
+ensuing winter, but often in the dreams of after years, "the sound of
+the waves rang in my ears like the moans of one dying."
+
+The removal of the Barrett household to Gloucester Place, in Western
+London, was a great event. Here, invalid though she was, she could see
+friends occasionally and get new books constantly. Her name was well
+known and became widely familiar when her "Cry of the Children" rang
+like a clarion throughout the country. The poem was founded upon an
+official report by Richard Hengist Horne, the friend whom some years
+previously she had won in correspondence, and with whom she had become
+so intimate, though without personal acquaintance, that she had agreed
+to write a drama in collaboration with him, to be called "Psyche
+Apocalypté," and to be modelled on "Greek instead of modern tragedy."
+
+Horne--a poet of genius, and a dramatist of remarkable power--was one of
+the truest friends she ever had, and, so far as her literary life is
+concerned, came next in influence only to her poet-husband. Among the
+friends she saw much of in the early forties was a distant "cousin,"
+John Kenyon--a jovial, genial, gracious, and altogether delightful man,
+who acted the part of Providence to many troubled souls, and, in
+particular, was "a fairy godfather" to Elizabeth Barrett and to "the
+other poet," as he used to call Browning. It was to Mr. Kenyon--"Kenyon,
+with the face of a Bendectine monk, but the most jovial of good
+fellows," as a friend has recorded of him; "Kenyon the Magnificent," as
+he was called by Browning--that Miss Barrett owed her first introduction
+to the poetry of her future husband.
+
+Browning's poetry had for her an immediate appeal. With sure insight she
+discerned the special quality of the poetic wealth of the "Bells and
+Pomegranates," among which she then and always cared most for the
+penultimate volume, the "Dramatic Romances and Lyrics." Two years before
+she met the author she had written, in "Lady Geraldine's Courtship"--
+
+     "Or from Browning some 'Pomegranate' which, if cut deep down
+           the middle,
+      Shows a heart within blood-tinctured, of a veined humanity."
+
+A little earlier she had even, unwittingly on either side, been a
+collaborateur with "the author of 'Paracelsus.'" She gave Horne much aid
+in the preparation of his "New Spirit of the Age," and he has himself
+told us "that the mottoes, which are singularly happy and appropriate,
+were for the most part supplied by Miss Barrett and Robert Browning,
+then unknown to each other." One thing and another drew them nearer and
+nearer. Now it was a poem, now a novel expression, now a rare sympathy.
+
+An intermittent correspondence ensued, and both poets became anxious to
+know each other. "We artists--how well praise agrees with us," as Balzac
+says.
+
+A few months later, in 1846, they came to know one another personally.
+The story of their first meeting, which has received a wide acceptance,
+is apocryphal. The meeting was brought about by Kenyon. This common
+friend had been a schoolfellow of Browning's father, and so it was
+natural that he took a more than ordinary interest in the brilliant
+young poet, perhaps all the more so that the reluctant tide of
+popularity which had promised to set in with such unparalleled sweep and
+weight had since experienced a steady ebb.
+
+And so the fates brought these two together. The younger was already far
+the stronger, but he had an unbounded admiration for Miss Barrett. To
+her, he was even then the chief living poet. She perceived his ultimate
+greatness; as early as 1845 had "a full faith in him as poet and
+prophet."
+
+As Browning admitted to a friend, the love between them was almost
+instantaneous, a thing of the eyes, mind, and heart--each striving for
+supremacy, till all were gratified equally in a common joy. They had one
+bond of sterling union: passion for the art to which both had devoted
+their lives.
+
+To those who love love for love's sake, who _se passionnent pour la
+passion_, as Prosper Merimée says, there could scarce be a more sacred
+spot in London than that fiftieth house in unattractive Wimpole Street,
+where these two poets first met each other; and where, in the darkened
+room, "Love quivered, an invisible flame." Elizabeth Barrett was indeed,
+in her own words, "as sweet as Spring, as Ocean deep." She, too, was
+always, as she wrote of Harriet Martineau, in a hopeless anguish of body
+and serene triumph of spirit. As George Sand says, of one of her
+fictitious personages, she was an "artist to the backbone; that is, one
+who feels life with frightful intensity." To this too keen intensity of
+feeling must be attributed something of that longing for repose, that
+deep craving for rest from what is too exciting from within, which made
+her affirm the exquisite appeal to her of such Biblical passages as "The
+Lord of peace Himself give you peace," and "He giveth His Beloved
+Sleep," which, as she says in one of her numerous letters to Miss
+Mitford, "strike upon the disquieted earth with such a _foreignness_
+of heavenly music."
+
+Nor was he whom she loved as a man, as well as revered as a poet,
+unworthy of her. His was the robustest poetic intellect of the century;
+his the serenest outlook; his, almost the sole unfaltering footsteps
+along the perilous ways of speculative thought. A fair life, irradiate
+with fairer ideals, conserved his native integrity from that incongruity
+between practice and precept so commonly exemplified. Comely in all
+respects, with his black-brown wavy hair, finely-cut features, ready and
+winsome smile, alert luminous eyes, quick, spontaneous, expressive
+gestures--an inclination of the head, a lift of the eyebrows, a
+modulation of the lips, an assertive or deprecatory wave of the hand,
+conveying so much--and a voice at that time of a singular penetrating
+sweetness, he was, even without that light of the future upon his
+forehead which she was so swift to discern, a man to captivate any woman
+of kindred nature and sympathies. Over and above these advantages, he
+possessed a rare quality of physical magnetism. By virtue of this he
+could either attract irresistibly or strongly repel.
+
+I have several times heard people state that a hand-shake from Browning
+was like an electric shock. Truly enough, it did seem as though his
+sterling nature rang in his genially dominant voice, and, again, as
+though his voice transmitted instantaneous waves of an electric current
+through every nerve of what, for want of a better phrase, I must
+perforce call his intensely alive hand. I remember once how a lady,
+afflicted with nerves, in the dubious enjoyment of her first experience
+of a "literary afternoon," rose hurriedly and, in reply to her hostess'
+inquiry as to her motive, explained that she could not sit any longer
+beside the elderly gentleman who was talking to Mrs. So-and-so, as his
+near presence made her quiver all over, "like a mild attack of
+pins-and-needles," as she phrased it. She was chagrined to learn that
+she had been discomposed not by 'a too exuberant financier,' as she had
+surmised, but by, as "Waring" called Browning, the "subtlest assertor of
+the Soul in song."
+
+With the same quick insight as she had perceived Robert Browning's
+poetic greatness, Elizabeth Barrett discerned his personal worth. He was
+essentially manly in all respects: so manly, that many frail souls of
+either sex philandered about his over-robustness. From the twilight
+gloom of an æesthetic clique came a small voice belittling the great man
+as "quite too 'loud,' painfully excessive." Browning was manly enough to
+laugh at all ghoulish cries of any kind whatsoever. Once in a way the
+lion would look round and by a raised breath make the jackals wriggle;
+as when the poet wrote to a correspondent, who had drawn his attention
+to certain abusive personalities in some review or newspaper: "Dear
+Sir--I am sure you mean very kindly, but I have had too long an
+experience of the inability of the human goose to do other than cackle
+when benevolent and hiss when malicious, and no amount of goose
+criticism shall make me lift a heel against what waddles behind it."
+
+Herself one whose happiest experiences were in dreamland, Miss Barrett
+was keenly susceptible to the strong humanity of Browning's song, nor
+less keenly attracted by his strenuous and fearless outlook, his poetic
+practicality, and even by his bluntness of insight in certain matters.
+It was no slight thing to her that she could, in Mr. Lowell's words, say
+of herself and of him--
+
+     "We, who believe life's bases rest
+      Beyond the probe of chemic test."
+
+She rejoiced, despite her own love for remote imaginings, to know that
+he was of those who (to quote again from the same fine poet)
+
+     "... wasted not their breath in schemes
+      Of what man might be in some bubble-sphere,
+      As if he must be other than he seems
+      Because he was not what he should be here,
+      Postponing Time's slow proof to petulant dreams;"
+
+that, in a word, while 'he could believe the promise of to-morrow,' he
+was at the same time supremely conscious of 'the wondrous meaning of
+to-day.'
+
+Both, from their youth onward, had travelled 'on trails divine of
+unimagined laws.' It was sufficient for her that he kept his eyes fixed
+on the goal beyond the way he followed: it did not matter that he was
+blind to the dim adumbrations of novel byways, of strange Calvarys by
+the wayside, so often visible to her.
+
+Their first meeting was speedily followed by a second--by a third--and
+then? When we know not, but ere long, each found that happiness was in
+the bestowal of the other.
+
+The secret was for some time kept absolutely private. From the first Mr.
+Barrett had been jealous of his beloved daughter's new friend. He did
+not care much for the man, he with all the prejudices and baneful
+conservatism of the slave-owning planter, the other with ardent
+democratic sentiments and a detestation of all forms of iniquity. Nor
+did he understand the poet. He could read his daughter's flowing verse
+with pleasure, but there was to his ear a mere jumble of sound and sense
+in much of the work of the author of "The Tomb at St. Praxed's" and
+"Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis." Of a selfishly genial but also of a
+violent and often sullen nature, he resented more and more any
+friendship which threatened to loosen the chain of affection and
+association binding his daughter to himself.
+
+Both the lovers believed that an immediate marriage would, from every
+point of view, be best. It was not advisable that it should be long
+delayed, if to happen at all, for the health of Miss Barrett was so poor
+that another winter in London might, probably would, mean irretrievable
+harm.
+
+Some time before this she had become acquainted with Mrs. Jameson, the
+eminent art-writer. The regard, which quickly developed to an
+affectionate esteem, was mutual. One September morning Mrs. Jameson
+called, and after having dwelt on the gloom and peril of another winter
+in London, dwelt on the magic of Italy, and concluded by inviting Miss
+Barrett to accompany her in her own imminent departure for abroad. The
+poet was touched and grateful, but, pointing to her invalid sofa, and
+gently emphasising her enfeebled health and other difficult
+circumstances, excused herself from acceptance of Mrs. Jameson's
+generous offer.
+
+In the "Memoirs of Mrs. Jameson" that lady's niece, Mrs. Macpherson,
+relates how on the eve of her and her aunt's departure, a little note of
+farewell arrived from Miss Barrett, "deploring the writer's inability
+to come in person and bid her friend good-bye, as she was 'forced to be
+satisfied with the sofa and silence.'"
+
+It is easy to understand, therefore, with what amazement Mrs. Jameson,
+shortly after her arrival in Paris, received a letter from Robert
+Browning to the effect that he _and his wife_ had just come from
+London, on their way to Italy. "My aunt's surprise was something almost
+comical," writes Mrs. Macpherson, "so startling and entirely unexpected
+was the news." And duly married indeed the two poets had been!
+
+From the moment the matter was mooted to Mr. Barrett, he evinced his
+repugnance to the idea. To him even the most foolish assertion of his
+own was a sacred pledge. He called it "pride in his word": others
+recognised it as the very arrogance of obstinacy. He refused to
+countenance the marriage in any way, refused to have Browning's name
+mentioned in his presence, and even when his daughter told him that she
+had definitely made up her mind, he flatly declined to acknowledge as
+even possible what was indeed very imminent.
+
+Nor did he ever step down from his ridiculous pinnacle of wounded
+self-love. Favourite daughter though she had been, Mr. Barrett never
+forgave her, held no communication with her even when she became a
+mother, and did not mention her in his will. It is needless to say
+anything more upon this subject. What Mr. and Mrs. Browning were
+invariably reticent upon can well be passed over with mere mention of
+the facts.
+
+At the last moment there had been great hurry and confusion. But
+nevertheless, on the forenoon of the 12th of September 1846, Robert
+Browning and Elizabeth Barrett had unceremoniously stepped into St.
+Maryle-bone Church and there been married. So secret had the matter been
+kept that even such old friends as Richard Hengist Horne and Mr. Kenyon
+were in ignorance of the event for some time after it had actually
+occurred.
+
+Mrs. Jameson made all haste to the hotel where the Brownings were, and
+ultimately persuaded them to leave the hotel for the quieter _pension_
+in the Rue Ville d'Evêque, where she and Mrs. Macpherson were staying.
+Thereafter it was agreed that, as soon as a fortnight had gone by, they
+should journey to Italy together.
+
+Truly enough, as Mrs. Macpherson says, the journey must have been
+"enchanting, made in such companionship." Before departing from Paris,
+Mrs. Jameson, in writing to a friend, alluded to her unexpected
+companions, and added, "Both excellent: but God help them! for I know
+not how the two poet heads and poet hearts will get on through this
+prosaic world." This kindly friend was not the only person who
+experienced similar doubts. One acquaintance, no other than the
+Poet-Laureate, Wordsworth, added: "So, Robert Browning and Elizabeth
+Barrett have gone off together! Well, I hope they may understand each
+other--nobody else could!"
+
+As a matter of fact they did, and to such good intent that they seem
+never to have had one hour of dissatisfaction, never one jar in the
+music of their lives.
+
+What a happy wayfaring through France that must have been! The
+travelling had to be slow, and with frequent interruptions, on account
+of Mrs. Browning's health: yet she steadily improved, and was almost
+from the start able to take more exercise, and to be longer in the open
+air than had for long been her wont. They passed southward, and after
+some novel experiences in _diligences_, reached Avignon, where they
+rested for a couple of days. Thence a little expedition, a poetical
+pilgrimage, was made to Vaucluse, sacred to the memory of Petrarch and
+Laura. There, as Mrs. Macpherson has told us, at the very source of the
+"chiare, fresche e dolce acque," Browning took his wife up in his arms,
+and, carrying her across through the shallow curling waters, seated her
+on a rock that rose throne-like in the middle of the stream. Thus,
+indeed, did love and poetry take a new possession of the spot
+immortalised by Petrarch's loving fancy.
+
+Three weeks passed happily before Pisa, the Brownings' destination, was
+reached. But even then the friends were unwilling to part, and Mrs.
+Jameson and her niece remained in the deserted old city for a score of
+days longer. So wonderful was the change wrought in Mrs. Browning by
+happiness, and by all the enfranchisement her marriage meant for her,
+that, as her friend wrote to Miss Mitford, "she is not merely improved
+but transformed." In the new sunshine which had come into her life, she
+blossomed like a flower-bud long delayed by gloom and chill. Her heart,
+in truth, was like a lark when wafted skyward by the first spring-wind.
+
+At last to her there had come something of that peace she had longed
+for, and though, in the joy of her new life, her genius "like an Arab
+bird slept floating in the wind," it was with that restful hush which
+precedes the creative storm. There is something deeply pathetic in her
+conscious joy. So little actual experience of life had been hers that in
+many respects she was as a child: and she had all the child's yearning
+for those unsullied hours that never come when once they are missed. But
+it was not till love unfastened the inner chambers of her heart and
+brain that she realised to the full, what she had often doubted, how
+supreme a thing mere life is. It was in some such mood that she wrote
+the lovely forty-second of the "Sonnets from the Portuguese," closing
+thus--
+
+                            "Let us stay
+      Rather on earth, Belovèd,--where the unfit
+      Contrarious moods of men recoil away
+      And isolate pure spirits, and permit
+      A place to stand and love in for a day,
+      With darkness and the death-hour rounding it."
+
+As for Browning's love towards his wife, nothing more tender and
+chivalrous has ever been told of ideal lovers in an ideal romance. It is
+so beautiful a story that one often prefers it to the sweetest or
+loftiest poem that came from the lips of either. That love knew no
+soilure in the passage of the years. Like the flame of oriental legend,
+it was perennially incandescent though fed not otherwise than by
+sunlight and moonshine. If it alone survive, it may resolve the poetic
+fame of either into one imperishable, luminous ray of white light: as
+the uttered song fused in the deathless passion of Sappho gleams
+star-like down the centuries from the high steep of Leucadoe.
+
+It was here, in Pisa, I have been told on indubitable authority, that
+Browning first saw in manuscript those "Sonnets from the Portuguese"
+which no poet of Portugal had ever written, which no man could have
+written, which no other woman than his wife could have composed. From
+the time when it had first dawned upon her that love was to be hers, and
+that the laurel of poetry was not to be her sole coronal, she had found
+expression for her exquisite trouble in these short poems, which she
+thinly disguised from 'inner publicity' when she issued them as "from
+the Portuguese."
+
+It is pleasant to think of the shy delight with which the delicate,
+flower-like, almost ethereal poet-wife, in those memorable Pisan
+evenings--with the wind blowing soundingly from the hills of Carrara, or
+quiescent in a deep autumnal calm broken only by the slow wash of Arno
+along the sea-mossed long-deserted quays--showed her love-poems to her
+husband. With what love and pride he must have read those outpourings of
+the most sensitive and beautiful nature he had ever met, vials of lovely
+thought and lovelier emotion, all stored against the coming of a golden
+day.
+
+     "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
+      I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
+      My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
+      For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
+      I love thee to the level of every day's
+      Most quiet need, by sun and candle light.
+      I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
+      I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
+      I love thee with the passion put to use
+      In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
+      I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
+      With my lost saints,--I love thee with the breath,
+      Smiles, tears, of all my life!--and, if God choose,
+      I shall but love thee better after Death!"
+
+Even such heart-music as this cannot have thrilled him more than these
+two exquisite lines, with their truth almost too poignant to permit of
+serene joy--
+
+     "I yield the grave for thy sake, and exchange
+      My near sweet view of heaven for earth with thee!"
+
+Their Pisan home was amid sacred associations. It was situate in an old
+palazzo built by Vasari, within sight of the Leaning Tower and the
+Duomo. There, in absolute seclusion, they wrote and planned. Once and
+again they made a pilgrimage to the Lanfranchi Palace "to walk in the
+footsteps of Byron and Shelley": occasionally they went to Vespers in
+the Duomo, and listened, rapt, to the music wandering spirally through
+the vast solitary building: once they were fortunate in hearing the
+impressive musical mass for the dead, in the Campo Santo. They were even
+reminded often of their distant friend Horne, for every time they
+crossed one of the chief piazzas they saw the statue of Cosimo de Medici
+looking down upon them.
+
+In this beautiful old city, so full of repose as it lies "asleep in the
+sun," Mrs. Browning's health almost leapt, so swift was her advance
+towards vigour. "She is getting better every day," wrote her husband,
+"stronger, better wonderfully, and beyond all our hopes."
+
+That happy first winter they passed "in the most secluded manner,
+reading Vasari, and dreaming dreams of seeing Venice in the summer." But
+early in April, when the swallows had flown inland above the pines of
+Viareggio, and Shelley's favourite little Aziola was hooting silverly
+among the hollow vales of Carrara, the two poets prepared to leave what
+the frailer of them called "this perch of Pisa."
+
+But with all its charm and happy associations, the little city was dull.
+"Even human faces divine are quite _rococo_ with me," Mrs. Browning
+wrote to a friend. The change to Florence was a welcome one to both.
+Browning had already been there, but to his wife it was as the
+fulfilment of a dream. They did not at first go to that romantic old
+palace which will be for ever sociate with the author of "Casa Guidi
+Windows," but found accommodation in a more central locality.
+
+When the June heats came, husband and wife both declared for Ancona, the
+picturesque little town which dreams out upon the Adriatic. But though
+so close to the sea, Ancona is in summer time almost insufferably hot.
+Instead of finding it cooler than Florence, it was as though they had
+leapt right into a cauldron. Alluding to it months later, Mrs. Browning
+wrote to Horne, "The heat was just the fiercest fire of your
+imagination, and I _seethe_ to think of it at this distance."
+
+It was a memorable journey all the same. They went to Ravenna, and at
+four o'clock one morning stood by Dante's tomb, moved deeply by the
+pathetic inscription and by all the associations it evoked. All along
+the coast from Ravenna to Loretto was new ground to both, and endlessly
+fascinating; in the passing and repassing of the Apennines they had
+'wonderful visions of beauty and glory.' At Ancona itself,
+notwithstanding the heat, they spent a happy season. Here Browning wrote
+one of the loveliest of his short poems, "The Guardian Angel," which had
+its origin in Guercino's picture in the chapel at Fano. By the allusions
+in the sixth and eighth stanzas it is clear that the poem was inscribed
+to Alfred Domett, the poet's well-loved friend immortalised as "Waring."
+Doubtless it was written for no other reason than the urgency of song,
+for in it are the loving allusions to his wife, "_my_ angel with me
+too," and "my love is here." Three times they went to the chapel, he
+tells us in the seventh stanza, to drink in to their souls' content the
+beauty of "dear Guercino's" picture. Browning has rarely uttered the
+purely personal note of his inner life. It is this that affords a
+peculiar value to "The Guardian Angel," over and above its technical
+beauty. In the concluding lines of the stanzas I am about to quote he
+gives the supreme expression to what was his deepest faith, his
+profoundest song-motive.
+
+     "I would not look up thither past thy head
+          Because the door opes, like that child, I know,
+      For I should have thy gracious face instead,
+          Thou bird of God! And wilt thou bend me low
+      Like him, and lay, like his, my hands together,
+      And lift them up to pray, and gently tether
+          Me, as thy lamb there, with thy garment's spread?
+
+             *       *       *       *       *
+
+     "How soon all worldly wrong would be repaired!
+          I think how I should view the earth and skies
+      And sea, when once again my brow was bared
+          After thy healing, with such different eyes.
+      O world, as God has made it! All is beauty:
+      And knowing this, is love, and love is duty.
+          What further may be sought for or declared?"
+
+After the Adriatic coast was left, they hesitated as to returning to
+Florence, the doctors having laid such stress on the climatic
+suitability of Pisa for Mrs. Browning. But she felt so sure of herself
+in her new strength that it was decided to adventure upon at least one
+winter in the queen-city. They were fortunate in obtaining a residence
+in the old palace called Casa Guidi, in the Via Maggiore, over against
+the church of San Felice, and here, with a few brief intervals, they
+lived till death separated them.
+
+On the little terrace outside there was more noble verse fashioned in
+the artist's creative silence than we can ever be aware of: but what a
+sacred place it must ever be for the lover of poetry! There, one ominous
+sultry eve, Browning, brooding over the story of a bygone Roman crime,
+foreshadowed "The Ring and the Book," and there, in the many years he
+dwelt in Casa Guidi, he wrote some of his finer shorter poems. There,
+also, "Aurora Leigh" was born, and many a lyric fresh with the dew of
+genius. Who has not looked at the old sunworn house and failed to think
+of that night when each square window of San Felice was aglow with
+festival lights, and when the summer lightnings fell silently in broad
+flame from cloud to cloud: or has failed to hear, down the narrow
+street, a little child go singing, 'neath Casa Guidi windows by the
+church, _O bella libertà, O bella!_
+
+Better even than these, for happy dwelling upon, is the poem the two
+poets lived. Morning and day were full of work, study, or that
+pleasurable idleness which for the artist is so often his best
+inspiration. Here, on the little terrace, they used to sit together, or
+walk slowly to and fro, in conversation that was only less eloquent than
+silence. Here one day they received a letter from Horne. There is
+nothing of particular note in Mrs. Browning's reply, and yet there are
+not a few of her poems we would miss rather than these chance
+words--delicate outlines left for the reader to fill in: "We were
+reading your letter, together, on our little terrace--walking up and
+down reading it--I mean the letter to Robert--and then, at the end,
+suddenly turning, lo, just at the edge of the stones, just between the
+balustrades, and already fluttering in a breath of wind and about to fly
+away over San Felice's church, we caught a glimpse of the feather of a
+note to E.B.B. How near we were to the loss of it, to be sure!"
+
+Happier still must have been the quiet evenings in late spring and
+summer, when, the one shrouded against possible chills, the other
+bare-headed and with loosened coat, walked slowly to and fro in the
+dark, conscious of "a busy human sense" below, but solitary on their
+balcony beyond the lamplit room.
+
+     "While in and out the terrace-plants, and round
+      One branch of tall datura, waxed and waned
+      The lamp-fly lured there, wanting the white flower."
+
+An American friend has put on record his impressions of the two poets,
+and their home at this time. He had been called upon by Browning, and by
+him invited to take tea at Casa Guidi the same evening. There the
+visitor saw, "seated at the tea-table of the great room of the palace in
+which they were living, a very small, very slight woman, with very long
+curls drooping forward, almost across the eyes, hanging to the bosom,
+and quite concealing the pale, small face, from which the piercing
+inquiring eyes looked out sensitively at the stranger. Rising from her
+chair, she put out cordially the thin white hand of an invalid, and in
+a few moments they were pleasantly chatting, while the husband strode up
+and down the room, joining in the conversation with a vigour, humour,
+eagerness, and affluence of curious lore which, with his trenchant
+thought and subtle sympathy, make him one of the most charming and
+inspiring of companions."
+
+In the autumn the same friend, joined by one or two other acquaintances,
+went with the Brownings to Vallombrosa for a couple of days, greatly to
+Mrs. Browning's delight, for whom the name had had a peculiar
+fascination ever since she had first encountered it in Milton.
+
+She was conveyed up the steep way towards the monastery in a great
+basket, without wheels, drawn by two oxen: though, as she tells Miss
+Mitford, she did not get into the monastery after all, she and her maid
+being turned away by the monks "for the sin of womanhood." She was too
+much of an invalid to climb the steeper heights, but loved to lie under
+the great chestnuts upon the hill-slopes near the convent. At twilight
+they went to the little convent-chapel, and there Browning sat down at
+the organ and played some of those older melodies he loved so well.
+
+It is, strangely enough, from Americans that we have the best account of
+the Brownings in their life at Casa Guidi: from R.H. Stoddart, Bayard
+Taylor, Nathaniel Hawthorne, George Stillman Hillard, and W.W. Story. I
+can find room, however, for but one excerpt:--
+
+     "Those who have known Casa Guidi as it was, could hardly enter the
+      loved rooms now, and speak above a whisper. They who have been so
+      favoured, can never forget the square anteroom, with its great
+      picture and pianoforte, at which the boy Browning passed many an
+      hour--the little dining-room covered with tapestry, and where hung
+      medallions of Tennyson, Carlyle, and Robert Browning--the long
+      room filled with plaster-casts and studies, which was Mrs.
+      Browning's retreat--and, dearest of all, the large drawing-room
+      where _she_ always sat. It opens upon a balcony filled with
+      plants, and looks out upon the iron-grey church of Santa Felice.
+      There was something about this room that seemed to make it a
+      proper and especial haunt for poets. The dark shadows and subdued
+      light gave it a dreary look, which was enhanced by the
+      tapestry-covered walls, and the old pictures of saints that looked
+      out sadly from their carved frames of black wood. Large bookcases
+      constructed of specimens of Florentine carving selected by Mr.
+      Browning were brimming over with wise-looking books. Tables were
+      covered with more gaily-bound volumes, the gifts of brother
+      authors. Dante's grave profile, a cast of Keats's face and brow
+      taken after death, a pen-and-ink sketch of Tennyson, the genial
+      face of John Kenyon, Mrs. Browning's good friend and relative,
+      little paintings of the boy Browning, all attracted the eye in
+      turn, and gave rise to a thousand musings. A quaint mirror,
+      easy-chairs and sofas, and a hundred nothings that always add an
+      indescribable charm, were all massed in this room. But the glory
+      of all, and that which sanctified all, was seated in a low
+      arm-chair near the door. A small table, strewn with
+      writing-materials, books, and newspapers, was always by her
+      side.... After her death, her husband had a careful water-colour
+      drawing made of this room, which has been engraved more than once.
+      It still hangs in his drawing-room, where the mirror and one of
+      the quaint chairs above named still are. The low arm-chair and
+      small table are in Browning's study--with his father's desk, on
+      which he has written all his poems."--(_W.W. Story_.)
+
+
+To Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne, Mr. Hillard, and Mr. Story, in particular, we
+are indebted for several delightful glimpses into the home-life of the
+two poets. We can see Mrs. Browning in her "ideal chamber," neither a
+library nor a sitting-room, but a happy blending of both, with the
+numerous old paintings in antique Florentine frames, easy-chairs and
+lounges, carved bookcases crammed with books in many languages,
+bric-a-brac in any quantity, but always artistic, flowers everywhere,
+and herself the frailest flower of all.
+
+Mr. Hillard speaks of the happiness of the Brownings' home and their
+union as perfect: he, full of manly power, she, the type of the most
+sensitive and delicate womanhood. This much-esteemed friend was
+fascinated by Mrs. Browning. Again and again he alludes to her exceeding
+spirituality: "She is a soul of fire enclosed in a shell of pearl:" her
+frame "the transparent veil for a celestial and mortal spirit:" and
+those fine words which prove that he too was of the brotherhood of the
+poets, "Her tremulous voice often flutters over her words like the flame
+of a dying candle over the wick."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+With the flower-tide of spring in 1849 came a new happiness to the two
+poets: the son who was born on the 9th of March. The boy was called
+Robert Wiedemann Barrett, the second name, in remembrance of Browning's
+much-loved mother, having been substituted for the "Sarianna" wherewith
+the child, if a girl, was to have been christened. Thereafter their "own
+young Florentine" was an endless joy and pride to both: and he was
+doubly loved by his father for his having brought a renewal of life to
+her who bore him.
+
+That autumn they went to the country, to the neighbourhood of
+Vallombrosa, and then to the Bagni di Lucca. There they wandered content
+in chestnut-forests, and gathered grapes at the vintage.
+
+Early in the year Browning's "Poetical Works" were published in two
+volumes. Some of the most beautiful of his shorter poems are to be found
+therein. What a new note is struck throughout, what range of subject
+there is! Among them all, are there any more treasurable than two of the
+simplest, "Home Thoughts from Abroad" and "Night and Morning"?
+
+     "Oh, to be in England
+      Now that April's there,
+      And whoever wakes in England
+      Sees, some morning, unaware,
+      That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
+      Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
+      While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
+      In England--now!
+
+      And after April, when May follows,
+      And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
+      Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
+      Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
+      Blossoms and dewdrops--at the bent spray's edge--
+      That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
+      Lest you should think he never could recapture
+      The first fine careless rapture!"
+
+A more significant note is struck in "Meeting at Night" and "Parting at
+Morning."
+
+                  MEETING.
+
+                     I.
+
+      The grey sea and the long black land;
+      And the yellow half-moon large and low;
+      And the startled little waves that leap
+      In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
+      As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
+      And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.
+
+                    II.
+
+      Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
+      Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
+      A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
+      And blue spurt of a lighted match,
+      And a voice lass loud, through its joys and fears,
+      Than the two hearts beating each to each!
+
+                  PARTING.
+
+      Round the cape of a sudden came the sea,
+      And the sun looked over the mountain's rim:
+      And straight was a path of gold for him,
+      And the need of a world of men for me.
+
+The following winter, when they were again at their Florentine home,
+Browning wrote his "Christmas Eve and Easter Day," that remarkable
+_apologia_ for Christianity, and close-reasoned presentation of the
+religious thought of the time. It is, however, for this reason that it
+is so widely known and admired: for it is ever easier to attract readers
+by dogma than by beauty, by intellectual argument than by the seduction
+of art. Coincidently, Mrs. Browning wrote the first portion of "Casa
+Guidi Windows."
+
+In the spring of 1850 husband and wife spent a short stay in Rome. I
+have been told that the poem entitled 'Two in the Campagna' was as
+actually personal as the already quoted "Guardian Angel." But I do not
+think stress should be laid on this and kindred localisations. Exact or
+not, they have no literary value. To the poet, the dramatic poet above
+all, locality and actuality of experience are, so to say, merely
+fortunate coigns of outlook, for the winged genius to temporally
+inhabit. To the imaginative mind, truth is not simply actuality. As for
+'Two in the Campagna': it is too universally true to be merely personal.
+There is a gulf which not the profoundest search can fathom, which not
+the strongest-winged love can overreach: the gulf of individuality. It
+is those who have loved most deeply who recognise most acutely this
+always pathetic and often terrifying isolation of the soul. None save
+the weak can believe in the absolute union of two spirits. If this were
+demonstratable, immortality would be a palpable fiction. The moment
+individuality can lapse to fusion, that moment the tide has ebbed, the
+wind has fallen, the dream has been dreamed. So long as the soul
+remains inviolate amid all shock of time and change, so long is it
+immortal. No man, no poet assuredly, could love as Browning loved, and
+fail to be aware, often with vague anger and bitterness, no doubt, of
+this insuperable isolation even when spirit seemed to leap to spirit, in
+the touch of a kiss, in the evanishing sigh of some one or other
+exquisite moment. The poem tells us how the lovers, straying hand in
+hand one May day across the Campagna, sat down among the seeding
+grasses, content at first in the idle watching of a spider spinning her
+gossamer threads from yellowing fennel to other vagrant weeds. All
+around them
+
+     "The champaign with its endless fleece
+        Of feathery grasses everywhere!
+      Silence and passion, joy and peace,
+        An everlasting wash of air-- ...
+
+     "Such life here, through such length of hours,
+        Such miracles performed in play,
+      Such primal naked forms of flowers,
+        Such letting nature have her way." ...
+
+Let us too be unashamed of soul, the poet-lover says, even as earth lies
+bare to heaven. Nothing is to be overlooked. But all in vain: in vain "I
+drink my fill at your soul's springs."
+
+     "Just when I seemed about to learn!
+        Where is the thread now? off again!
+      The old trick! Only I discern--
+        Infinite passion, and the pain
+      Of finite hearts that yearn."
+
+It was during this visit to Rome that both were gratified by the
+proposal in the leading English literary weekly, that the
+Poet-Laureateship, vacant by the death of Wordsworth, should be
+conferred upon Mrs. Browning: though both rejoiced when they learned
+that the honour had devolved upon one whom each so ardently admired as
+Alfred Tennyson. In 1851 a visit was paid to England, not one very much
+looked forward to by Mrs. Browning, who had never had cause to yearn for
+her old home in Wimpole Street, and who could anticipate no
+reconciliation with her father, who had persistently refused even to
+open her letters to him, and had forbidden the mention of her name in
+his home circle.
+
+Bayard Taylor, in his travel-sketches published under the title "At Home
+and Abroad," has put on record how he called upon the Brownings one
+afternoon in September, at their rooms in Devonshire Street, and found
+them on the eve of their return to Italy.
+
+In his cheerful alertness, self-possession, and genial suavity Browning
+impressed him as an American rather than as an Englishman, though there
+can be no question but that no more thorough Englishman than the poet
+ever lived. It is a mistake, of course, to speak of him as a typical
+Englishman: for typical he was not, except in a very exclusive sense.
+Bayard Taylor describes him in reportorial fashion as being apparently
+about seven-and-thirty (a fairly close guess), with his dark hair
+already streaked with grey about the temples: with a fair complexion,
+just tinged with faintest olive: eyes large, clear, and grey, and nose
+strong and well-cut, mouth full and rather broad, and chin pointed,
+though not prominent: about the medium height, strong in the shoulders,
+but slender at the waist, with movements expressive of a combination of
+vigour and elasticity. With due allowance for the passage of
+five-and-thirty years, this description would not be inaccurate of
+Browning the septuagenarian.
+
+They did not return direct to Italy after all, but wintered in Paris
+with Robert Browning the elder, who had retired to a small house in a
+street leading off the Champs Élysées. The pension he drew from the Bank
+of England was a small one, but, with what he otherwise had, was
+sufficient for him to live in comfort. The old gentleman's health was
+superb to the last, for he died in 1866 without ever having known a
+day's illness.
+
+Spring came out and found them still in Paris, Mrs. Browning
+enthusiastic about Napoleon III. and interested in spiritualism: her
+husband serenely sceptical concerning both. In the summer they again
+went to London: but they appear to have seen more of Kenyon and other
+intimate friends than to have led a busy social life. Kenyon's
+friendship and good company never ceased to have a charm for both poets.
+Mrs. Browning loved him almost as a brother: her husband told Bayard
+Taylor, on the day when that good poet and charming man called upon
+them, and after another visitor had departed--a man with a large rosy
+face and rotund body, as Taylor describes him--"there goes one of the
+most splendid men living--a man so noble in his friendship, so lavish in
+his hospitality, so large-hearted and benevolent, that he deserves to be
+known all over the world as Kenyon the Magnificent."
+
+In the early autumn a sudden move towards Italy was again made, and
+after a few weeks in Paris and on the way the Brownings found
+themselves at home once more in Casa Guidi.
+
+But before this, probably indeed before they had left Paris for London,
+Mr. Moxon had published the now notorious Shelley forgeries. These were
+twenty-five spurious letters, but so cleverly manufactured that they at
+first deceived many people. In the preceding November Browning had been
+asked to write an introduction to them. This he had gladly agreed to do,
+eager as he was for a suitable opportunity of expressing his admiration
+for Shelley. When the letters reached him, he found that, genuine or
+not, though he never suspected they were forgeries, they contained
+nothing of particular import, nothing that afforded a just basis for
+what he had intended to say. Pledged as he was, however, to write
+something for Mr. Moxon's edition of the Letters, he set about the
+composition of an Essay, of a general as much as of an individual
+nature. This he wrote in Paris, and finished by the beginning of
+December. It dealt with the objective and subjective poet; on the
+relation of the latter's life to his work; and upon Shelley in the light
+of his nature, art, and character. Apart from the circumstance that it
+is the only independent prose writing of any length from Browning's pen,
+this is an exceptionally able and interesting production.
+
+Dr. Furnivall deserves general gratitude for his obtaining the author's
+leave to re-issue it, and for having published it as one of the papers
+of the Browning Society. As that enthusiastic student and good friend of
+the poet says in his "foretalk" to the reprint, the essay is noteworthy,
+not merely as a signal service to Shelley's fame and memory, but for
+Browning's statement of his own aim in his own work, both as objective
+and subjective poet. The same clear-sightedness and impartial sympathy,
+which are such distinguishing characteristics of his dramatic studies of
+human thought and emotion, are obvious in Browning's Shelley essay. "It
+would be idle to enquire," he writes, "of these two kinds of poetic
+faculty in operation, which is the higher or even rarer endowment. If
+the subjective might seem to be the ultimate requirement of every age,
+the objective in the strictest state must still retain its original
+value. For it is with this world, as starting-point and basis alike,
+that we shall always have to concern ourselves; the world is not to be
+learned and thrown aside, but reverted to and reclaimed."
+
+Of its critical subtlety--the more remarkable as by a poet-critic who
+revered Shelley the poet and loved and believed in Shelley the man--the
+best example, perhaps, is in those passages where he alludes to the
+charge against the poet's moral nature--"charges which, if substantiated
+to their wide breadth, would materially disturb, I do not deny, our
+reception and enjoyment of his works, however wonderful the artistic
+qualities of these. For we are not sufficiently supplied with instances
+of genius of his order to be able to pronounce certainly how many of its
+constituent parts have been tasked and strained to the production of a
+given lie, and how high and pure a mood of the creative mind may be
+dramatically simulated as the poet's habitual and exclusive one."
+
+The large charity, the liberal human sympathy, the keen critical acumen
+of this essay, make one wish that the author had spared us a "Sludge
+the Medium" or a "Pacchiarotto," or even a "Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau,"
+and given us more of such honourable work in "the other harmony."
+
+Glad as the Brownings were to be home again at Casa Guidi, they could
+not enjoy the midsummer heats of Florence, and so went to the Baths of
+Lucca. It was a delight for them to ramble among the chestnut-woods of
+the high Tuscan forests, and to go among the grape-vines where the
+sunburnt vintagers were busy. Once Browning paid a visit to that remote
+hill-stream and waterfall, high up in a precipitous glen, where, more
+than three-score years earlier, Shelley had been wont to amuse himself
+by sitting naked on a rock in the sunlight, reading _Herodotus_ while
+he cooled, and then plunging into the deep pool beneath him--to emerge,
+further up stream, and then climb through the spray of the waterfall
+till he was like a glittering human wraith in the middle of a dissolving
+rainbow.
+
+Those Tuscan forests, that high crown of Lucca, must always have special
+associations for lovers of poetry. Here Shelley lived, rapt in his
+beautiful dreams, and translated the _Symposium_ so that his wife
+might share something of his delight in Plato. Here, ten years later, Heine
+sneered, and laughed and wept, and sneered again--drank tea with "la
+belle Irlandaise," flirted with Francesca "la ballerina," and wrote
+alternately with a feathered quill from the breast of a nightingale and
+with a lancet steeped in aquafortis: and here, a quarter of a century
+afterward, Robert and Elizabeth Browning also laughed and wept and
+"joyed i' the sun," dreamed many dreams, and touched chords of beauty
+whose vibration has become incorporated with the larger rhythm of all
+that is high and enduring in our literature.
+
+On returning to Florence (Browning with the MS. of the greater part of
+his splendid fragmentary tragedy, "In a Balcony," composed mainly while
+walking alone through the forest glades), Mrs. Browning found that the
+chill breath of the _tramontana_ was affecting her lungs, so a move
+was made to Rome, for the passing of the winter (1853-4). In the spring
+their little boy, their beloved "Pen,"[22] became ill with malaria. This
+delayed their return to Florence till well on in the summer. During this
+stay in Rome Mrs. Browning rapidly proceeded with "Aurora Leigh," and
+Browning wrote several of his "Men and Women," including the exquisite
+'Love among the Ruins,' with its novel metrical music; 'Fra Lippo
+Lippi,' where the painter, already immortalised by Landor, has his third
+warrant of perpetuity; the 'Epistle of Karshish' (in part);
+'Memorabilia' (composed on the Campagna); 'Saul,' a portion of which had
+been written and published ten years previously, that noble and lofty
+utterance, with its trumpet-like note of the regnant spirit; the
+concluding part of "In a Balcony;" and 'Holy Cross Day'--besides,
+probably, one or two others. In the late spring (April 27th) also, he
+wrote the short dactylic lyric, 'Ben Karshook's Wisdom.' This little
+poem was given to a friend for appearance in one of the then popular
+_Keepsakes_--literally given, for Browning never contributed to
+magazines. The very few exceptions to this rule were the result of a
+kindliness stronger than scruple: as when (1844), at request of Lord
+Houghton (then Mr. Monckton Milnes), he sent 'Tokay,' the 'Flower's
+Name,' and 'Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis,' to "help in making up some
+magazine numbers for poor Hood, then at the point of death from
+hemorrhage of the lungs, occasioned by the enlargement of the heart,
+which had been brought on by the wearing excitement of ceaseless and
+excessive literary toil." As 'Ben Karshook's Wisdom,' though it has been
+reprinted in several quarters, will not be found in any volume of
+Browning's works, and was omitted from "Men and Women" by accident, and
+from further collections by forgetfulness, it may be fitly quoted here.
+Karshook, it may be added, is the Hebraic word for a thistle.
+
+[Footnote 22: So-called, it is asserted, from his childish effort to
+pronounce a difficult name (Wiedemann). But despite the good authority
+for this statement, it is impossible not to credit rather the
+explanation given by Nathaniel Hawthorne, who, moreover, affords the
+practically definite proof that the boy was at first, as a term of
+endearment, called "Pennini," which was later abbreviated to "Pen." The
+cognomen, Hawthorne states, was a diminutive of "Apennino," which was
+bestowed upon the boy in babyhood because he was very small, there being
+a statue in Florence of colossal size called "Apennino."]
+
+                  I.
+
+     "'Would a man 'scape the rod'?--
+        Rabbi Ben Karshook saith,
+      'See that he turns to God
+        The day before his death.'
+
+      'Ay, could a man inquire
+        When it shall come!' I say.
+      The Rabbi's eye shoots fire--
+        'Then let him turn to-day!'
+
+                 II.
+
+      Quoth a young Sadducee,--
+        'Reader of many rolls,
+      Is it so certain we
+        Have, as they tell us, souls?'--
+
+      'Son, there is no reply!'
+        The Rabbi bit his beard:
+      'Certain, a soul have _I_--
+        _We_ may have none,' he sneer'd.
+
+      Thus Karshook, the Hiram's Hammer,
+        The Right-Hand Temple column,
+      Taught babes their grace in grammar,
+        And struck the simple, solemn."
+
+It was in this year (1855) that "Men and Women" was published. It is
+difficult to understand how a collection comprising poems such as "Love
+among the Ruins," "Evelyn Hope," "Fra Lippo Lippi," "A Toccata of
+Galuppi's," "Any Wife to any Husband," "Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha,"
+"Andrea del Sarto," "In a Balcony," "Saul," "A Grammarian's Funeral," to
+mention only ten now almost universally known, did not at once obtain a
+national popularity for the author. But lovers of literature were simply
+enthralled: and the two volumes had a welcome from them which was
+perhaps all the more ardent because of their disproportionate numbers.
+Ears alert to novel poetic music must have thrilled to the new strain
+which sounded first--"Love among the Ruins," with its Millet-like
+opening--
+
+     "Where the quiet-coloured end of evening smiles,
+                    Miles and miles
+      On the solitary pastures where our sheep
+                    Half asleep
+      Tinkle homeward through the twilight, stray or stop
+                    As they crop--
+      Was the site once of a city great and gay ..."
+
+Soon after the return to Florence, which, hot as it was, was preferable
+in July to Rome, Mrs. Browning wrote to her frequent correspondent Miss
+Mitford, and mentioned that about four thousand lines of "Aurora Leigh"
+had been written. She added a significant passage: that her husband had
+not seen a single line of it up to that time--significant, as one of the
+several indications that the union of Browning and his wife was indeed a
+marriage of true minds, wherein nothing of the common bane of
+matrimonial life found existence. Moreover, both were artists, and,
+therefore, too full of respect for themselves and their art to bring in
+any way the undue influence of each other into play.
+
+By the spring of 1856, however, the first six "books" were concluded:
+and these, at once with humility and pride, Mrs. Browning placed in her
+husband's hands. The remaining three books were written, in the summer,
+in John Kenyon's London house.
+
+It was her best, her fullest answer to the beautiful dedicatory poem,
+"One Word More," wherewith her husband, a few months earlier, sent forth
+his "Men and Women," to be for ever associated with "E.B.B."
+
+                  I.
+
+     "There they are, my fifty men and women
+      Naming me the fifty poems finished!
+      Take them, Love, the book and me together:
+      Where the heart lies, let the brain lie also.
+
+                XVIII.
+
+      This I say of me, but think of you, Love!
+      This to you--yourself my moon of poets!
+      Ah, but that's the world's side, there's the wonder,
+      Thus they see you, praise you, think they know you!
+      There, in turn I stand with them and praise you--
+      Out of my own self, I dare to phrase it.
+      But the best is when I glide from out them,
+      Cross a step or two of dubious twilight,
+      Come out on the other side, the novel
+      Silent silver lights and darks undreamed of,
+      Where I hush and bless myself with silence."
+
+The transference from Florence to London was made in May. In the summer
+"Aurora Leigh" was published, and met with an almost unparalleled
+success: even Landor, most exigent of critics, declared that he was
+"half drunk with it," that it had an imagination germane to that of
+Shakspere, and so forth.
+
+The poem was dedicated to Kenyon, and on their homeward way the
+Brownings were startled and shocked to hear of his sudden death. By the
+time they had arrived at Casa Guidi again they learned that their good
+friend had not forgotten them in the disposition of his large fortune.
+To Browning he bequeathed six thousand, to Mrs. Browning four thousand
+guineas. This loss was followed early in the ensuing year (1857) by the
+death of Mr. Barrett, steadfast to the last in his refusal of
+reconciliation with his daughter.
+
+Winters and summers passed happily in Italy--with one period of feverish
+anxiety, when the little boy lay for six weeks dangerously ill, nursed
+day and night by his father and mother alternately--with pleasant
+occasionings, as the companionship for a season of Nathaniel Hawthorne
+and his family, or of weeks spent at Siena with valued and lifelong
+friends, W.W. Story, the poet-sculptor, and his wife.
+
+So early as 1858 Mrs. Hawthorne believed she saw the heralds of death in
+Mrs. Browning's excessive pallor and the hectic flush upon the cheeks,
+in her extreme fragility and weakness, and in her catching, fluttering
+breath. Even the motion of a visitor's fan perturbed her. But "her soul
+was mighty, and a great love kept her on earth a season longer. She was
+a seraph in her flaming worship of heart." "She lives so ardently," adds
+Mrs. Hawthorne, "that her delicate earthly vesture must soon be burnt up
+and destroyed by her soul of pure fire."
+
+Yet, notwithstanding, she still sailed the seas of life, like one of
+those fragile argonauts in their shells of foam and rainbow-mist which
+will withstand the rude surge of winds and waves. But slowly, gradually,
+the spirit was o'erfretting its tenement. With the waning of her
+strength came back the old passionate longing for rest, for quiescence
+from that "excitement from within," which had been almost over vehement
+for her in the calm days of her unmarried life.
+
+It is significant that at this time Browning's genius was relatively
+dormant. Its wings were resting for the long-sustained flight of "The
+Ring and the Book," and for earlier and shorter though not less royal
+aerial journeyings. But also, no doubt, the prolonged comparatively
+unproductive period of eight or nine years (1855-1864), between the
+publication of "Men and Women" and "Dramatis Personæ," was due in some
+measure to the poet's incessant and anxious care for his wife, to the
+deep sorrow of witnessing her slow but visible passing away, and to the
+profound grief occasioned by her death. However, barrenness of
+imaginative creative activity can be only very relatively affirmed, even
+of so long a period, of years wherein were written such memorable and
+treasurable poems as 'James Lee's Wife,' among Browning's writings what
+'Maud' is among Lord Tennyson's; 'Gold Hair: a Legend of Pornic;' 'Dis
+Aliter Visum;' 'Abt Vogler,' the most notable production of its kind in
+the language; 'A Death in the Desert,' that singular and impressive
+study; 'Caliban upon Setebos,' in its strange potency of interest and
+stranger poetic note, absolutely unique; 'Youth and Art;' 'Apparent
+Failure;' 'Prospice,' that noble lyrical defiance of death; and the
+supremely lofty and significant series of weighty stanzas, 'Rabbi Ben
+Ezra,' the most quintessential of all the distinctively psychical
+monologues which Browning has written. It seems to me that if these two
+poems only, "Prospice" and "Rabbi Ben Ezra," were to survive to the day
+of Macaulay's New Zealander, the contemporaries of that meditative
+traveller would have sufficient to enable them to understand the great
+fame of the poet of "dim ancestral days," as the more acute among them
+could discern something of the real Shelley, though time had preserved
+but the three lines--
+
+     "Yet now despair itself is mild,
+      Even as the winds and waters are;
+      I could lie down like a tired child" ...
+
+something of the real Catullus, through the mists of remote antiquity,
+if there had not perished the single passionate cry--
+
+                               "Lesbia illa,
+      Illa Lesbia, quam Catullus unam
+      Plus quam se, atque suos amavit omnes!"
+
+At the beginning of July (1858), the Brownings left Florence for the
+summer and autumn, and by easy stages travelled to Normandy. Here the
+invalid benefited considerably at first: and here, I may add, Browning
+wrote his 'Legend of Pornic,' 'Gold-Hair.' This poem of twenty-seven
+five-line stanzas (which differs only from that in more recent
+"Collected Works," and "Selections," in its lack of the three stanzas
+now numbered xxi., xxii., and xxiii.) was printed for limited private
+circulation, though primarily for the purpose of securing American
+copyright. Browning several times printed single poems thus, and for the
+same reasons--that is, either for transatlantic copyright, or when the
+verses were not likely to be included in any volume for a prolonged
+period. These leaflets or half-sheetlets of 'Gold Hair' and 'Prospice,'
+of 'Cleon' and 'The Statue and the Bust'--together with the "Two Poems
+by Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning," published, for benefit of a
+charity, in 1854--are among the rarest "finds" for the collector, and
+are literally worth a good deal more than their weight in gold.
+
+In the tumultuous year of 1859 all Italy was in a ferment. No patriot
+among the Nationalists was more ardent in her hopes than the delicate,
+too fragile, dying poetess, whose flame of life burned anew with the
+great hopes that animated her for her adopted country. Well indeed did
+she deserve, among the lines which the poet Tommaseo wrote and the
+Florence municipality caused to be engraved in gold upon a white marble
+slab, to be placed upon Casa Guidi, the words _fece del suo verso aureo
+anello fra Italia e Inghilterra_--"who of her Verse made a golden link
+connecting England and Italy."
+
+The victories of Solferino and San Martino made the bitterness of the
+disgraceful Treaty of Villafranca the more hard to bear. Even had we not
+Mr. Story's evidence, it would be a natural conclusion that this
+disastrous ending to the high hopes of the Italian patriots accelerated
+Mrs. Browning's death. The withdrawal of hope is often worse in its
+physical effects than any direct bodily ill.
+
+It was a miserable summer for both husband and wife, for more private
+sorrows also pressed upon them. Not even the sweet autumnal winds
+blowing upon Siena wafted away the shadow that had settled upon the
+invalid: nor was there medicine for her in the air of Rome, where the
+winter was spent. A temporary relief, however, was afforded by the more
+genial climate, and in the spring of 1860 she was able, with Browning's
+help, to see her Italian patriotic poems through the press. It goes
+without saying that these "Poems before Congress" had a grudging
+reception from the critics, because they dared to hint that all was not
+roseate-hued in England. The true patriots are those who love despite
+blemishes, not those who cherish the blemishes along with the virtues.
+To hint at a flaw is "not to be an Englishman."
+
+The autumn brought a new sadness in the death of Miss Arabella
+Barrett--a dearly loved sister, the "Arabel" of so many affectionate
+letters. Once more a winter in Rome proved temporally restorative. But
+at last the day came when she wrote her last poem--"North and South," a
+gracious welcome to Hans Christian Andersen on the occasion of his
+first visit to the Eternal City.
+
+Early in June of 1861 the Brownings were once more at Casa Guidi. But
+soon after their return the invalid caught a chill. For a few days she
+hovered like a tired bird--though her friends saw only the seemingly
+unquenchable light in the starry eyes, and did not anticipate the
+silence that was soon to be.
+
+By the evening of the 28th day of the month she was in sore peril of
+failing breath. All night her husband sat by her, holding her hand. Two
+hours before dawn she realised that her last breath would ere long fall
+upon his tear-wet face. Then, as a friend has told us, she passed into a
+state of ecstasy: yet not so rapt therein but that she could whisper
+many words of hope, even of joy. With the first light of the new day,
+she leaned against her lover. Awhile she lay thus in silence, and then,
+softly sighing "_It is beautiful!_" passed like the windy fragrance of
+a flower.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+It is needless to dwell upon what followed. The world has all that need
+be known. To Browning himself it was the abrupt, the too deeply
+pathetic, yet not wholly unhappy ending of a lovelier poem than any he
+or another should ever write, the poem of their married life.
+
+There is a rare serenity in the thought of death when it is known to be
+the gate of life. This conviction Browning had, and so his grief was
+rather that of one whose joy has westered earlier. The sweetest music of
+his life had withdrawn: but there was still music for one to whom life
+in itself was a happiness. He had his son, and was not void of other
+solace: but even had it been otherwise he was of the strenuous natures
+who never succumb, nor wish to die--whatever accident of mortality
+overcome the will and the power.
+
+It was in the autumn following his wife's death that he wrote the noble
+poem to which allusion has already been made: "Prospice." Who does not
+thrill to its close, when all of gloom or terror
+
+     "Shall change, shall become first a peace out of pain,
+                 Then a light, then thy breast,
+       O thou soul of my soul! I shall clasp thee again,
+                 And with God be the rest."
+
+There are few direct allusions to his wife in Browning's poems. Of those
+prior to her death the most beautiful is "One Word More," which has been
+already quoted in part: of the two or three subsequent to that event
+none surpasses the magic close of the first part of "The Ring and the
+Book."
+
+Thereafter the details of his life are public property. He all along
+lived in the light, partly from his possession of that serenity which
+made Goethe glad to be alive and to be able to make others share in that
+gladness. No poet has been more revered and more loved. His personality
+will long be a stirring tradition. In the presence of his simple
+manliness and wealth of all generous qualities one is inclined to pass
+by as valueless, as the mere flying spray of the welcome shower, the
+many honours and gratifications that befell him. Even if these things
+mattered, concerning one by whose genius we are fascinated, while
+undazzled by the mere accidents pertinent thereto, their recital would
+be wearisome--of how he was asked to be Lord Rector of this University,
+or made a doctor of laws at that: of how letters and tributes of all
+kinds came to him from every district in our Empire, from every country
+in the world: and so forth. All these things are implied in the
+circumstance that his life was throughout "a noble music with a golden
+ending."
+
+In 1866 his father died in Paris, strenuous in life until the very end.
+After this event Miss Sarianna Browning went to reside with her brother,
+and from that time onward was his inseparable companion, and ever one of
+the dearest and most helpful of friends. In latter years brother and
+sister were constantly seen together, and so regular attendants were
+they at such functions as the "Private Views" at the Royal Academy and
+Grosvenor Gallery, that these never seemed complete without them. A
+Private View, a first appearance of Joachim or Sarasate, a first concert
+of Richter or Henschel or Hallé, at each of these, almost to a
+certainty, the poet was sure to appear. The chief personal happiness of
+his later life was in his son. Mr. R. Barrett Browning is so well known
+as a painter and sculptor that it would be superfluous for me to add
+anything further here, except to state that his successes were his
+father's keenest pleasures.
+
+Two years after his father's death, that is in 1868, the "Poetical Works
+of Robert Browning, M.A., Honorary Fellow of Baliol College, Oxford,"
+were issued in six volumes. Here the equator of Browning's genius may be
+drawn. On the further side lie the "Men and Women" of the period
+anterior to "The Ring and the Book": midway is the transitional zone
+itself: on the hither side are the "Men and Women" of a more temperate
+if not colder clime.
+
+The first part of "The Ring and the Book" was not published till
+November. In September the poet was staying with his sister and son at
+Le Croisic, a picturesque village at the mouth of the Loire, at the end
+of the great salt plains which stretch down from Guérande to the Bay of
+Biscay. No doubt, in lying on the sand-dunes in the golden September
+glow, in looking upon the there somewhat turbid current of the Loire,
+the poet brooded on those days when he saw its inland waters with her
+who was with him no longer save in dreams and memories. Here he wrote
+that stirring poem, "Hervé Riel," founded upon the valorous action of a
+French sailor who frustrated the naval might of England, and claimed
+nothing as a reward save permission to have a holiday on land to spend a
+few hours with his wife, "la belle Aurore." "Hervé Riel" (which has been
+translated into French, and is often recited, particularly in the
+maritime towns, and is always evocative of enthusiastic applause) is one
+of Browning's finest action-lyrics, and is assured of the same
+immortality as "How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix," or
+the "Pied Piper" himself.
+
+In 1872 there was practical proof of the poet's growing popularity.
+Baron Tauchnitz issued two volumes of excellently selected poems,
+comprising some of the best of "Men and Women," "Dramatis Personæ," and
+"Dramatic Romances," besides the longer "Soul's Tragedy," "Luria," "In a
+Balcony," and "Christmas Eve and Easter Day"--the most Christian poem of
+the century, according to one eminent cleric, the heterodox
+self-sophistication of a free-thinker, according to another: really, the
+reflex of a great crisis, that of the first movement of the tide of
+religious thought to a practically limitless freedom. This edition also
+contained "Bishop Blougram," then much discussed, apart from its poetic
+and intellectual worth, on account of its supposed verisimilitude in
+portraiture of Cardinal Wiseman. This composition, one of Browning's
+most characteristic, is so clever that it is scarcely a poem. Poetry and
+Cleverness do not well agree, the muse being already united in perfect
+marriage to Imagination. In his Essay on Truth, Bacon says that one of
+the Fathers called poetry _Vinum Dæmonum_, because it filleth the
+imagination. Certainly if it be not _vinum dæmonum_ it is not Poetry.
+
+In this year also appeared the first series of "Selections" by the
+poet's latest publishers: "Dedicated to Alfred Tennyson. In
+Poetry--illustrious and consummate: In Friendship--noble and sincere."
+It was in his preface to this selection that he wrote the often-quoted
+words: "Nor do I apprehend any more charges of being wilfully obscure,
+unconscientiously careless, or perversely harsh." At or about the date
+of these "Selections" the poet wrote to a friend, on this very point of
+obscurity, "I can have little doubt that my writing has been in the main
+too hard for many I should have been pleased to communicate with; but I
+never designedly tried to puzzle people, as some of my critics have
+supposed. On the other hand, I never pretended to offer such literature
+as should be a substitute for a cigar or a game at dominoes to an idle
+man. So perhaps, on the whole, I get my deserts, and something over--not
+a crowd, but a few I value more."
+
+In 1877 Browning, ever restless for pastures new, went with his sister
+to spend the autumn at La Saisiaz (Savoyard for "the sun"), a villa
+among the mountains near Geneva; this time with the additional company
+of Miss Anne Egerton Smith, an intimate and valued friend. But there was
+an unhappy close to the holiday. Miss Smith died on the night of the
+fourteenth of September, from heart complaint. "La Saisiaz" is the
+direct outcome of this incident, and is one of the most beautiful of
+Browning's later poems. Its trochaics move with a tide-like sound.
+
+At the close, there is a line which might stand as epitaph for the
+poet--
+
+     "He, at least, believed in Soul, was very sure of God."
+
+In the following year "La Saisiaz" was published along with "The Two
+Poets of Croisic," which was begun and partly written at the little
+French village ten years previously. There is nothing of the eight-score
+stanzas of the "Two Poets" to equal its delightful epilogue, or the
+exquisite prefatory lyric, beginning
+
+     "Such a starved bank of moss
+         Till that May-morn
+      Blue ran the flash across:
+         Violets were born."
+
+Extremely interesting--and for myself I cannot find "The Two Poets of
+Croisic" to be anything more than "interesting"--it is as a poem
+distinctly inferior to "La Saisiaz." Although detached lines are often
+far from truly indicative of the real poetic status of a long poem,
+where proportion and harmony are of more importance than casual
+exfoliations of beauty, yet to a certain extent they do serve as musical
+keys that give the fundamental tone. One certainly would have to search
+in vain to find in the Croisic poem such lines as
+
+     "Five short days, scarce enough to
+      Bronze the clustered wilding apple, redden ripe the mountain ash."
+
+Or these of Mont Blanc, seen at sunset, towering over icy pinnacles and
+teeth-like peaks,
+
+    "Blanc, supreme above his earth-brood, needles red and white and green,
+     Horns of silver, fangs of crystal set on edge in his demesne."
+
+Or, again, this of the sun swinging himself above the dark shoulder of
+Jura--
+
+     "Gay he hails her, and magnific, thrilled her black length burns to
+          gold."
+
+Or, finally, this sounding verse--
+
+     "Past the city's congregated peace of homes and pomp of spires."
+
+The other poems later than "The Ring and the Book" are, broadly
+speaking, of two kinds. On the one side may be ranged the groups which
+really cohere with "Men and Women." These are "The Inn Album," the
+miscellaneous poems of the "Pacchiarotto" volume, the "Dramatic Idyls,"
+some of "Jocoseria," and some of "Asolando." "Ferishtah's Fancies" and
+"Parleyings" are not, collectively, dramatic poems, but poems of
+illuminative insight guided by a dramatic imagination.[23] They, and the
+classical poems and translations (renderings, rather, by one whose own
+individuality dominates them to the exclusion of that _nearness_ of the
+original author, which it should be the primary aim of the translator to
+evoke), the beautiful "Balaustion's Adventure," "Aristophanes' Apology,"
+and "The Agamemnon of Aeschylus," and the third group, which comprises
+"Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau," "Red Cotton Nightcap Country," and
+"Fifine at the Fair"--these three groups are of the second kind.
+
+[Footnote 23: In a letter to a friend, Browning wrote:--"I hope and
+believe that one or two careful readings of the Poem [Ferishtah's
+Fancies] will make its sense clear enough. Above all, pray allow for the
+Poet's inventiveness in any case, and do not suppose there is more than
+a thin disguise of a few Persian names and allusions. There was no such
+person as Ferishtah--the stories are all inventions. ... The Hebrew
+quotations are put in for a purpose, as a direct acknowledgment that
+certain doctrines may be found in the Old Book, which the Concocters of
+Novel Schemes of Morality put forth as discoveries of their own."]
+
+Remarkable as are the three last-named productions, it is extremely
+doubtful if the first and second will be read for pleasure by readers
+born after the close of this century. As it is impossible, in my narrow
+limits, to go into any detail about poems which personally I do not
+regard as essential to the truest understanding of Browning, the truest
+because on the highest level, that of poetry--as distinct from dogma, or
+intellectual suasion of any kind that might, for all its æsthetic charm,
+be in prose--it would be presumptuous to assert anything derogatory of
+them without attempting adequate substantiation. I can, therefore,
+merely state my own opinion. To reiterate, it is that, for different
+reasons, these three long poems are foredoomed to oblivion--not, of
+course, to be lost to the student of our literature and of our age, a
+more wonderful one even than that of the Renaissance, but to lapse from
+the general regard. That each will for a long time find appreciative
+readers is certain. They have a fascination for alert minds, and they
+have not infrequent ramifications which are worth pursuing for the
+glimpses afforded into an always evanishing Promised Land. "Prince
+Hohenstiel-Schwangau" (the name, by the way, is not purely fanciful,
+being formed from Hohen Schwangau, one of the castles of the late King
+of Bavaria) is Browning's complement to his wife's "Ode to Napoleon
+III." "Red Cotton Nightcap Country" is a true story, the narrative of
+the circumstances pertinent to the tragic death of one Antonio Mellerio,
+a Paris jeweller, which occurred in 1870 at St. Aubin in Normandy,
+where, indeed, the poet first heard of it in all its details. It is a
+story which, if the method of poetry and the method of prose could for a
+moment be accepted as equivalent, might be said to be of the school of a
+light and humorously grotesque Zola. It has the fundamental weakness of
+"The Ring and the Book"--the weakness of an inadequate ethical basis. It
+is, indeed, to that great work what a second-rate novelette is to a
+masterpiece of fiction.
+
+"Fifine at the Fair," on the other hand, is so powerful and often so
+beautiful a poem that one would be rash indeed were he, with the blithe
+critical assurance which is so generally snuffed out like a useless
+candle by a later generation, to prognosticate its inevitable seclusion
+from the high place it at present occupies in the estimate of the poet's
+most uncompromising admirers. But surely equally rash is the assertion
+that it will be the "poem of the future." However, our concern is not
+with problematical estimates, but with the poem as it appears to _us_.
+It is one of the most characteristic of Browning's productions. It would
+be impossible for the most indolent reader or critic to attribute it,
+even if anonymous, to another parentage. Coleridge alludes somewhere to
+certain verses of Wordsworth's, with the declaration that if he had met
+them howling in the desert he would have recognised their authorship.
+"Fifine" would not even have to howl.
+
+Browning was visiting Pornic one autumn, when he saw the gipsy who was
+the original of "Fifine." In the words of Mrs. Orr, "his fancy was
+evidently set roaming by the gipsy's audacity, her strength--the
+contrast which she presented to the more spiritual types of womanhood;
+and this contrast eventually found expression in a pathetic theory of
+life, in which these opposite types and their corresponding modes of
+attraction became the necessary complement of each other. As he laid
+down the theory, Mr. Browning would be speaking in his own person. But
+he would turn into some one else in the act of working it out--for it
+insensibly carried with it a plea for yielding to those opposite
+attractions, not only successively, but at the same time; and a modified
+Don Juan would grow up under his pen."
+
+One drawback to an unconditional enjoyment of Balzac is that every now
+and again the student of the _Comédie Humaine_ resents the too obvious
+display of the forces that propel the effect--a lesser phase of the
+weariness which ensues upon much reading of the mere "human documents"
+of the Goncourt school of novelists. In the same way, we too often see
+Browning working up the electrical qualities, so that, when the
+fulmination comes, we understand "just how it was produced," and, as
+illogically as children before a too elaborate conjurer, conclude that
+there is not so much in this particular poetic feat as in others which,
+like Herrick's maids, continually do deceive. To me this is affirmable
+of "Fifine at the Fair." The poet seems to know so very well what he is
+doing. If he did not take the reader so much into his confidence, if he
+would rely more upon the liberal grace of his earlier verse and less
+upon the trained subtlety of his athletic intellect, the charm would be
+the greater. The poem would have a surer duration as one of the author's
+greater achievements, if there were more frequent and more prolonged
+insistence on the note struck in the lines (§ lxxiii.) about the
+hill-stream, infant of mist and dew, falling over the ledge of the
+fissured cliff to find its fate in smoke below, as it disappears into
+the deep, "embittered evermore, to make the sea one drop more big
+thereby:" or in the cloudy splendour of the description of nightfall (§
+cvi.): or in the windy spring freshness of
+
+     "Hence, when the earth began afresh its life in May,
+      And fruit-trees bloomed, and waves would wanton, and the bay
+      Ruffle its wealth of weed, and stranger-birds arrive,
+      And beasts take each a mate." ...
+
+But its chief fault seems to me to be its lack of that transmutive glow
+of rhythmic emotion without which no poem can endure. This rhythmic
+energy is, inherently, a distinct thing from intellectual emotion.
+Metric music may be alien to the adequate expression of the latter,
+whereas rhythmic emotion can have no other appropriate issue. Of course,
+in a sense, all creative art is rhythmic in kind: but here I am speaking
+only of that creative energy which evolves the germinal idea through the
+medium of language. The energy of the intellect under creative stimulus
+may produce lordly issues in prose: but poetry of a high intellectual
+order can be the outcome only of an intellect fused to white heat, of
+intellectual emotion on fire--as, in the fine saying of George Meredith,
+passion is noble strength on fire. Innumerable examples could be taken
+from any part of the poem, but as it would not be just to select the
+most obviously defective passages, here are two which are certainly
+fairly representative of the general level--
+
+     "And I became aware, scarcely the word escaped my lips, that swift
+      ensued in silence and by stealth, and yet with certitude, a
+      formidable change of the amphitheatre which held the Carnival;
+      _although the human stir continued just the same amid that shift
+      of scene_." (No. CV.)
+
+     "And where i' the world is all this wonder, you detail so
+      trippingly, espied? My mirror would reflect a tall, thin, pale,
+      deep-eyed personage, pretty once, it may be, doubtless still
+      loving--certain grace yet lingers if you will--but all this
+      wonder, where?" (No. XL.)
+
+
+Here, and in a hundred other such passages, we have the rhythm, if not
+of the best prose, at least not that of poetry. Will "Fifine" and poems
+of its kind stand re-reading, re-perusal over and over? That is one of
+the most definite tests. In the pressure of life can we afford much time
+to anything but the very best--nay, to the vast mass even of that which
+closely impinges thereupon?
+
+For myself, in the instance of "Fifine," I admit that if re-perusal be
+controlled by pleasure I am content (always excepting a few scattered
+noble passages) with the Prologue and Epilogue. A little volume of those
+Summaries of Browning's--how stimulating a companion it would be in
+those hours when the mind would fain breathe a more liberal air!
+
+As for "Jocoseria,"[24] it seems to me the poorest of Browning's works,
+and I cannot help thinking that ultimately the only gold grain
+discoverable therein will be "Ixion," the beautiful penultimate poem
+beginning--
+
+     "Never the time and the place
+        And the loved one altogether;"
+
+and the thrush-like overture, closing--
+
+     "What of the leafage, what of the flower?
+      Roses embowering with nought they embower!
+      Come then! complete incompletion, O comer,
+      Pant through the blueness, perfect the summer!
+               Breathe but one breath
+               Rose-beauty above,
+               And all that was death
+               Grows life, grows love,
+                  Grows love!"
+
+[Footnote 24: In a letter to a friend, along with an early copy of this
+book, Browning stated that "the title is taken from the work of Melander
+(_Schwartzmann_), reviewed, by a curious coincidence, in the
+_Blackwood_ of this month. I referred to it in a note to 'Paracelsus.'
+The two Hebrew quotations (put in to give a grave look to what is mere fun
+and invention) being translated amount to (1) 'A Collection of Many Lies':
+and (2), an old saying, 'From Moses to Moses arose none like Moses'......"]
+
+In 1881 the "Browning Society" was established. It is easy to ridicule
+any institution of the kind--much easier than to be considerate of other
+people's earnest convictions and aims, or to be helpful to their object.
+There is always a ridiculous side to excessive enthusiasm, particularly
+obvious to persons incapable of enthusiasm of any kind. With some
+mistakes, and not a few more or less grotesque absurdities, the members
+of the various English and American Browning Societies are yet to be
+congratulated on the good work they have, collectively, accomplished.
+Their publications are most interesting and suggestive: ultimately they
+will be invaluable. The members have also done a good work in causing
+some of Browning's plays to be produced again on the stage, and in Miss
+Alma Murray and others have found sympathetic and able exponents of some
+of the poet's most attractive _dramatis personæ_. There can be no
+question as to the powerful impetus given by the Society to Browning's
+steadily-increasing popularity. Nothing shows his judicious good sense
+more than the letter he wrote, privately, to Mr. Edmund Yates, at the
+time of the Society's foundation.
+
+      "The Browning Society, I need not say, as well as Browning
+      himself, are fair game for criticism. I had no more to do with the
+      founding it than the babe unborn; and, as Wilkes was no Wilkeite,
+      I am quite other than a Browningite. But I cannot wish harm to a
+      society of, with a few exceptions, names unknown to me, who are
+      busied about my books so disinterestedly. The exaggerations
+      probably come of the fifty-years'-long charge of unintelligibility
+      against my books; such reactions are possible, though I never
+      looked for the beginning of one so soon. That there is a grotesque
+      side to the thing is certain; but I have been surprised and
+      touched by what cannot but have been well intentioned, I think.
+      Anyhow, as I never felt inconvenienced by hard words, you will not
+      expect me to wax bumptious because of undue compliment: so enough
+      of 'Browning,'--except that he is yours very truly, 'while this
+      machine is to him.'"
+
+
+The latter years of the poet were full of varied interest for himself,
+but present little of particular significance for specification in a
+monograph so concise as this must perforce be. Every year he went
+abroad, to France or to Italy, and once or twice on a yachting trip in
+the Mediterranean.[25] At home--for many years, at 19 Warwick Crescent,
+in what some one has called the dreary Mesopotamia of Paddington, and
+for the last three or four years of his life at 29 De Vere Gardens,
+Kensington Gore--his avocations were so manifold that it is difficult to
+understand where he had leisure for his vocation. Everybody wished him
+to come to dine; and he did his utmost to gratify Everybody. He saw
+everything; read all the notable books; kept himself acquainted with the
+leading contents of the journals and magazines; conducted a large
+correspondence; read new French, German, and Italian books of mark; read
+and translated Euripides and Æschylus; knew all the gossip of the
+literary clubs, salons, and the studios; was a frequenter of
+afternoon-tea parties; and then, over and above it, he was Browning: the
+most profoundly subtle mind that has exercised itself in poetry since
+Shakspere. His personal grace and charm of manner never failed. Whether
+he was dedicating "Balaustion's Adventure" in terms of gracious
+courtesy, or handing a flower from some jar of roses, or lilies, or his
+favourite daffodils, with a bright smile or merry glance, to the lady of
+his regard, or when sending a copy of a new book of poetry with an
+accompanying letter expressed with rare felicity, or when generously
+prophesying for a young poet the only true success if he will but listen
+and act upon "the inner voice,"--he was in all these, and in all things,
+the ideal gentleman. There is so charming and characteristic a touch in
+the following note to a girl-friend, that I must find room for it:--
+
+      29 De Vere Gardens, W.,
+      _6th July_ 1889.
+
+      MY BELOVED ALMA,--I had the honour yesterday of dining with the
+      Shah, whereupon the following dialogue:--
+
+      "Vous êtes poëte?"
+
+      "On s'est permis de me le dire quelquefois."
+
+      "Et vous avez fait des livres?"
+
+      "Trop de livres."
+
+      "Voulez-vous m'en donner un, afin que je puisse me ressouvenir de
+      vous?"
+
+      "Avec plaisir."
+
+      I have been accordingly this morning to town, where the thing is
+      procurable, and as I chose a volume of which I judged the binding
+      might take the imperial eye, I said to myself, "Here do I present
+      my poetry to a personage for whom I do not care three straws; why
+      should I not venture to do as much for a young lady I love dearly,
+      who, for the author's sake, will not impossibly care rather for
+      the inside than the outside of the volume?" So I was bold enough
+      to take one and offer it for your kind acceptance, begging you to
+      remember in days to come that the author, whether a good poet or
+      no, was always, my Alma, your affectionate friend,
+
+      ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+
+[Footnote 25: It was on his first experience of this kind, more than a
+quarter of a century earlier, that he wrote the nobly patriotic lines of
+"Home Thoughts from the Sea," and that flawless strain of bird-music,
+"Home Thoughts from Abroad:" then, also, that he composed "How they
+brought the Good News." Concerning the last, he wrote, in 1881 (_vide
+The Academy_, April 2nd), "There is no sort of historical foundation
+about [this poem]. I wrote it under the bulwark of a vessel off the
+African coast, after I had been at it long enough to appreciate even the
+fancy of a gallop on the back of a certain good horse, 'York,' then in
+my stable at home. It was written in pencil on the fly-leaf of Bartoli's
+_Simboli_, I remember."]
+
+His look was a continual and serene gleam. Lamartine, who remarks this
+of Bossuet in his youth, adds a phrase which, as observant acquaintances
+of the poet will agree, might be written of Browning--"His lips quivered
+often without utterance, as if with the wind of an internal speech."
+
+Except for the touching and beautiful letter which he wrote from Asolo
+about two months before his death, to Mr. Wilfrid Meynell, about a young
+writer to whom the latter wished to draw the poet's kindly attention--a
+letter which has a peculiar pathos in the words, "I shall soon depart
+for Venice, on my way homeward"--except for this letter there is none so
+well worth repetition here as his last word to the Poet-Laureate. The
+friendship between these two great poets has in itself the fragrance of
+genius. The letter was written just before Browning left London.
+
+      29 De Vere Gardens, W.,
+      _August 5th_, 1889.
+
+      MY DEAR TENNYSON,--To-morrow is your birthday--indeed, a memorable
+      one. Let me say I associate myself with the universal pride of our
+      country in your glory, and in its hope that for many and many a
+      year we may have your very self among us--secure that your poetry
+      will be a wonder and delight to all those appointed to come after.
+      And for my own part, let me further say, I have loved you dearly.
+      May God bless you and yours.
+
+      At no moment from first to last of my acquaintance with your
+      works, or friendship with yourself, have I had any other feeling,
+      expressed or kept silent, than this which an opportunity allows me
+      to utter--that I am and ever shall be, my dear Tennyson,
+      admiringly and affectionately yours,
+
+      ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+
+Shortly after this he was at Asolo once more, the little hill-town in
+the Veneto, which he had visited in his youth, and where he heard again
+the echo of Pippa's song--
+
+     "God's in His heaven,
+      All's right with the world!"
+
+Mr. W.W. Story writes to me that he spent three days with the poet at
+this time, and that the latter seemed, except for a slight asthma, to be
+as vigorous in mind and body as ever. Thence, later in the autumn, he
+went to Venice, to join his son and daughter-in-law at the home where he
+was "to have a corner for his old age," the beautiful Palazzo Rezzonico,
+on the Grand Canal. He was never happier, more sanguine, more joyous,
+than here. He worked for three or four hours each morning, walked daily
+for about two hours, crossed occasionally to the Lido with his sister,
+and in the evenings visited friends or went to the opera. But for some
+time past, his heart--always phenomenally slow in its action, and of
+late ominously intermittent--had been noticeably weaker. As he suffered
+no pain and little inconvenience, he paid no particular attention to the
+matter. Browning had as little fear of death as doubt in God. In a
+controlling Providence he did indeed profoundly believe. He felt, with
+Joubert, that "it is not difficult to believe in God, if one does not
+worry oneself to define Him."[26]
+
+[Footnote 26: "Browning's 'orthodoxy' brought him into many a combat
+with his rationalistic friends, some of whom could hardly believe that
+he took his doctrine seriously. Such was the fact, however; indeed, I
+have heard that he once stopped near an open-air assembly which an
+atheist was haranguing, and, in the freedom of his _incognito_, gave
+strenuous battle to the opinions uttered. To one who had spoken of an
+expected 'Judgment Day' as a superstition, I heard him say: 'I don't see
+that. Why should there not be a settling day in the universe, as when a
+master settles with his workmen at the end of the week?' There was
+something in his tone and manner which suggested his dramatic conception
+of religious ideas and ideals."--MONCURE D. CONWAY.]
+
+"How should externals satisfy my soul?" was his cry in "Sordello," and
+it was the fundamental strain of all his poetry, as the fundamental
+motive is expressible in
+
+     "--a loving worm within its sod
+      Were diviner than a loveless god
+      Amid his worlds"--
+
+love being with him the golden key wherewith to unlock the world of the
+universe, of the soul, of all nature. He is as convinced of the two
+absolute facts of God and Soul as Cardinal Newman in writing of "Two and
+two only, supreme and luminously self-evident beings, myself and my
+Creator." Most fervently he believes that
+
+     "Haply for us the ideal dawn shall break ...
+      And set our pulse in tune with moods divine"--
+
+though, co-equally, in the necessity of "making man sole sponsor of
+himself." Ever and again, of course, he was betrayed by the bewildering
+and defiant puzzle of life: seeing in the face of the child the seed of
+sorrow, "in the green tree an ambushed flame, in Phosphor a vaunt-guard
+of Night." Yet never of him could be written that thrilling saying which
+Sainte-Beuve uttered of Pascal, "That lost traveller who yearns for
+home, who, strayed without a guide in a dark forest, takes many times
+the wrong road, goes, returns upon his steps, is discouraged, sits down
+at a crossing of the roads, utters cries to which no one responds,
+resumes his march with frenzy and pain, throws himself upon the ground
+and wants to die, and reaches home at last only after all sorts of
+anxieties and after sweating blood." No darkness, no tempest, no gloom,
+long confused his vision of 'the ideal dawn.' As the carrier-dove is
+often baffled, yet ere long surely finds her way through smoke and fog
+and din to her far country home, so he too, however distraught, soon or
+late soared to untroubled ether. He had that profound inquietude, which
+the great French critic says 'attests a moral nature of a high rank, and
+a mental nature stamped with the seal of the archangel.' But, unlike
+Pascal--who in Sainte-Beuve's words exposes in the human mind itself
+two abysses, "on one side an elevation toward God, toward the morally
+beautiful, a return movement toward an illustrious origin, and on the
+other side an abasement in the direction of evil"--Browning sees,
+believes in, holds to nothing short of the return movement, for one and
+all, toward an illustrious origin.
+
+The crowning happiness of a happy life was his death in the city he
+loved so well, in the arms of his dear ones, in the light of a
+world-wide fame. The silence to which the most eloquent of us must all
+one day lapse came upon him like the sudden seductive twilight of the
+Tropics, and just when he had bequeathed to us one of his finest
+utterances.
+
+It seems but a day or two ago that the present writer heard from the
+lips of the dead poet a mockery of death's vanity--a brave assertion of
+the glory of life. "Death, death! It is this harping on death I despise
+so much," he remarked with emphasis of gesture as well as of speech--the
+inclined head and body, the right hand lightly placed upon the
+listener's knee, the abrupt change in the inflection of the voice, all
+so characteristic of him---"this idle and often cowardly as well as
+ignorant harping! Why should we not change like everything else? In
+fiction, in poetry, in so much of both, French as well as English, and,
+I am told, in American art and literature, the shadow of death--call it
+what you will, despair, negation, indifference--is upon us. But what
+fools who talk thus! Why, _amico mio_, you know as well as I that
+death is life, just as our daily, our momentarily dying body is none the
+less alive and ever recruiting new forces of existence. Without death,
+which is our crapelike churchyardy word for change, for growth, there could
+be no prolongation of that which we call life. Pshaw! it is foolish to
+argue upon such a thing even. For myself, I deny death as an end of
+everything. Never say of me that I am dead!"
+
+On the evening of Thursday, the 12th of December (1889), he was in bed,
+with exceeding weakness. In the centre of the lofty ceiling of the room
+in which he lay, and where it had been his wont to work, there is a
+painting by his son. It depicts an eagle struggling with a serpent, and
+is illustrative of a superb passage in Shelley's "Revolt of Islam." What
+memories, what deep thoughts, it must have suggested; how significant,
+to us, the circumstance! But weak as the poet was, he yet did not see
+the shadow which had begun to chill the hearts of the watchers. Shortly
+before the great bell of San Marco struck ten, he turned and asked if
+any news had come concerning "Asolando," published that day. His son
+read him a telegram from the publishers, telling how great the demand
+was and how favourable were the advance-articles in the leading papers.
+The dying poet smiled and muttered, "How gratifying!" When the last toll
+of St. Mark's had left a deeper stillness than before, those by the
+bedside saw a yet profounder silence on the face of him whom they loved.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is needless to dwell upon the grief everywhere felt and expressed for
+the irreparable loss. The magnificent closing lines of Shelley's
+"Alastor" must have occurred to many a mourner; for gone, indeed, was "a
+surpassing Spirit." The superb pomp of the Venetian funeral, the solemn
+grandeur of the interment in Westminster Abbey, do not seem worth
+recording: so insignificant are all these accidents of death made by the
+supreme fact itself. Yet it is fitting to know that Venice has never in
+modern times afforded a more impressive sight, than those craped
+processional gondolas following the high flower-strewn funeral-barge
+through the thronged water-ways and out across the lagoon to the
+desolate Isle of the Dead: that London has rarely seen aught more solemn
+than the fog-dusked Cathedral spaces, echoing at first with the slow
+tramp of the pall-bearers, and then with the sweet aerial music swaying
+upward the loved familiar words of the 'Lyric Voice' hushed so long
+before. Yet the poet was as much honoured by those humble friends,
+Lambeth artizans and a few poor working-women, who threw sprays of
+laurel before the hearse--by that desolate, starving, woe-weary
+gentleman, shivering in his threadbare clothes, who seemed transfixed
+with a heart-wrung though silent emotion, ere he hurriedly drew from his
+sleeve a large white chrysanthemum, and throwing it beneath the coffin
+as it was lifted inward, disappeared in the crowd, which closed again
+like the sea upon this lost wandering wave.
+
+Who would not honour this mighty dead? All who could be present were
+there, somewhere in the ancient Abbey. One of the greatest, loved and
+admired by the dead poet, had already put the mourning of many into the
+lofty dignity of his verse:--
+
+     "Now dumb is he who waked the world to speak,
+      And voiceless hangs the world beside his bier,
+      Our words are sobs, our cry of praise a tear:
+      We are the smitten mortal, we the weak.
+      We see a spirit on Earth's loftiest peak
+      Shine, and wing hence the way he makes more clear:
+      See a great Tree of Life that never sere
+      Dropped leaf for aught that age or storms might wreak:
+      Such ending is not Death: such living shows
+      What wide illumination brightness sheds
+      From one big heart--to conquer man's old foes:
+      The coward, and the tyrant, and the force
+      Of all those weedy monsters raising heads
+      When Song is murk from springs of turbid source."[27]
+
+[Footnote 27: George Meredith.]
+
+One word more of "light and fleeting shadow." In the greatness of his
+nature he must be ranked with Milton, Defoe, and Scott. His very
+shortcomings, such as they were, were never baneful growths, but mere
+weeds, with a certain pleasant though pungent savour moreover, growing
+upon a rich, an exuberant soil. Pluck one of the least lovely--rather
+call it the unworthy arrow shot at the body of a dead comrade, so
+innocent of ill intent: yet it too has a beauty of its own, for the
+shaft was aflame from the fulness of a heart whose love had withstood
+the chill passage of the years.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the night of Browning's death a new star suddenly appeared in Orion.
+The coincidence is suggestive if we like to indulge in the fancy that in
+that constellation--
+
+     "No more subjected to the change or chance
+      Of the unsteady planets----"
+
+gleam those other "abodes where the Immortals are." Certainly, a
+wandering fire has passed away from us. Whither has it gone? To that
+new star in Orion: or whirled to remote silences in the trail of lost
+meteors? Whence, and for how long, will its rays reach our storm and
+gloom-beleaguered earth?
+
+Such questions cannot meanwhile be solved. Our eyes are still confused
+with the light, with that ardent flame, as we knew it here. But this we
+know, it was indeed "a central fire descending upon many altars." These,
+though touched with but a spark of the immortal principle, bear enduring
+testimony. And what testimony! How heartfelt: happily also how
+widespread, how electrically stimulative!
+
+But the time must come when the poet's personality will have the
+remoteness of tradition: when our perplexed judgments will be as a tale
+of sound and fury, signifying nothing. It is impossible for any student
+of literature, for any interested reader, not to indulge in some
+forecast as to what rank in the poetic hierarchy Robert Browning will
+ultimately occupy. The commonplace as to the impossibility of
+prognosticating the ultimate slow decadence, or slower rise, or, it may
+be, sustained suspension, of a poet's fame, is often insincere, and but
+an excuse of indolence. To dogmatise were the height of presumption as
+well as of folly: but to forego speculation, based upon complete present
+knowledge, for an idle contentment with narrow horizons, were perhaps
+foolisher still. But assuredly each must perforce be content with his
+own prevision. None can answer yet for the generality, whose decisive
+franchise will elect a fit arbiter in due time.
+
+So, for myself, let me summarise what I have already written in several
+sections of this book, and particularly in the closing pages of Chapter
+VI. There, it will be remembered--after having found that Browning's
+highest achievement is in his second period--emphasis was laid on the
+primary importance of his life-work in its having compelled us to the
+assumption of a fresh critical standpoint involving the construction of
+a new definition. In the light of this new definition I think Browning
+will ultimately be judged. As the sculptor in "Pippa Passes" was the
+predestinated novel thinker in marble, so Browning himself appears as
+the predestinated novel thinker in verse; the novel thinker, however, in
+degree, not in kind. But I do not for a moment believe that his
+greatness is in his status as a thinker: even less, that the poet and
+the thinker are indissociable. Many years ago Sainte-Beuve destroyed
+this shallow artifice of pseudo-criticism: "Venir nous dire que tout
+poëte de talent est, par essence, un grand _penseur_, et que tout vrai
+_penseur_ est nécessairement artiste et poëte, c'est une prétention
+insoutenable et que dément à chaque instant la réalité."
+
+When Browning's enormous influence upon the spiritual and mental life of
+our day--an influence ever shaping itself to wise and beautiful
+issues--shall have lost much of its immediate import, there will still
+surely be discerned in his work a formative energy whose resultant is
+pure poetic gain. It is as the poet he will live: not merely as the
+"novel thinker in verse." Logically, his attitude as 'thinker' is
+unimpressive. It is the attitude, as I think some one has pointed out,
+of acquiescence with codified morality. In one of his _Causeries_, the
+keen French critic quoted above has a remark upon the great Bossuet,
+which may with singular aptness be repeated of Browning:--"His is the
+Hebrew genius extended, fecundated by Christianity, and open to all the
+acquisitions of the understanding, but retaining some degree of
+sovereign interdiction, and closing its vast horizon precisely where its
+light ceases." Browning cannot, or will not, face the problem of the
+future except from the basis of assured continuity of individual
+existence. He is so much in love with life, for life's sake, that he
+cannot even credit the possibility of incontinuity; his assurance of
+eternity in another world is at least in part due to his despair at not
+being eternal in this. He is so sure, that the intellectually scrupulous
+detect the odours of hypotheses amid the sweet savour of indestructible
+assurance. Schopenhauer says, in one of those recently-found Annotations
+of his which are so characteristic and so acute, "that which is called
+'mathematical certainty' is the cane of a blind man without a dog, or
+equilibrium in darkness." Browning would sometimes have us accept the
+evidence of his 'cane' as all-sufficient. He does not entrench himself
+among conventions: for he already finds himself within the fortified
+lines of convention, and remains there. Thus is true what Mr. Mortimer
+says in a recent admirable critique--"His position in regard to the
+thought of the age is paradoxical, if not inconsistent. He is in advance
+of it in every respect but one, the most important of all, the matter of
+fundamental principles; in these he is behind it. His processes of
+thought are often scientific in their precision of analysis; the sudden
+conclusion which he imposes upon them is transcendental and inept."
+Browning's conclusions, which harmonise so well with our haphazard
+previsionings, are sometimes so disastrously facile that they exercise
+an insurrectionary influence. They occasionally suggest that wisdom of
+Gotham which is ever ready to postulate the certainty of a fulfilment
+because of the existence of a desire. It is this that vitiates so much
+of his poetic reasoning. Truth may ring regnant in the lines of Abt
+Vogler--
+
+     "And what is our failure here but a triumph's evidence
+      For the fulness of the days?"--
+
+but, unfortunately, the conclusion is, in itself, illogical.
+
+We are all familiar with, and in this book I have dwelt more than once
+upon, Browning's habitual attitude towards Death. It is not a novel one.
+The frontage is not so much that of the daring pioneer, as the sedate
+assurance of 'the oldest inhabitant.' It is of good hap, of welcome
+significance: none the less there is an aspect of our mortality of which
+the poet's evasion is uncompromising and absolute. I cannot do better
+than quote Mr. Mortimer's noteworthy words hereupon, in connection,
+moreover, with Browning's artistic relation to Sex, that other great
+Protagonist in the relentless duel of Humanity with Circumstance. "The
+final inductive hazard he declines for himself; his readers may take it
+if they will. It is part of the insistent and perverse ingenuity which
+we display in masking with illusion the more disturbing elements of
+life. Veil after veil is torn down, but seldom before another has been
+slipped behind it, until we acquiesce without a murmur in the
+concealment that we ourselves have made. Two facts thus carefully
+shrouded from full vision by elaborate illusion conspicuously round in
+our lives--the life-giving and life-destroying elements, Sex and Death.
+We are compelled to occasional physiologic and economic discussion of
+the one, but we shrink from recognising the full extent to which it
+bases the whole social fabric carefully concealing its insurrections,
+and ignoring or misreading their lessons. The other, in certain aspects,
+we are compelled to face, but to do it we tipple on illusions, from our
+cradle upwards, in dread of the coming grave, purchasing a drug for our
+poltroonery at the expense of our sanity. We uphold our wayward steps
+with the promises and the commandments for crutches, but on either side
+of us trudge the shadow Death and the bacchanal Sex, and we mumble
+prayers against the one, while we scourge ourselves for leering at the
+other. On one only of these can Browning be said to have spoken with
+novel force--the relations of sex, which he has treated with a subtlety
+and freedom, and often with a beauty, unapproached since Goethe. On the
+problem of Death, except in masquerade of robes and wings, his eupeptic
+temperament never allowed him to dwell. He sentimentalised where
+Shakspere thought." Browning's whole attitude to the Hereafter is
+different from that of Tennyson only in that the latter 'faintly,' while
+he strenuously, "trusts the larger hope." To him all credit, that,
+standing upon the frontiers of the Past, he can implicitly trust the
+Future.
+
+     "High-hearted surely he;
+      But bolder they who first off-cast
+      Their moorings from the habitable Past."
+
+The teacher may be forgotten, the prophet may be hearkened to no more,
+but a great poet's utterance is never temporal, having that in it which
+conserves it against the antagonism of time, and the ebb and flow of
+literary ideals. What range, what extent of genius! As Mr. Frederick
+Wedmore has well said, 'Browning is not a book--he is a literature.'
+
+But that he will "stand out gigantic" in _mass_ of imperishable work,
+in that far-off day, I for one cannot credit. His poetic shortcomings seem
+too essential to permit of this. That fatal excess of cold over emotive
+thought, of thought that, however profound, incisive, or scrupulously
+clear, is not yet impassioned, is a fundamental defect of his. It is the
+very impetuosity of this mental energy to which is due the miscalled
+obscurity of much of Browning's work--miscalled, because, however remote
+in his allusions, however pedantic even, he is never obscure in his
+thought. His is that "palace infinite which darkens with excess of
+light." But mere excess in itself is nothing more than symptomatic.
+Browning has suffered more from intellectual exploitation than any
+writer. It is a ruinous process--for the poet. "He so well repays
+intelligent study." That is it, unfortunately. There are many, like the
+old Scotch lady who attempted to read Carlyle's _French Revolution_,
+who think they have become "daft" when they encounter a passage such as,
+for example,
+
+                               "Rivals, who ...
+      Tuned, from Bocafoli's stark-naked psalms,
+      To Plara's sonnets spoilt by toying with,
+      'As knops that stud some almug to the pith
+      'Prickèd for gum, wry thence, and crinkled worse
+      'Than pursèd eyelids of a river-horse
+      'Sunning himself o' the slime when whirrs the breeze--
+      _Gad-fly,_ that is."
+
+The old lady persevered with Carlyle, and, after a few days, found "she
+was nae sae daft, but that she had tackled a varra dee-fee-cult author."
+What would even that indomitable student have said to the above
+quotation, and to the poem whence it comes? To many it is not the
+poetry, but the difficulties, that are the attraction. They rejoice,
+after long and frequent dippings, to find their plummet, almost lost in
+remote depths, touch bottom. Enough 'meaning' has been educed from
+'Childe Roland,' to cite but one instance, to start a School of
+Philosophy with: though it so happens that the poem is an imaginative
+fantasy, written in one day. Worse still, it was not inspired by the
+mystery of existence, but by 'a red horse with a glaring eye standing
+behind a dun one on a piece of tapestry that used to hang in the poet's
+drawing-room.'[28] Of all his faults, however, the worst is that
+jugglery, that inferior legerdemain, with the elements of the beautiful
+in verse: most obvious in "Sordello," in portions of "The Ring and the
+Book," and in so many of the later poems. These inexcusable violations
+are like the larvæ within certain vegetable growths: soon or late they
+will destroy their environment before they perish themselves. Though
+possessive above all others of that science of the percipient in the
+allied arts of painting and music, wherein he found the unconventional
+Shelley so missuaded by convention, he seemed ever more alert to the
+substance than to the manner of poetry. In a letter of Mrs. Browning's
+she alludes to a friend's "melodious feeling" for poetry. Possibly the
+phrase was accidental, but it is significant. To inhale the vital air of
+poetry we must love it, not merely find it "interesting," "suggestive,"
+"soothing," "stimulative": in a word, we must have a "melodious feeling"
+for poetry before we can deeply enjoy it. Browning, who has so often
+educed from his lyre melodies and harmonies of transcendent, though
+novel, beauty, was too frequently, during composition, without this
+melodious feeling of which his wife speaks. The distinction between
+literary types such as Browning or Balzac on the one hand, and Keats or
+Gustave Flaubert on the other, is that with the former there exists a
+reverence for the vocation and a relative indifference to the means, in
+themselves--and, with the latter, a scrupulous respect for the mere
+means as well as for that to which they conduce. The poet who does not
+love words for themselves, as an artist loves any chance colour upon his
+palette, or as the musician any vagrant tone evoked by a sudden touch in
+idleness or reverie, has not entered into the full inheritance of the
+sons of Apollo. The writer cannot aim at beauty, that which makes
+literature and art, without this heed--without, rather, this creative
+anxiety: for it is certainly not enough, as some one has said, that
+language should be used merely for the transportation of intelligence,
+as a wheelbarrow carries brick. Of course, Browning is not persistently
+neglectful of this fundamental necessity for the literary artist. He is
+often as masterly in this as in other respects. But he is not always,
+not often enough, alive to the paramount need. He writes with "the verse
+being as the mood it paints:" but, unfortunately, the mood is often
+poetically unformative. He had no passion for the quest for seductive
+forms. Too much of his poetry has been born prematurely. Too much of it,
+indeed, has not died and been born again--for all immortal verse is a
+poetic resurrection. Perfect poetry is the deathless part of mortal
+beauty. The great artists never perpetuate gross actualities, though
+they are the supreme realists. It is Schiller, I think, who says in
+effect, that to live again in the serene beauty of art, it is needful
+that things should first die in reality. Thus Browning's dramatic
+method, even, is sometimes disastrous in its untruth, as in Caliban's
+analytical reasoning--an initial absurdity, as Mr. Berdoe has pointed
+out, adding epigrammatically, 'Caliban is a savage, with the
+introspective powers of a Hamlet, and the theology of an evangelical
+Churchman.' Not only Caliban, but several other of Browning's personages
+(Aprile, Eglamour, etc.) are what Goethe calls _schwankende
+Gestalten_, mere "wavering images."
+
+[Footnote 28: One account says 'Childe Roland' was written in three
+days; another, that it was composed in one. Browning's rapidity in
+composition was extraordinary. "The Return of the Druses" was written in
+five days, an act a day; so, also, was the "Blot on the 'Scutcheon."]
+
+Montaigne, in one of his essays, says that to stop gracefully is sure
+proof of high race in a horse: certainly to stop in time is imperative
+upon the poet. Of Browning may be said what Poe wrote of another, that
+his genius was too impetuous for the minuter technicalities of that
+elaborate _art_ so needful in the building up of monuments for
+immortality. But has not a greater than Poe declared that "what
+distinguishes the artist from the amateur is _architectoniké_ in the
+highest sense; that power of execution which creates, forms, and
+constitutes: not the profoundness of single thoughts, not the richness
+of imagery, not the abundance of illustration." Assuredly, no "new
+definition" can be an effective one which conflicts with Goethe's
+incontrovertible dictum.
+
+But this much having been admitted, I am only too willing to protest
+against the uncritical outcry against Browning's musical incapacity.
+
+A deficiency is not incapacity, otherwise Coleridge, at his highest the
+most perfect of our poets, would be lowly estimated.
+
+     "Bid shine what would, dismiss into the shade
+      What should not be--and there triumphs the paramount
+      Surprise o' the master." ...
+
+Browning's music is oftener harmonic than melodic: and musicians know
+how the general ear, charmed with immediately appellant melodies,
+resents, wearies of, or is deaf to the harmonies of a more remote, a
+more complex, and above all a more novel creative method. He is, among
+poets, what Wagner is among musicians; as Shakspere may be likened to
+Beethoven, or Shelley to Chopin. The common assertion as to his
+incapacity for metric music is on the level of those affirmations as to
+his not being widely accepted of the people, when the people have the
+chance; or as to the indifference of the public to poetry generally--and
+this in an age when poetry has never been so widely understood, loved,
+and valued, and wherein it is yearly growing more acceptable and more
+potent!
+
+A great writer is to be adjudged by his triumphs, not by his failures:
+as, to take up Montaigne's simile again, a famous race-horse is
+remembered for its successes and not for the races which it lost. The
+tendency with certain critics is to reverse the process. Instead of
+saying with the archbishop in Horne's "Gregory VII.," "He owes it all
+to his Memnonian voice! He has no genius:" or of declaring, as Prospero
+says of Caliban in "The Tempest," "He is as disproportioned in his
+manners as in his shape:" how much better to affirm of him what Ben
+Jonson wrote of Shakspere, "Hee redeemed his vices with his vertues:
+there was ever more in him to bee praysed than to bee pardoned." In the
+balance of triumphs and failures, however, is to be sought the relative
+measure of genius--whose equipoise should be the first matter of
+ascertainment in comparative criticism.
+
+For those who would discriminate between what Mr. Traill succinctly
+terms his _generic_ greatness as thinker and man of letters, and his
+_specific_ power as poet, it is necessary to disabuse the mind of
+Browning's "message." The question is not one of weighty message, but of
+artistic presentation. To praise a poem because of its optimism is like
+commending a peach because it loves the sunshine, rather than because of
+its distinguishing bloom and savour. The primary concern of the artist
+must be with his vehicle of expression. In the instance of a poet, this
+vehicle is language emotioned to the white-heat of rhythmic music by
+impassioned thought or sensation. Schopenhauer declares it is all a
+question of style now with poetry; that everything has been sung, that
+everything has been duly cursed, that there is nothing left for poetry
+but to be the glowing forge of words. He forgets that in quintessential
+art there is nothing of the past, nothing old: even the future has part
+therein only in that the present is always encroaching upon, becoming,
+the future. The famous pessimistic philosopher has, in common with other
+critics, made, in effect, the same remark--that Style exhales the odour
+of the soul: yet he himself has indicated that the strength of Shakspere
+lay in the fact that 'he had no taste,' that 'he was not a man of
+letters.' Whenever genius has displayed epic force it has established a
+new order. In the general disintegration and reconstruction of literary
+ideals thus involved, it is easier to be confused by the novel flashing
+of strange lights than to discern the central vivifying altar-flame. It
+may prove that what seem to us the regrettable accidents of Browning's
+genius are no malfortunate flaws, but as germane thereto as his
+Herculean ruggednesses are to Shakspere, as the laboured inversions of
+his blank verse are to Milton, as his austere concision is to Dante.
+Meanwhile, to the more exigent among us at any rate, the flaws seem
+flaws, and in nowise essential.
+
+But when we find weighty message and noble utterance in union, as we do
+in the magnificent remainder after even the severest ablation of the
+poor and mediocre portion of Browning's life-work, how beneficent seem
+the generous gods! Of this remainder most aptly may be quoted these
+lines from "The Ring and the Book,"
+
+     "Gold as it was, is, shall be evermore;
+      Prime nature with an added artistry."
+
+How gladly, in this dubious hour--when, as an eminent writer has phrased
+it, a colossal Hand, which some call the hand of Destiny and others that
+of Humanity, is putting out the lights of Heaven one by one, like
+candles after a feast--how gladly we listen to this poet with his serene
+faith in God, and immortal life, and the soul's unending development!
+"Hope hard in the subtle thing that's Spirit," he cries in the Prologue
+to "Pacchiarotto": and this, in manifold phrasing, is his
+_leit-motif_, his fundamental idea, in unbroken line from the
+"Pauline" of his twenty-first to the "Asolando" of his seventy-sixth year.
+This superb phalanx of faith--what shall prevail against it?
+
+How winsome it is, moreover: this, and the humanity of his song.
+Profoundly he realised that there is no more significant study than the
+human heart. "The development of a soul: little else is worth study," he
+wrote in his preface to "Sordello": so in his old age, in his last
+"Reverie"--
+
+     "As the record from youth to age
+        Of my own, the single soul--
+      So the world's wide book: one page
+        Deciphered explains the whole
+      Of our common heritage."
+
+He had faith also that "the record from youth to age" of his own soul
+would outlast any present indifference or neglect--that whatever tide
+might bear him away from our regard for a time would ere long flow
+again. The reaction must come: it is, indeed, already at hand. But one
+almost fancies one can hear the gathering of the remote waters once
+more. We may, with Strafford,
+
+                                  "feel sure
+      That Time, who in the twilight comes to mend
+      All the fantastic day's caprice, consign
+      To the low ground once more the ignoble Term,
+      And raise the Genius on his orb again,--
+      That Time will do me right." ...
+
+Indeed, Browning has the grand manner, for all it is more that of the
+Scandinavian Jarl than of the Italian count or Spanish grandee.
+
+And ever, below all the stress and failure, below all the triumph of his
+toil, is the beauty of his dream. It was "a surpassing Spirit" that went
+from out our midst.
+
+     "One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,
+             Never doubted clouds would break,
+      Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
+      Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
+                    Sleep to wake."
+
+"Speed, fight on, fare ever There as here!" are the last words of this
+brave soul. In truth, "the air seems bright with his past presence yet."
+
+     "Sun-treader--life and light be thine for ever;
+      Thou art gone from us--years go by--and spring
+      Gladdens, and the young earth is beautiful,
+      Yet thy songs come not--other bards arise,
+      But none like thee--they stand--thy majesties,
+      Like mighty works which tell some Spirit there
+      Hath sat regardless of neglect and scorn,
+      Till, its long task completed, it hath risen
+      And left us, never to return."
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+A.
+
+"Abt Vogler," 130, 172, 202
+"A Face," 130
+"A Forgiveness," 130
+"After," 130
+"Agamemnon of Æschylus," 182
+"A Grammarian's Funeral," 129, 168
+"A Likeness," 130
+Alma ----, Letter to, 191
+"Amphibian," 130
+Ancona, 150
+"Andrea del Sarto," 130, 168
+"Andromeda," 25
+"Another way of Love," 130
+"Any Wife to any Husband," 129, 168
+"A Pearl," 130
+"Apparent Failure," 130, 172
+"Appearances," 130
+Appearance, Browning's personal, 74, 161
+Aprile, 107, 204, 207
+"Aristophanes' Apology," 182
+"Ask not one least word of praise," 130
+"Asolando," 22, 39, 128, 131, 182, 196, 207, 210
+Asolo, 58, 192
+"A Soul's Tragedy," 89, 91, 179
+"Athenæum, The," 73
+"A Toccata of Galuppi's," 130, 168
+"Aurora Leigh," 118, 152, 166, 169, 170
+
+
+B.
+
+Bagni di Lucca, 157, 165
+Bailey's "Festus," 114
+"Balaustion's Adventure," 182, 190
+Balzac, 36, 114, 138, 185, 203, 206
+Barrett, Arabella, 54, 174
+Barrett, Edward, 136
+Barrett, Mr., 144, 161, 170
+"Beatrice Signorini," 131
+Beautiful in Verse, the, 206-7
+Beethoven, 209
+"Before," 130
+"Bells and Pomegranates," 76, 81, 138
+"Ben Karshook's Wisdom," 167
+Berdoe, E., 68, 204, 207
+"Bifurcations," 130
+"Bishop Blougram," 93, 179
+Blake, William, 94
+"Blot on the 'Scutcheon, A," 79, 88, 89, 90, 91, 206
+Bossuet and Browning, 191
+Browning, Clara, 21
+Browning, Elizabeth Barrett:
+  Browning's early influence on, 92;
+  born March 4, 1809, 136;
+  her girlhood and early work, 136;
+  death of brother, 136;
+  residence in London, 137;
+  "The Cry of the Children," 137;
+  friendships with Horne and Kenyon, 137;
+  her appreciation of Browning's poems, 138;
+  correspondence with him, 138;
+  engagement, 139;
+  acquaintance with Mrs. Jameson, 143;
+  marriage, 145;
+  Mr. Barrett's resentment, 144;
+  journey to Paris, 145;
+  thence to Pisa, 146;
+  Browning's love for his wife, 146;
+  "Sonnets from the Portuguese," 147;
+  in spring to Florence, 150;
+  to Ancona, _via_ Ravenna, in June, 150;
+  winter at Casa Guidi, 152;
+  "Aurora Leigh," 152;
+  description of poetess, 153, 154;
+  birth of son in 1849, 157;
+  "Casa Guidi Windows," 159;
+  1850, spring in Rome; proposal to confer poet-laureateship on
+      Mrs. Browning, 159, 161;
+  1851, visits England, 161;
+  winter in Paris, 162;
+  she is enthusiastic about Napoleon III. and interested in Spiritualism;
+  summer in London, 162;
+  autumn at Casa Guidi, 162;
+  winter 1853-4 in Rome, 1856 "Aurora Leigh," death of Kenyon,
+      legacies, 170;
+  1857, death of Mr. Barrett, 170;
+  1858, delicacy of Mrs. Browning, 171;
+  July 1858, Brownings travel to Normandy; "Two Poems by Elizabeth
+      Barrett and Robert Browning," 1854, 173;
+  1860, "Poems before Congress," and death of Arabella Barrett, 160;
+  "North and South," 174;
+  return to Casa Guidi, and death on 28th June 1861, 175, 206
+Browning, Reuben, 18, 19, 20
+Browning, Robert:
+  born in London in 1812, 11, 13, 19;
+  his literary and artistic antecedents and contemporaries, 12-14;
+  his parentage and ancestry, 15, 17-19;
+  concerning traces of Semitic origin, 15-19;
+  his sisters, 20;
+  his father, 18;
+  his mother, 20, 23;
+  his uncle, Reuben Browning, 20;
+  the Camberwell home, 23;
+  his childhood, 22;
+  early poems, 25;
+  translation of the odes of Horace, 26;
+  goes to school at Peckham, 27;
+  his holiday afternoons, 27;
+  "Death of Harold," 29;
+  criticisms of Miss Flower and Mr. Fox, 30;
+  he reads Shelley's and Keats's poems, 30, 31;
+  he has a tutor, 33;
+  attends Gower Street University College, 34;
+  he decides to be a poet, 35;
+  writes "Pauline," 1832, 36;
+  it is published in 1833, 39;
+  "Pauline," 39-49;
+  criticisms thereon, 49;
+  Rossetti and "Pauline," studies at British Museum, 52, 53;
+  travels in 1833 to Russia, 57;
+  to Italy, 58;
+  return to Camberwell, 1834, 58, and begins "Paracelsus," sonnet
+      signed "Z," 1834, 60;
+  love for Venice, 62;
+  "Paracelsus," 59, 62;
+  criticisms thereon, 71, 73;
+  he meets Macready, 73;
+  "Narses," 76;
+  he meets Talfourd, Wordsworth, Landor, 77;
+  "Strafford," 79;
+  his dramas, 85;
+  his love of the country, 95;
+  "Pippa Passes," 96, 98;
+  "Sordello," 105;
+  origin of "The Ring and the Book," 1865;
+  "The Ring and the Book," 113-119;
+  "The Inn Album," 127;
+  "Men and Women," 128;
+  proposed "Transcripts from Life," 129;
+  "Flower o' the Vine," 131;
+  correspondence between him and Miss Barrett, 136;
+  meeting in 1846, 138;
+  engagement, 140;
+  marriage, 12th September 1846, 145;
+  sojourn in Pisa, 146;
+  they go to Florence, 148;
+  to Ancona, _via_ Ravenna, 150;
+  "The Guardian Angel," 150;
+  Casa Guidi, 152;
+  birth of son, March 9th, 1849, 157;
+  they go to Vallombrosa and Bagni di Lucca for the autumn, and winter
+      at Casa Guidi, 156;
+  spring of 1850 in Rome, 159;
+  "Two in the Campagna," 156;
+  1851, they visit England;
+  description of Browning, 161;
+  winter 1851-2 in Paris with Robert Browning, senior, 162;
+  Browning writes Prefatory Essay to Moxon's edition of Shelley's
+      Letters, 163;
+  midsummer, Baths of Lucca, 165;
+  in Florence, 166;
+  "In a Balcony," 166;
+  winter in Rome, 1853-4, 166;
+  the work written there, 167;
+  "Ben Karshook's Wisdom," 167;
+  "Men and Women" published, 168;
+  Kenyon's death, and legacies to the Brownings, 170;
+  poems written between 1855-64, 169;
+  July 1858, Brownings go to Normandy, 173;
+  "Legend of Pornic," "Gold Hair," 173;
+  autumn of 1859 in Sienna; winter 1860-61 in Rome, 173;
+  death of Mrs. Browning, June 1861, 175;
+  "Prospice," 176;
+  1866, Browning loses his father;
+    Miss Sarianna resides with Browning, 177;
+  his ways of life, 177;
+  first collected edition of his works, 1868, 178;
+  first part of "The Ring and the Book" published, 178;
+  "Hervé Riel," 179;
+  Tauchnitz edition, 1872, 179;
+  "Bishop Blougram," 179;
+  "Selections," 180;
+  "La Saisiaz," 1877, 180;
+  "The Two Poets of Croisic," 181;
+  later works, 182;
+  "Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau," "Red Cotton Nightcap Country," 182, 183;
+  "Fifine at the Fair," 183, 184, 185-7;
+  "Jocoseria," 187;
+  1881, Browning Society established, 188;
+  his latter years, 189;
+  revisits Asolo, 191;
+  Palazzo Rezzonico, 192;
+  religious belief, 193;
+  death, December 12th, 1889, 195, 196;
+  funeral, 197;
+  to be estimated by a new definition, 200;
+  as poet, rather than as thinker, 200;
+  his love of life, 201;
+  his, like Bossuet's, a Hebrew genius fecundated by Christianity, 201;
+  his artistic relations to Death and Sex, 201-3;
+  where, in standpoint, he differs from Tennyson, 203;
+  as to quality of his _mass_ of work, 204;
+  intellectually exploited, 204;
+  his difficulties, and their attraction to many, 205;
+  his attitude to the future, influence, and significance, 205-211;
+  summary of his life-work, 200-212.
+Browning, Robert Wiedemann Barrett, 18, 37, 157, 163, 174
+Browning, Robert (senior), 18, 20, 32, 33, 37, 38, 159, 173
+Browning, Sarianna (Mrs.), 21, 25, 29, 32
+Browning, Sarianna (Miss), 20, 177, 188
+Browning Society, the, 160, 188
+Browning, William Shergold, 18
+Byron, 149
+"By the Fireside," 130
+
+
+C.
+
+"Caliban upon Setebos," 172, 207, 209
+Camberwell, 20, 27, 33, 38, 54, 58, 61
+Carlyle, Thomas, 80, 105, 110, 115, 202, 204
+Casa Guidi, 120, 152, 154, 163, 166, 174
+"Cavalier-Tunes," 129
+"Childe Roland," 203, 205
+Chopin, 209
+"Christmas Eve and Easter-Day," 159, 179
+"Cleon," 130
+Coleridge, 208
+"Colombe's Birthday," 89-91
+"Confessional, The," 129
+"Confessions," 130
+Contemporaries, literary and artistic, of Browning, 12-14
+Conway, Moncure, 15, 193
+Cristina, 129
+"Cristina and Manaldeschi," 130
+Cunningham, Allan, 50, 51
+
+
+D.
+
+Dante, 93, 106, 107, 150
+Death, Browning on, 195, 202, 211
+"Death of Harold," 29
+"Death in the Desert, A," 129, 172
+Defoe, 198
+"De Gustibus," 57, 59, 130
+Dickens, Charles, 54, 90
+"Dîs Aliter Visum," 130, 172
+Domett, A. (Waring), 151
+Dramas, Browning's, 82-92
+"Dramatic Idyls," 57, 182
+"Dramatic Romances," 128, 179
+"Dramatis Personæ," 127, 171, 179
+Dulwich Wood, 62, 95, 98, 104-5
+
+
+E.
+
+"Earth's Immortalities," 129
+"Echetlos," 130
+Epics, series of monodramatic, 36
+Equator of Browning's genius, the, 178
+"Evelyn Hope," 129, 168
+
+
+F.
+
+Faucit, Miss Helen, 80
+"Ferishtah's Fancies," 182
+"Fifine at the Fair," 110, 130, 182, 184-7
+Flaubert, Gustave, 206
+"Flight of the Duchess," 27, 129
+"Flower's Name, The," 129, 167
+_Flower o' the Vine_, 131
+Flower, Miss Sarah (afterwards Adams), 30, 52
+Form, Artistic, 206-9
+Forster, John, 50, 73, 76
+Fox, Mrs. Bridell, 59
+Fox, Rev. William Johnson, 30, 50, 51, 52, 54, 73
+"Fra Lippo Lippi," 129, 166, 168
+Furnivall, Dr., 16, 163
+Future, Browning and  the, 201-10
+
+
+G.
+
+Goethe, 114, 203, 207, 208
+"Gold Hair," 172, 173
+Gordon, General, 69
+Gosse, E.W., 81
+"Grammarian's Funeral, A," 129, 168
+"Guardian Angel, The," 130, 150
+
+
+H.
+
+"Halburt and Hob," 130
+Hawthorne, N., 154-5, 171
+"Heap Cassia," etc., 71
+Heine, 57, 165
+"Heretic's Tragedy, The," 129
+"Hervé Riel," 130, 179
+Hillard, G.S., 154-6
+"Holy Cross Day," 167
+"Home Thoughts from Abroad," 57, 129, 157, 189
+"Home Thoughts from the Sea," 57, 129, 189
+Hood, Thomas, 167
+Horne, R.H., 137, 138, 150, 152, 206, 209
+Houghton, Lord, 167
+"How they brought the Good News," etc., 29, 179, 189
+Hugo, Victor, 112, 114
+
+
+I.
+
+"Imperante Augusto," 131
+"In a Balcony," 88, 166, 167, 168, 179
+"In a Gondola," 129
+"Inapprehensiveness," 131
+"In a Year," 130
+"Inn Album, The," 70, 101, 113, 127, 182
+"Instans Tyrannus," 26
+"Italian in England, The," 58
+Italian Art, Music, etc.--Influence of, on Browning, 58
+Italy, first visit to, 56-7
+"Ivàn Ivànovitch," 57, 130
+"Ixion," 188
+
+
+J.
+
+Jameson, Mrs., 143
+"James Lee's Wife," 59, 130, 172
+Jerrold, Douglas, 109
+"Jocoseria," 130, 182, 187
+"Johannes Agricola," 59
+Joubert, 193
+
+
+K.
+
+Karshish, Epistle to, 129, 166
+Keats, 32, 71, 94, 134, 198, 206
+Kenyon, John, 137, 163, 170
+"King Victor and King Charles," 89, 91
+
+
+L.
+
+"Lady and the Painter, The," 131
+Lamartine on Bossuet, 191
+Landor, W.S., 77-9, 92
+"La Saisiaz," 130, 180
+"Last Ride Together, The," 130
+Le Croisie, 178
+Lehmann's, Rudolf, portrait of Browning, 16, 17
+_Leit-Motif_, Browning's, 210
+Letter to a Girl Friend, 191
+"Life in a Love," 130
+"Light Woman, A," 130
+"Lost Leader, The," 78, 129
+"Love among the Ruins," 129, 166, 168
+"Love in a Life," 130
+"Lover's Quarrel, A," 129
+Lowell, J.R., 142
+"Luria," 88, 89-92, 179
+
+
+M.
+
+Macpherson, Mrs., 143-6
+Macready, 74-81
+"Magical Nature," 130
+Manner, Browning's, 211
+Marlowe, 114
+"Mary Wollstonecraft and Fuseli," 130
+"Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha," 130, 168
+"May and Death," 130
+Mazzini, 58
+"Meeting at Night," 129, 158
+"Memorabilia," 130, 166
+"Men and Women," 127-136, 166, 168, 169, 171, 178, 179, 182
+Meredith, George, 123, 124, 186, 198
+Meynell, Wilfrid, 191
+Montaigne, 207
+Mortimer, 201-2
+Motive, Browning's fundamental poetic, 210
+Mill, John Stuart, 51
+Milsand, J., 111
+Milton, 49, 92, 133, 198
+"Misconceptions," 130
+Mitford, Mary, 78
+"Muléykeh," 130
+Murray, Alma, 188
+Music of Browning's verse, 205-10
+"My Last Duchess," 129
+"My Star," 130
+
+
+N.
+
+"Narses," 76
+"Natural Magic," 120
+Nature, Browning's observation of, 96
+Nettleship, J., 75, 107
+"Never the Time and the Place," 130, 188
+Newman, Cardinal, 194
+_New Spirit of the Age_, 138
+Normandy, the Brownings in, 173
+"Now," 131
+"Numpholeptos," 130
+
+
+O.
+
+Obscurity, Browning's, 106, 180
+"Old Pictures in Florence," 130
+"O Lyric Love," 121, 130, 177
+"One Way of Love," 130
+"One Word More," 169, 177
+Optimism, Browning's, 24 (and _vide_ Summary)
+Orion, new star in, 198
+Orr, Mrs. Sutherland, 18, 98, 111, 184
+Orthodoxy, Browning's, 193
+"Over the seas our galleys went," 29
+
+
+P.
+
+"Pacchiarotto," 128-30, 165, 182, 207, 210
+Palazzo Rezzonico, 192
+"Pan and Luna," 130
+"Paracelsus," 50, 58, 60-72, 85, 106, 107
+Paris, the Brownings in, 162
+"Parleyings," 182
+"Parting at Morning," 158
+Pater, Walter, 88
+"Pauline," 25, 32, 36, 38-48, 51-54, 85, 128, 208, 210
+"Pheidippides," 130
+"Pictor Ignotus," 129
+"Pied Piper of Hamelin," 75, 129, 179
+"Pippa Passes," 24, 32, 45, 58, 59, 70, 92, 95-104, 113
+Pisa, 146
+"Pisgah Sights," 130
+Plato, 95
+Poe, E.A., 207
+Poems, Early, 25, 26, 27, 28, 71
+"Poetical Works," 178
+"Poetics," 131
+Pompilia, 58, 122-125
+"Pope, The," 126
+"Popularity," 72
+"Porphyria," 59, 66
+Portraits of Browning, 16, 17, 53
+"Pretty Woman, A," 130
+Primary importance, Browning's, 134
+"Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau," 165, 182, 183
+Profundity, Browning's, 94
+"Prospice," 130, 172, 176
+
+
+R.
+
+Rabbi Ben Ezra, 129, 172
+Rawdon Brown, Sonnet to, 107
+"Red Cotton Nightcap Country," 110, 182-3
+Religious Opinions, 193, etc.
+"Rephan," 131
+"Return of the Druses, The," 37, 89-91, 206
+"Reverie," 131, 207, 210
+Richmond, 38
+"Ring and the Book, The," 39, 101, 113-128, 177, 182, 203, 205, 210
+Romance, Browning and, 105
+Rome, the Brownings in, 159, 166
+Roscoe, W.C., 70
+"Rosny," 131
+Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 52-3, 55, 104
+"Round of Day, The," 131
+Ruskin, J., 23, 129
+Russia, Visit to, 58
+
+
+S.
+
+Sainte-Beuve, 194, 200
+"Saul," 129, 167, 168
+Schiller, 207
+School, Peckham, 27, 33
+Schopenhauer, 209, 210
+Shortcomings, Browning's artistic, 205
+Science, Browning and, 68
+Scott, David, 14
+Scott, Sir W., 198
+"Serenade at the Villa," 130
+Sex, Browning's artistic relation to, 202
+Shakspere, 36, 85-8, 93, 114, 206, 208, 209, 210
+Shelley, 30, 43, 136, 146, 149, 164-5, 172, 196, 203, 205, 209
+Shelley Letters, the, 163
+"Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis," 143, 167
+Skelton, John, 90
+"Sludge the Medium," 94, 165
+_Songs_--"Nay but you," 129;
+  "Round us the wild creatures," 130;
+  "Once I saw," 130;
+  "Man I am," 130;
+  "You groped your way," 130;
+  "Wish me no wish unspoken," 130
+Sonnets, Browning's, 58
+"Sonnets from the Portuguese," 147, 148
+"Sordello," 37, 58, 63, 79, 85, 89, 91, 92, 105-12, 203, 205, 210
+Soul,  Browning and the, 210-11
+"Soul's Tragedy, A," 89, 91, 179
+"Speculative," 131
+Spiritual influence, Browning's, 200
+"St. Martin's Summer," 130
+Story, W.W., 154, 171, 192
+"Strafford," 62, 75, 79-86, 89, 211
+Summary of Criticism, 198-212
+Swinburne, A.C., 106
+
+
+T.
+
+Talfourd, 54, 78
+Tauchnitz edition, 179
+Taylor, Bayard, 161
+Tennyson, Lord, 54, 55, 134, 161, 180, 192
+"The Statue and the Bust," 173
+"The Tomb at St. Praxed's," 129, 143
+"There's a woman like a Dew-drop," 192
+Thinker, Browning as, 200
+"Through the Metidja to Abd-el-Kadr," 129
+"Tokay," 167
+"Too Late," 130
+"Touch him ne'er so lightly," 130
+Tour-de-force, Poetry and, 115
+_Transcripts from Life_, 129-131
+Traill, H.D., 209
+"Two in the Campagna," 130, 159, 160
+"Two Poets of Croisic," 130, 181
+
+
+U.
+
+University College, 33
+
+
+V.
+
+Venice, 59, 192, 197
+"Verse-making," 130
+
+
+W.
+
+Wagner, 209
+Wedmore, F., 204
+Westminster Abbey, 196
+"What of the Leafage," etc., 188
+"Why from the World," 130
+Wiedemann, Mr., 18
+"Woman's Last Word, A," 129
+Women, Browning's, 66
+"Women and Roses," 130
+Wonder Spirit, Browning and the, 95
+Wordsworth, 78, 94, 145, 161
+Work, Browning's mass of, 201
+
+
+Y.
+
+Yates, E., Letter from Browning to, 189
+York, the horse, 20, 190
+"Youth and Art," 130, 172
+
+
+Z.
+
+"Z" signed Sonnet, 58
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY.
+
+BY
+
+JOHN P. ANDERSON
+
+(_British Museum_).
+
+
+  I. WORKS.
+ II. SINGLE WORKS.
+III. CONTRIBUTIONS TO MAGAZINES.
+ IV. PRINTED LETTERS.
+  V. SELECTIONS.
+ VI. APPENDIX--
+       Biography, Criticism, etc.
+       Magazine Articles.
+VII. CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WORKS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+I. WORKS.
+
+Poems. 2 vols. A new edition. London, 1849, 16mo.
+  Vol. i.,
+    Paracelsus;
+    Pippa Passes, a Drama;
+    King Victor and King Charles, a Tragedy;
+    Colombe's Birthday, a Play.
+  Vol. ii.,
+    A Blot in the 'Scutcheon, a Tragedy;
+    The Return of the Druses, a Tragedy;
+    Luria, a Tragedy;
+    A Soul's Tragedy;
+    Dramatic Romances and Lyrics.
+
+The Poetical Works of Robert Browning. Third edition. 3 vols.
+London, 1863, 8vo.
+  Vol. i.,
+    Lyrics;
+    Romances;
+    Men and Women.
+  Vol. ii.,
+    Tragedies and other Plays.
+  Vol. iii.,
+    Paracelsus;
+    Christmas Eve and Easter-Day;
+    Sordello.
+
+The Poetical Works of Robert Browning. 6 vols. London, 1868, 8vo.
+  Vol. i.,
+    Pauline;
+    Paracelsus;
+    Strafford.
+  Vol. ii.,
+    Sordello;
+    Pippa Passes.
+  Vol. iii.,
+    King Victor and King Charles;
+    Dramatic Lyrics;
+    The Return of the Druses.
+  Vol. iv.,
+    A Blot in the 'Scutcheon;
+    Colombe's Birthday;
+    Dramatic Romances.
+  Vol. v.,
+    A Soul's Tragedy;
+    Luria;
+    Christmas Eve and Easter-Day;
+    Men and Women.
+  Vol. vi.,
+    In a Balcony;
+    Dramatis Personæ.
+
+Complete works of Robert Browning. A reprint from the latest English
+edition. Chicago, 1872-74, 8vo.
+  Nos. 1-19 of the "Official Guide of the Chicago and Alton R.R. and
+  Monthly Reprint and Advertiser."
+
+The Poetical Works of Robert Browning. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1872, 8vo.
+  Vols. 1197, 1198 of the "Tauchnitz Collection of British Authors."
+
+The Poetical Works of Robert Browning. 16 vols. London, 1888-9, 8vo.
+  Vol. i. contains _Pauline_ and _Sordello_.
+  Vol. ii., _Paracelsus_ and _Strafford_.
+  Vol. iii., _Pippa Passes; King Victor and King Charles; The Return of
+             the Druses; A Soul's Tragedy._
+  Vol. iv., _A Blot in the 'Scutcheon; Colombe's Birthday; Men and
+            Women_.
+  Vol. v., _Dramatic Romances; Christmas Eve and Easter-Day._
+  Vol. vi., _Dramatic Lyrics; Luria._
+  Vol. vii., _In a Balcony; Dramatis Personæ._
+  Vols. viii.-x., _The Ring and the Book_, 3 vols.
+  Vol. xi., _Balaustion's Adventure; Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau;
+            Fifine at the Fair_.
+  Vol. xii., _Red Cotton Night-Cap Country; The Inn Album._
+  Vol. xiii., _Aristophanes' Apology; The Agamemnon of Æschylus._
+  Vol. xiv., _Pacchiarotto and how he worked in Distemper, with
+             other Poems._
+  Vol. xv., _Dramatic Idyls; Jocoseria_.
+  Vol. xvi., _Ferishtah's Fancies; Parleyings with Certain People._
+
+
+
+
+II. SINGLE WORKS.
+
+The Agamemnon of Æschylus, transcribed by Robert Browning.
+  London, 1877, 8vo.
+
+Aristophanes' Apology, including a transcript from Euripides,
+  being the Last Adventure of Balaustion. London, 1875, 8vo.
+
+Asolando: Fancies and Facts. London, 1890 [1889], 8vo.
+  Now in seventh edition.
+
+Balaustion's Adventure; including a transcript from Euripides
+  [i.e., a translation of the "Alcestis"]. London, 1871, 8vo.
+  Now in third edition.
+
+Bells and Pomegranates. 8 Nos. London, 1841-1846, 8vo.
+  No. i., _Pippa Passes_, 1841.
+  No. ii., _King Victor and King Charles_, 1842.
+  No. iii., _Dramatic Lyrics_, 1842.
+  No. iv., _The Return of the Druses_, 1843.
+  No. v., _A Blot in the 'Scutcheon_, 1843.
+  No. vi., _Colombe's Birthday_, 1844.
+  No. vii., _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_, 1845.
+  No. viii., _Luria_; and _A Soul's Tragedy_, 1846.
+
+Christmas Eve and Easter-Day. A poem. London, 1850, 16mo.
+
+Cleon. _Moxon_: London, 1855, 8vo.
+  Reprinted in _Men and Women_.
+
+Dramatic Idyls, 2 series. London, 1879-80, 8vo.
+  The First Series now in 2nd edition.
+
+Dramatis Personæ. London, 1864, 8vo.
+  Three poems in this book were reprinted from advance copies in the
+  Atlantic Monthly in vol. 13, 1864, viz., _Gold Hair_, pp. 596-599;
+  Prospice, p. 694; _Under the Cliff_, pp. 737, 738.
+    Second edition.  London, 1864, 8vo.
+
+Ferishtah's Fancies.  London, 1884, 8vo.
+  Now in third edition.
+
+Fifine at the Fair. London, 1872, 8vo.
+
+Gold Hair: a Legend of Pornic. [London], 1864, 8vo.
+  Reprinted in _Dramatis Personæ_. Gold Hair appeared in the
+  Atlantic Monthly, May 1864, and _Dramatis Personæ_ was published
+  on May 28, 1864.
+
+The Inn Album. London, 1875, 8vo.
+
+Jocoseria. London, 1883, 8vo.
+  Now in third edition.
+
+La Saisiaz. The Two Poets of Croisie. London, 1878, 8vo.
+
+Men and Women. 2 vols. London, 1855, 8vo.
+
+Pacchiarotto and how he worked in distemper: with other poems.
+  London, 1876, 8vo.
+
+Paracelsus. London, 1835, 8vo.
+
+Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in their Day. Introduced by
+  a Dialogue between Apollo and the Fates, etc. London, 1887, 8vo.
+
+Pauline, a Fragment of a Confession. London, 1833, 8vo.
+  There are only five known copies extant, two of which are in the
+    British Museum.
+  A reprint of the original edition of 1833. Edited by T.J. Wise.
+    London, 1886, 12mo. Four copies were printed on vellum.
+
+The Pied Piper of Hamelin, with 35 illustrations by Kate Greenaway.
+  London [1889], 4to.
+  Appeared originally in _Dramatic Lyrics_ (Bells and Pomegranates,
+  No. III.), 1842.
+
+Prince Hohenstiel--Schwangau: Saviour of Society. London, 1871, 8vo.
+
+Red Cotton Night-Cap Country; or Turf and Towers. London, 1873, 8vo.
+
+The Ring and the Book. 4 vols. London, 1868-69, 8vo.
+  Now in second edition.
+
+Sordello. London, 1840, 8vo.
+
+The Statue and the Bust. _Moxon_: London, 1855, 8vo.
+  Reprinted in _Men and Women_.
+
+Strafford: an historical tragedy. London, 1837, 8vo.
+  [Acting edition for the use of the North London Collegiate School
+     for Girls.] [London, 1882.] 8vo.
+  Another edition. With notes and preface by E.H. Hickey, and an
+     introduction by S.R. Gardiner. London, 1884, 8vo.
+
+Two Poems. By Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning.
+  London, 1854, 8vo.
+  These two poems, "A Plea for the Ragged Schools of London," by
+  Elizabeth B. Browning, and "The Twins," by Robert Browning, were
+  printed by Miss Arabella Barrett, for a bazaar in aid of a "Refuge
+  for Young Destitute Girls." "The Twins" was reprinted in "Men and
+  Women," in 1850.
+
+
+
+
+III. CONTRIBUTIONS TO MAGAZINES, ETC.
+
+Sonnet.--"Eyes, calm beside thee, (Lady couldst thou know!")
+  Dated August 17, 1834; signed "Z."
+  (_Monthly Repository_, vol. 8 N.S., 1834, p. 712.)
+
+The King.--"A King lived long ago." Signed "Z."
+  (_Monthly Repository_, vol. 9 N.S., 1835, pp. 707, 708.)
+  Reprinted with six fresh lines and revised throughout,
+  in Pippa Passes (1841).
+
+Porphyria.--"The rain set early in to-night." Signed "Z."
+  (_Monthly Repository_, vol. 10 N.S., 1836, pp. 43, 44.)
+
+Johannes Agricola.--"There's Heaven above; and night by night." Signed "Z."
+  (_Monthly Repository_, vol. 10 N.S., 1836, pp. 45, 46.)
+  _Porphyria_ and _Johannes Agricola_ were reprinted in
+  "Bells and Pomegranates," No. iii., with the title _Madhouse Cells_.
+
+Lines.--"Still ailing, wind? Wilt be appeased or no?" Signed "Z."
+  (_Monthly Repository_, vol. 10 N.S., 1836, pp. 270, 271.)
+  Reprinted revised, in _Dramatis Personae_, 1884, as the first
+  six stanzas of VI. of "James Lee."
+
+The Laboratory (Ancient Régime).
+  (_Hood's Magazine_, vol. 1, 1844, pp. 513, 514.)
+  Reprinted in _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_ (1845), as the first
+  of two poems called "France and England."
+
+Claret and Tokay.
+  (_Hoofs Magazine_, vol. 1, 1844, p. 525.)
+  Reprinted in _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_ (1846).
+
+Garden Fancies. I. The Flower's Name; II. Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis.
+  (_Hood's Magazine_, vol. 2, 1844, pp. 45-48.)
+  Reprinted in _Dramatis Romances and Lyrics_ (1845).
+
+The Boy and the Angel.
+  (_Hood's Magazine_, vol. 2, 1844, pp. 140-142.)
+  Reprinted revised, and with five fresh couplets, in _Dramatic
+  Romances and Lyrics_ (1845).
+
+The Tomb at St. Praxed's (Rome 15--).
+  (_Hood's Magazine_, vol. 3, 1845, pp. 237-239.)
+  Reprinted in _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_ (1845).
+
+The Flight of the Duchess.
+  (_Hood's Magazine_, vol. 3, 1845, pp. 313-318.)
+  Reprinted in _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_ (1845).
+
+Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley. [A fabrication.]
+  With an introductory essay, by Robert Browning. London, 1852, 8vo.
+---- On the poet, objective and subjective; on the latter's aim;
+     on Shelley as man and poet. [Being a reprint of the Introductory
+     Essay to "Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley."] London, 1881, 8vo.
+     Published for the Browning Society.
+---- A reprint of the Introductory Essay prefixed to the volume of
+     Letters of Shelley. Edited by W. Tyas Harden. London, 1838, 8vo.
+
+Ben Karshook's Wisdom.
+  (_The Keepsake_, 1856, p. 16.)
+
+May and Death.
+  (_The Keepsake_, 1857, p. 164.)
+  Reprinted in _Dramatis Personæ_ (1845).
+
+Orpheus and Eurydice.
+  F. Leighton. 8 lines. (_Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogue_
+  1864, p. 13.)
+  Reprinted in _Poetical Works_, 1868, where it is included in
+  _Dramatis Personæ_.
+
+Gold Hair.
+  _See_ note to _Dramatis Personæ_.
+
+Prospice.
+  _See_ note to _Dramatis Personæ_.
+
+Under the Cliff.
+  _See_ note to _Dramatis Personæ_.
+
+A selection from the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
+  [First series edited by Robert Browning.] 2 series. London, 1866-80, 8vo.
+
+Hervé Riel. (_Cornhill Magazine_, vol 23, 1871, pp. 257-260.)
+  Reprinted in _Pacchiarotto and other Poems_, 1876.
+
+"Oh Love, Love:" the Lyric of Euripides in his Hippolytus.
+  (_Euripides. By J.P. Mahaffy_, p. 16.) London, 1879, 12mo.
+
+"The Blind Man to the Maiden said."
+  (_The Hour will Come_, by _Wilhelmine von Hillern.
+  From the German by Clara Bell_, vol. ii., p. 174.)
+  London [1879], 8vo.
+  Printed anonymously; quoted with statement of authorship in the
+  _Whitehall Review_, March 1, 1883.
+  Reprinted in _Browning Society's Papers_, Pt. iv., p. 410.
+
+Ten new lines to "Touch him ne'er so lightly."
+  (_Dramatic Idyls_, 2nd ser., 1880, p. 149.)
+  Lines written in an autograph album, Oct. 14, 1880.
+  (_Century Magazine_, vol. 25, 1882, pp. 159, 160.)
+  Printed without Mr. Browning's consent. Reprinted in the
+  _Browning Society's Papers_, Pt. in., p. 43.
+
+Sonnet on Goldoni (dated "Venice, Nov. 27, 1883").
+  Written for the Album of the Committee of the Goldoni Monument
+  at Venice, and inserted on the first page.
+  (_Pall Mall Gazette_, Dec. 8, 1883.)
+  Reprinted in the Browning Society's Papers, Pt. v., p. 98.
+
+Sonnet on Rawdon Brown (dated Nov. 28, 1883).
+  (_Century Magazine_, vol. 27, 1884, p. 640.)
+  Reprinted in the Browning Society's Papers, Pt. v., p. 132.
+
+Paraphrase from Horace.
+  Four lines, written impromptu for Mr. Felix Moscheles.
+  (_Pall Mall Gazette_, Dec. 13, 1883, p. 6.)
+  Reprinted in the Browning Society's Papers, Pt. v., p. 99.
+
+Helen's Tower: Sonnet, dated "April 26, 1870."
+  Written for the Earl of Dufferin, who built a tower in memory of his
+  mother, Helen, Countess of Gifford, on his estate at Clandeboye.
+  (_Pall Mall Gazette_, Dec. 28, 1883, p. 2.)
+  Reprinted in _Sonnets of this Century_, edited by William Sharp,
+  1886, and in the Browning Society's Papers, Pt. v., p. 97.
+
+The Founder of the Feast: Sonnet. (Dated "April 5, 1884.")
+  Inscribed by Mr. Browning in the Album presented to Mr. Arthur Chappell,
+  director of the St. James's Hall Concerts, etc. (_The World_,
+  April 16, 1884.)
+  Reprinted in the Browning Society's Papers, Pt. vii., p. 18.
+
+"The Names." Sonnet on Shakespeare.
+  Contributed to the "Shaksperian Show-Book" of the Shaksperian Show,
+  held at the Albert Hall, on May 29-31, 1884.
+  Reprinted in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, May 29, and in the Browning
+  Society's Papers, Pt. v., p. 105.
+
+The Divine Order and other Sermons and Addresses,
+  by the late Thomas Jones. Edited by Brynmor Jones.
+  With a short introduction by Robert Browning. London, 1884, 8vo.
+
+Why I am a Liberal: Sonnet.
+  (_Why I am a Liberal_, edited by Andrew Reid. London, 1885, p. 11.)
+  Reprinted in _Sonnets of this Century_, edited by William Sharp,
+  1886, and in the Browning Society's Papers, Pt. viii., p. 92.
+
+Prefatory Note to the _Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning_,
+  1889, dated "Dec. 10, 1887."
+
+To Edward Fitzgerald. "I chanced upon a new book yesterday."
+  12 lines, dated "July 8, 1889" (_Athenæum_, July 13, 1889, p. 64).
+
+
+
+
+IV. PRINTED LETTERS.
+
+Letter to Laman Blanchard [? April, 1841], dated "Craven Cottage,
+  Saturday." (_Poetical Works of Laman Blanchard_, pp. 6-8.)
+  London, 1876, 8vo.
+
+Letters to Henry Fothergill Chorley on his novels Pomfret (1845) and
+  Roccabella (1860). (_Autobiography, Memoir, and Letters of Henry
+  Fothergill Chorley_, vol. ii., pp. 25, 26, 169-174.)
+
+Letter to R.H. Horne, dated Pisa, Dec. 4 [1846]. Another dated London,
+  Sept. 24 [1851], signed Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
+  (_Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning to R.H. Horne_, 1877,
+  vol. ii., pp. 182-3, 194-5.) Londen, 1877, 8vo.
+
+Letter to William Etty, R.A., dated "Bagni di Lucea, Sept. 21, 1849."
+  (_Life of William Etty, R.A. By Alexander_ _Gilchrist_,
+  vol. ii., pp. 280-81.) London, 1855, 8vo.
+
+Letter to Leigh Hunt (dated "Bagni di Lucca, 6th Oct., 1857").
+  (_Correspondence of Leigh Hunt, edited by his eldest son_,
+  vol. ii., pp. 264-267.) London, 1862, 8vo.
+
+Letter to the Editor of _The Daily News_, dated "19 Warwick
+  Crescent, W., Feb. 9," stating that his contribution to the French
+  Relief Fund was his publishers' payment for a lyrical poem (Hervé Riel).
+  (_Daily News_, Feb. 10, 1871.)
+
+Letter to the Editor of _The Daily News_, dated "Nov. 20."
+  On line 131, "Gave us the doctrine of the enclitic De" of the poem,
+  _A Grammarian's Funeral_. (_Daily News_, Nov. 21, 1874.)
+
+Letter to the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart, on the Poem of _The Lost
+  Leader_ and _Wordsworth_, dated "19 Warwick Crescent,
+  Feb. 24, 1875." (_The Prose Works of William Wordsworth.
+  Edited by the Rev. A.B. Grosart_, vol. i., p. xxxvii.)
+  London, 1876, 8vo.
+
+The Lord Rectorship of St. Andrew's. Letter to the Editor of
+  _The Times_, dated "19 Warwick Crescent, Nov. 19."
+  (_Times_, Nov. 20, 1877.)
+
+Letter to F.J. Furnivall. (_Academy_, Dec. 20, 1878.)
+
+Letter to Mr. J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps, and printed by the latter in 1881.
+
+Letter to Mr. Charles Kent, dated "29 De Vere Gardens, W.,
+  28 August, 1889." Accompanied by a presentation copy of the
+  3rd vol. of the new collective edition of "Poems." (_Athenaeum._.
+  Dec. 21, 1889, p. 860).
+
+In Berdoe's "Browning's Message to his Time," etc., London, 1890, there
+are a number of letters from Browning.
+
+In the new edition of Kingsland's "Robert Browning," London, 1890, there
+are several letters from Browning.
+
+
+
+
+V. SELECTIONS.
+
+Selections from the Poetical Works of Robert Browning.
+  [Edited by J. Forster and B.W. Procter.] London, 1863 [1862], 16mo.
+
+Moxon's Miniature Poets. A Selection from the Works of Robert Browning.
+  London, 1865, 8vo.
+
+Selections from the Poetical Works of Robert Browning.
+  2 series. London, 1872-80, 8vo.
+
+Favourite Poems. Illustrated.
+  Boston, 1877, 16mo.
+
+A Selection from the Works of Robert Browning.
+  With a memoir of the author, and explanatory notes. Edited by F.H. Ahn.
+  Berlin, 1882, 8vo. Vol. viii. of Ahn's "Collection of British and
+  American Standard Authors."
+
+Stories from Robert Browning.
+  By F.M. Holland. With an introduction by Mrs. Sutherland Orr.
+  London, 1882, 8vo.
+
+Lyrical and Dramatic Poems selected from the works of Robert Browning.
+  With an extract from Stedman's "Victorian Poets." Edited by E.T. Mason.
+  New York, 1883, 8vo.
+
+Selections from the Poetry of Robert Browning.
+  With an introduction by R.G. White. New York [1883], 8vo.
+
+Pomegranates from an English Garden: a selection from the poems
+of Robert Browning.
+  With introduction and notes by J.M. Gibson. New York, 1885, 8vo.
+
+Select Poems of Robert Browning.
+  Edited, with notes, by William J. Rolfe and Heloise E. Hersey.
+  New York, 1886, 8vo.
+
+Lyrics, Idyls, and Romances from the poetic and dramatic works
+of Robert Browning.
+  Boston, 1887, 8vo.
+
+Good and true Thoughts from Robert Browning.
+  Selected by Amy Cross. New York, 1888, 4to.
+  Printed in blue ink, and on one side of the leaf.
+
+The Browning Reciter: Poems for Recitation, by Robert Browning
+and other writers.
+  Edited by A.H. Miles. London, 1889, 8vo.
+  Part of the "Platform Series."
+
+
+
+
+VI. APPENDIX.
+
+BIOGRAPHY, CRITICISM, ETC.
+
+
+Alexander, William John.
+  An Introduction to the poetry of Robert Browning.
+    Boston, 1889, 8vo.
+
+Austin, Alfred.
+  The Poetry of the Period.
+    London, 1870, 8vo. Robert Browning, pp. 38-76. Appeared originally
+    in _Temple Bar_, vol. 28, 1869, pp. 316-333.
+
+Bagehot, Walter.
+  Literary Studies.
+    2 vols. London, 1879, 8vo. Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning; or,
+    Pure, Ornate, and Grotesque Art in English Poetry, vol. ii.,
+    pp. 338-390. Appeared originally in the _National Review_,
+    vol. 19, 1864, pp. 27-67.
+
+Barnett, Professor.
+  Browning's Jews and Shakespeare's Jew.
+    Read at the 54th meeting of the Browning Society, Nov. 25th, 1887.
+    London, 1888, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. x., pp. 207-220.
+
+Beale, Dorothea.
+  The Religious Teaching of Browning.
+    (Read at the 10th meeting of the Browning Society, Oct. 27th, 1882.)
+    London, 1882, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. iii.,
+    pp. 323-338.
+
+Berdoe, Edward.
+  Browning as a Scientific Poet.
+    (Read at the meeting of the Browning Society, April 24th, 1885.)
+    London, 1885, 8vo. The Browning Society's Paper, Pt. vii., pp. 33-54.
+  Browning's Estimate of Life.
+    (Read at the meeting of the Society, Oct. 28, 1887.) London, 1888,
+    8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. x., pp. 200-206.
+  Browning's Message to his Time: His Religion, Philosophy, and Science.
+    [With facsimile letters of Browning and portrait.] London, 1890, 8vo.
+
+Birrell, Augustine.
+  Obiter Dicta.
+    London, 1884, 8vo. On the alleged obscurity of Mr. Browning's poetry,
+    pp. 55-95.
+
+Browning, Robert.
+  Robert Browning's Poetry.
+    Outline Studies published for the Chicago Browning Society.
+    Chicago, 1886, 8vo.
+
+Browning Society.
+  The Browning Society's Papers.
+    In progress. London, 1881, etc., 8vo.
+
+Buchanan, Robert.
+  Master-Spirits.
+    London, 1873, 8vo. Browning's Masterpiece, pp. 89-109. A revised
+    reprint of the Athenæum reviews of the "Ring and the Book" in
+    December and March 1870.
+
+Bulkeley, Rev. J.H.
+  James Lee's Wife.
+    (Read at the 16th meeting of the Browning Society, May 25, 1883.)
+    London, 1883, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. iv., pp. 455-468.
+  The Reasonable Rhythm of some of Browning's poems.
+    Read at the 42nd meeting of the Browning Society, May 28, 1886.
+    London, 1886, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. viii.,
+    pp. 119-131.
+
+Burt, Mary K.
+  Browning's Women, etc.
+    Chicago, 1887, 8vo.
+
+Bury, John B.
+  Browning's Philosophy.
+    (Read at the 6th meeting of the Browning Society, April 28, 1882.)
+    London, 1882, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. iii, pp. 259-277.
+  On "Aristophanes' Apology."
+    Read at the 38th meeting of the Browning Society, Jan. 29, 1886.
+    London, 1886, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. viii., pp. 79-86.
+
+C.C.S., _i.e._, C.S. Calverley.
+  Fly Leaves.
+    Cambridge, 1872, 8vo. "The Cock and the Bull," a Parody on _The Ring
+    and the Book,_ pp. 113-120.
+
+Cooke, Bancroft.
+  An Introduction to Robert Browning.
+    A criticism of the purpose and method of his earlier works.
+    London [1883], 8vo.
+
+Cooke, George Willis.
+  Poets and Problems.
+    London [1886], 8vo. Browning, pp. 269-388.
+
+Cooper, Thompson.
+  Men of Mark, etc.
+    London, 1881, 4to. Robert Browning, with photograph. Fifth Series,
+    No. 17.
+
+Corson, Hiram.
+  The Idea of Personality, as embodied in Robert Browning's Poetry.
+    (Read at the 8th meeting of the Browning Society, June 23, 1882.)
+    London, 1882, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. iii. pp. 293-321.
+  An Introduction to the Study of Robert Browning's Poetry.
+    Boston, 1886, 8vo.
+
+Courtney, W.L.
+  Studies New and Old.
+    London, 1888, 8vo. Robert Browning, Writer of Plays, pp. 100-123.
+
+Devey, J.
+  A Comparative Estimate of Modern English Poets.
+    London, 1873, 8vo. Browning, pp. 376-421.
+
+Dowden, Edward.
+  Mr. Tennyson and Mr. Browning.
+    (_The Afternoon Lectures on Literature and Art delivered
+    in ... Dublin,_ 1867 _and_ 1868, pp. 141-179.) Dublin, 1869,
+    8vo. Reprinted in B. Dowden's "Studies in Literature," 1878,
+    pp. 191-239.
+  Studies in Literature, 1789-1877.
+    London, 1878, 8vo. Mr. Browning's place in recent literature,
+    pp. 80-84; Mr. Tennyson and Mr. Browning, pp. 191-239.
+  Transcripts  and  Studies.
+    London, 1888, 8vo. Mr. Browning's "Sordello," pp. 474-525.
+
+Eyles, F.A.H.
+  Popular Poets of the Period, etc.
+    London, 1888, etc., 8vo. Robert Browning, by Alexander H. Japp,
+    No. 7, pp. 193-199.
+
+Fleming, Albert.
+  Andrea del Sarto.
+    Read at the 39th meeting of the Browning Society, Feb. 26, 1886.
+    London, 1886, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. viii.,
+    pp. 95-102.
+
+Forman, H. Buxton.
+  Our Living Poets.
+    London, 1871, 8vo. Robert Browning, pp. 103-152.
+
+Fotheringham, James.
+  Studies in the Poetry of Robert Browning.
+    London, 1887, 8vo.
+  Second edition, revised and enlarged.
+    London, 1888, 8vo.
+
+Friswell, J. Hain.
+  Modern Men of Letters honestly criticised.
+    London, 1870, 8vo. Robert Browning, pp. 119-131.
+
+Fuller, S. Margaret.
+  Papers on Literature and Art.
+    2 parts. London, 1846, 8vo. Browning's Poems, Pt. ii., pp. 31-45
+
+Furnivall, Frederick J.
+  A Bibliography of Robert Browning, from 1833-81.
+    London, 1881-82, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, 1881-4,
+    Pts. i. and ii.
+  How the Browning Society came into being.
+    With some words on the characteristics and contrasts of Browning's
+    early and late work. London, 1884, 8vo.
+  A grammatical analysis of "O Lyric Love."
+    Read at the 48th meeting of the Browning Society, Feb. 25, 1886.
+    London, 1888, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. ix., pp. 105-108.
+
+Galton, Arthur.
+  Urbana Scripta.
+    Studies of five living poets, etc. London, 1885, 8vo. Mr. Browning,
+    pp. 59-76.
+
+Gannon, Nicholas J.
+  An Essay on the characteristic errors of our most distinguished
+  living poets.
+    Dublin, 1853, 8vo. Robert Browning, pp. 25-32.
+
+Glazebrook, Mrs. M.G.
+  "A Death in the Desert."
+    Read at the 48th meeting of the Browning Society, Feb. 25, 1857.
+    London, 1888, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, vol. ix.,
+    pp. 153-164.
+
+Halliwell-Phillipps, James O.
+  Copy of Correspondence
+    [between J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps and Robert Browning, concerning
+    expressions respecting Halliwell-Phillipps, used by F.J. Furnivall
+    in the preface to a fac-simile of the second edition of Hamlet,
+    published in 1880]. [Brighton ? 1881] fol.
+
+Hamilton, Walter.
+  Parodies of the Works of English and American Authors.
+    London, 1889, 8vo. Robert Browning, vol. vi., pp. 46-65.
+
+Haweis, Rev. H R.
+  Poets in the Pulpit.
+    London, 1880, 8vo. Robert Browning. New Year's Eve, pp. 117-143.
+
+Herford, C.H.
+  Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.
+    London, 1886, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. viii.,
+    pp. 133-145.
+
+Hodgkins, Louise Manning.
+  Nineteenth Century Authors.
+    Robert Browning. Boston [1889], 8vo.
+
+Holland, F. May.
+  Sordello.
+    A Story from Robert Browning. New York, 1881, 8vo. Very scarce.
+
+Horne, R.H.
+  A New Spirit of the Age.
+    2 vols. London, 1844, 8vo. Robert Browning (with a portrait engraved
+    by J.C. Armytage) and J.W. Marston, vol. ii., pp. 153-186.
+
+Hutton, Richard Holt.
+  Essays, Theological and Literary.
+    2 vols. London, 1871, 8vo. Mr. Browning, vol. ii., pp. 190-247.
+
+Johnson, Rev. Prof. Edwin.
+  On "Bishop Blougram's Apology."
+    (Read at the 7th meeting of the Browning Society, May 26, 1882.)
+    London, 1882, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. iii.,
+    pp. 279-292.
+  Conscience and Art in Browning.
+    London, 1882, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. iii.,
+    pp. 345-379.
+  On "Mr. Sludge the Medium."
+    Read at the 31st meeting of the Browning Society, March 27, 1885.
+    London, 1885, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. vii., pp. 13-32.
+
+Kingsland, William G.
+  Robert Browning: chief poet of the age.
+    An essay addressed primarily to beginners in the study of Browning's
+    poems. London, 1887, 8vo.
+  New edition, with biographical and other additions.
+    London, 1890, 8vo.
+
+Landor, Walter Savage.
+  The Works of Walter Savage Landor.
+    2 vols. London, 1846, 8vo. Poem "To Robert Browning," vol. ii., p. 673.
+
+M'Cormick, William S.
+  Three Lectures on English Literature.
+    Paisley, 1889, 8vo. The poetry of Robert Browning, pp. 125-184.
+
+Macdonald, George
+  Orts.
+    London, 1882, 8vo. Browning's "Christmas Eve," pp. 195-217.
+  The Imagination and other Essays.
+    Boston [1883], 8vo. Browning's "Christmas Eve," pp. 195-217.
+
+McNicoll, Thomas.
+  Essays on English Literature.
+    London, 1861, 8vo. New Poems of Browning and Landor (1858),
+    pp. 208-314.
+
+McCrie, George.
+  The Religion of our Literature.
+    Essays upon Thomas Carlyle, Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson, etc.
+    London, 1875, 8vo. Robert Browning, pp. 69-109.
+
+Macready, William Charles.
+  Macready's Reminiscences and Selections from his diaries and letters.
+    2 vols. London, 1875, 8vo. Numerous references to Browning.
+
+Mayor, Joseph B.
+  Chapters on English Metre.
+    London, 1886, 8vo. Tennyson and Browning, Chap. xii., pp. 184-196.
+
+Morison, J. Cotter.
+  "Caliban upon Setebos," with some notes on Browning's Subtlety and
+  Humour.
+    (Read at the 24th Meeting of the Browning Society, April 25, 1884.)
+    London, 1884, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. v., pp. 489-498.
+
+Morrison, Jeanie.
+  Sordello.
+    An outline analysis of Mr. Browning's Poem. London, 1889, 8vo.
+
+Nettleship, John T.
+  Essays on Robert Browning's Poetry.
+    London, 1868, 8vo.
+  New edition.
+    New York, 1890, 8vo.
+  On Browning's "Fifine at the Fair."
+    To be read at the 4th Meeting of the Browning Society, Feb. 24, 1882.
+    London, 1882, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. ii., p. 199-230.
+  Classification of Browning's Works.
+    London, 1882, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. ii., pp. 231-234.
+  Browning's Intuition, specially in regard of music and the Plastic Arts.
+    (Read at the 13th Meeting of the Browning Society, Feb. 23, 1883.)
+    London, 1883, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. iv., pp. 331-396.
+  On the development of Browning's Genius in his capacity as poet or maker.
+    Read at the 35th Meeting of the Browning Society, Oct. 30, 1885.
+    London, 1886, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. viii, pp. 55-77.
+
+Noel, Hon. Roden.
+  Essays on Poetry and Poets.
+    London, 1886, 8vo. Robert Browning, pp. 256-282; Robert Browning's
+    Poetry, pp. 283-303.
+
+Notes and Queries.
+  Notes and Queries.
+    7 Series.  London, 1849-1889, 4to. Numerous references to Browning.
+
+O'Byrne, George.
+  Robert Browning.
+    In Memoriam. An Epicedium. Nottingham [1890], 8vo.
+
+O'Conor, William Anderson.
+  Essays in Literature and Ethics.
+    Manchester, 1889, 8vo. Browning's "Childe Roland," pp. 1-24.
+
+Ormerod, Helen J.
+  Some Notes on Browning's Poems referring to Music.
+    Read at the 51st Meeting of the Browning Society, May 27, 1887.
+    London, 1888, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. ix., pp. 180-195.
+  Abt Vogler, the Man.
+    Read at the 55th Meeting of the Browning Society, Jan. 27th, 1888.
+    London, 1888, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. x., pp 221-236.
+
+Orr, Mrs. Sutherland.
+  A Handbook to the Works of Robert Browning.
+    London, 1885, 8vo.
+  Second edition, revised.
+    London, 1886, 8vo.
+  Classification of Browning's Poems.
+    London, 1882, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. ii., pp. 235-238.
+
+Outram, Leonard S.
+  Love's Value. Colombe's Birthday. Act IV. (The Avowal of Valence.)
+    Read at the 38th Meeting of the Browning Society, Jan. 29, 1886.
+    London, 1886, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. viii., pp. 87-94.
+
+Pearson, Howard S.
+  On Browning as a Landscape Painter.
+    Read at the 41st Meeting of the Browning Society, April 30, 1886.
+    London, 1886, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. viii.,
+    pp. 103-118.
+
+Pollock, Frederick.
+  Leading cases done into English.
+    By an Apprentice of Lincoln's Inn [Frederick Pollock]. Second edition.
+    London, 1876, 8vo. IV. "Scott _v_. Shepherd (1 _Sm. L.C._ 477),
+    Any Pleader to any Student," pp. 15-19. A Parody on Browning.
+
+Portrait.
+  The Portrait.
+    Vol. I. London, 1877, 4to. Robert Browning, by G. Barnett Smith,
+    4 pages. The portrait is from a photograph by Elliott & Fry.
+
+Portrait Gallery.
+  National Portrait Gallery.
+    London [1877], 4to. Robert Browning (with portrait), 4th Series,
+    pp. 73-80.
+
+Powell,  Thomas.
+  The Living Authors of England.
+    New York, 1849, 8 vo. Robert Browning, pp. 71-85.
+  Pictures of the Living Authors of Britain.
+    London, 1851, 8vo. Robert Browning, pp. 61-75.
+
+Radford, Ernest.
+  Illustrations to Browning's Poems;
+    with a notice of the artists and the pictures, by E, Radford. 2 pts.
+    London, 1882-3, fol. Published for the _Browning Society._
+
+Raleigh, W.A.
+  On some prominent points in Browning's Teaching.
+    (Read at the 22nd Meeting of the Browning Society, Feb. 22, 1884.)
+    London, 1884, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. v., pp. 477-488.
+
+Reeve, Lovell.
+  Portraits of Men of Eminence in Literature, Science, and Art,
+    with biographical memoirs, etc. 6 vols. London, 1863-67, 8vo.
+    Robert Browning, vol. i., pp. 109-112.
+
+Revell, William F.
+  Browning's Poems on God and Immortality as bearing on life here.
+    (Read at the 14th Meeting of the Browning Society, March 30, 1883.)
+    London, 1883, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. iv., pp. 435-454.
+  Browning's Views of Life.
+    Address on Oct. 28, 1887. London, 1888, 8vo. The Browning Society's
+    Papers, Pt. x., pp. 197-199.
+
+Sharp, William.
+  Browning and the Arts.
+    London, 1882, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. iii., pp. 34-40.
+
+Sharpe, Rev. John.
+  On "Pietro of Abano" and the leading ideas of "Dramatic Idyls."
+    Second series, 1880. (Read at the 2nd Meeting of the Browning Society,
+    Nov. 25, 1881.) London, 1882, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers,
+    Pt. ii., pp. 191-197.
+  Jocoseria.
+    (Read at the 20th Meeting of the Browning Society, Nov. 23, 1883.)
+    London, 1884, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. v., pp. 93-97.
+
+Shirley, _pseud._ [_i.e._, John Skelton].
+  A Campaigner at Home.
+    London, 1865, 8vo. Robert Browning, pp. 247-283. Appeared originally
+    in Fraser's Magazine, vol. 67, 1863, pp. 240-256.
+
+Stedman, Edmund Clarence.
+  Victorian Poets.
+    Boston, 1875, 8vo. Robert Browning, pp. 293-341.
+  Another edition.
+    Boston, 1887, 8vo.
+
+Stoddart, Anna M.
+  "Saul."
+    Read at the 59th Meeting of the Browning Society, May 25, 1888.
+    London, 1888, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. x., pp. 264-274.
+
+Swinburne, Algernon C.
+  The Works of George Chapman: Poems and Minor Translations.
+    London, 1875, 8vo. On Browning, pp. xiv.-xix. of the "Essay on George
+    Chapman's poetical and dramatic works."
+  Specimens of Modern Poets.
+    The Heptalogia, or the Seven against Sense, etc. London, 1880, 8vo.
+    John Jones, pp. 9-39. A parody on James Lee.
+
+Symons, Arthur.
+  Is Browning Dramatic?
+    (Read at the 29th Meeting of the Browning Society, Jan. 30, 1885.)
+    London, 1885, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. vii., pp. 1-12.
+  An Introduction to the Study of Browning.
+    London, 1886, 8vo.
+  Some Notes on Mr. Browning's last volume.
+    (On Parleyings with Certain People.) Read at the 50th Meeting of the
+    Browning Society, April 29, 1887. London, 1888, 8vo. The Browning
+    Society's Papers, Pt. ix., pp. 169-179.
+
+Thomson, James.
+  Notes on the Genius of Robert Browning.
+    (Read at the 3rd Meeting of the Browning Society, Jan. 27, 1882.)
+    London, 1882, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. ii., pp. 239-250.
+
+Todhunter, Dr. John.
+  "The Ring and the Book."
+    (Read at the 19th Meeting of the Browning Society, Oct. 26, 1883.)
+    London, 1884, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. v., pp. 85-92.
+  "Strafford" at the Strand Theatre, Dec. 21, 1886.
+    Read at the 47th Meeting of the Browning Society, Jan. 28, 1887.
+    London, 1888, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. ix., pp. 147-152.
+
+Turnbull, Mrs.
+  Abt Vogler.
+    (Read at the 17th Meeting of the Browning Society, June 22, 1883.)
+    London, 1883, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. iv., pp. 469-476.
+  In a Balcony.
+    (Read at the Annual Meeting of the Browning Society, July 4, 1884.)
+    London, 1884, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. v., pp. 499-502.
+
+Wall, Annie.
+  Sordello's Story retold in prose.
+    Boston, 1886, 8vo.
+
+West, E.D.
+  One aspect of Browning's Villains.
+    (Read at the 15th Meeting of the Browning Society, April 27, 1883.)
+    London, 1883, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. iv., pp. 411-434.
+
+Westcott, B.F.
+  On some points in Browning's View of Life.
+    A paper read before the Cambridge Browning Society, November, 1882.
+    Cambridge, 1883, 8vo. Printed also in the Browning Society's Papers,
+    Pt. iv., pp. 397-410.
+
+Whitehead, Miss C.M.
+  Browning as a Teacher of the Nineteenth Century.
+    Read at the 58th Meeting of the Browning Society, April 27, 1888.
+    London, 1888, 8vo. The Browning Society's Papers, Pt. x., pp. 237-263.
+
+
+MAGAZINE ARTICLES, ETC.
+
+Browning, Robert.
+  Sharpe's London Magazine, vol. 8, 1849, pp. 60-62, 122-127.
+  Revue des Deux Mondes, by J. Milsand, 15 Aug. 1851, pp. 661-689.
+  London Quarterly Review, vol. 6, 1856, pp. 493-501, vol. 22, p. 30, etc.
+  Revue Contemporaine, by J. Milsand, vol. 27, 1856, pp. 511-546.
+  Fraser's Magazine, by J. Skelton, vol. 67, 1863, pp. 240-256;
+    reprinted in "A Campaigner at Home," 1865.
+  Victoria Magazine, by M.D. Conway, vol. 2, 1854, pp. 298-316.
+  Contemporary Review, vol. 4, 1867, pp. 1-15, 133-148; same article,
+    Eclectic Magazine, vol. 5 N.S., pp. 314-323, 501-513.
+  Revue des Deux Mondes, by Louis Etienne, tom. 85, 1870, pp. 704-735.
+  Appleton's Journal (with portrait), by R.H. Stoddard, vol. 6, 1871,
+    pp. 533-536.
+  Once a Week, vol. 9 N.S., 1872, pp. 164-167.
+  Scribner's Monthly, by E.C. Stedman, vol. 9, 1874, pp. 167-183.
+  Galaxy, by J. H. Browne, vol. 19, 1875, pp. 764-774.
+  St. James's Magazine, by T. Bayne, vol. 32, 1877, pp. 153-164.
+  Dublin University Magazine (with portrait), vol. 3 N.S., 1878,
+    pp. 322-335, 416-443.
+  Gentleman's Magazine, by A.N. McNicoll, vol. 244, 1879, pp. 54-67.
+  Congregationalist, vol. 8, 1879, pp. 915-922.
+  International Review, by G. Barnett Smith, vol. 6, 1879, pp. 176-194.
+  Literary World (Boston), by F. J. Furnivall, H.E. Scudder, etc.,
+    vol. 13, 1882, pp. 76-81.
+  Critic, by J.H. Morse, vol. 3,1883, pp. 263, 264.
+  Contemporary Review, by Hon. Roden Noel, vol. 44, 1883, pp. 701-718;
+    same article, Littell's Living Age, vol. 159, pp. 771-781.
+  British Quarterly Review, vol. 80, 1884, pp. 1-28.
+  Family Friend, by J. Fuller Higgs, vol. 18, 1887, pp. 10-13.
+  Graphic, with portrait, Jan, 15, 1887.
+  Athenæum, Dec. 21, 1889, pp. 858-860.
+  Atalanta, by Edmund Gosse, Feb. 1889, pp. 361-364.
+  Atlantic Monthly, Feb. 1890, pp. 243-248.
+  Contemporary Review, by the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke, Jan. 1890,
+    pp. 141-152.
+  Universal Review, by Gabriel Sarrazin, Feb. 1890, pp. 230-246.
+  Art and Literature, with portrait, Feb. 1890, pp. 17-19.
+  Congregational Review, by Ruth J. Pitt, Jan. 1890, pp. 57-66.
+  Expository Times, by the Rev. Professor Salmond, Feb. 1890, pp. 110, 111.
+  The Speaker, by Augustine Birrell, Jan. 4, 1890, pp. 16, 17.
+  National Review, by H. D. Traill, Jan. 1890, pp. 592-597.
+  Scots Magazine, Jan. 1890, pp. 131-136.
+  Argosy, by E.F. Bridell-Fox, Feb. 1890, pp. 108-114
+  New Church Magazine, by C. E. Rowe, Feb. 1890, pp. 49-58.
+
+  ---- Agamemnon.
+         Edinburgh Review, vol. 147, 1878, pp. 409-436.
+         Athenæum, Oct. 27,1877, pp. 525-527.
+         Academy, by J.A. Symonds, Nov. 3, 1877, pp. 419, 420.
+         Literary World (Boston), vol. 13, 1882, p. 419.
+
+  ---- and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
+         Leisure Hour (with portraits), 1883, pp. 396-404.
+         Manhattan, by K.M. Rowland, June 1884, pp. 553-562.
+
+  ---- and the Edinburgh Review.
+         Reader, by Gerald Massey, Nov. 26, 1864, pp. 674, 675.
+
+  ---- and the Epic of Psychology.
+         London Quarterly Review, vol. 32, 1869, pp. 325-357.
+
+  ---- and the Greek Drama.
+         Manchester Quarterly, by A.S. Wilkins, vol. 2, 1883, pp. 377-390.
+
+  ---- and James Hussell Lowell.
+         New Englander, vol. 29, 1870, pp. 125-136.
+
+  ---- and Tennyson.
+         Eclectic Review, vol. 7 N.S., 1864, pp. 361-389.
+         Leisure Hour, Feb. 1890, pp. 231-234.
+
+  ---- Another Way of Love.
+         Critic (New York), by F.L. Turnbull, Sept. 26, 1885, pp. 151, 152.
+
+  ---- Aristophanes' Apology.
+         London Quarterly Review, vol. 44, 1875, pp. 354-376.
+         Academy, by J. A. Symonds, April 17, 1875, pp. 389,390.
+         Athenæum, April 17, 1875, pp. 513, 514.
+
+  ---- as a Preacher.
+         Dark Blue, by E.D. West, vol. 2, 1872, pp. 171-184, 305-319;
+           same article, Littell's Living Age, vol. 3, pp. 707-723.
+
+  ---- as a Religious Teacher.
+         Month, by the Rev. John Rickaby, Feb. 1890, pp. 173-190
+         Good Words, by R.H. Hutton, Feb. 1890, pp. 87-93.
+
+  ---- as a Teacher. In Memoriam.
+         Gentlemen's Magazine, by Mrs. Alexander Ireland, Feb. 1890,
+           pp. 177-184.
+
+  ---- as Theologian.
+         Time, by H.W. Massingham, Jan. 1890, pp. 90-96.
+
+  ---- as a Writer of Plays.
+         Fortnightly Review, by W.L. Courtney, vol. 33 N.S., 1883,
+           pp. 888-900;
+           same article, Eclectic Magazine, vol. 38 N.S., pp. 358-366.
+
+  ---- Balaustion's Adventure.
+         Contemporary Review, by Matthew Browne, vol.18, 1871, pp. 284-296.
+         Nation, by J.R. Dennett, vol. 13, 1871, pp. 173, 179.
+         Fortnightly Review, by Sidney Colvin, vol. 10 N.S., 1871,
+           pp. 478-490.
+         Edinburgh Review, vol. 135, 1872, pp. 221-249.
+         London Quarterly Review, vol. 37, 1871, pp. 346-368.
+         Athenaeum, Aug. 12, 1871, pp. 199, 200.
+         Penn Monthly, by R.E. Thompson, vol. 6, 1875, pp. 928-940.
+         St. Paul's Magazine, by E.J. Hasell, vol. 12, 1873, pp. 680-699;
+           vol. 13, pp. 49-66.
+         Pioneer, Oct. 1887, pp. 159-162.
+
+  ---- Bells  and  Pomegranates.
+         Christian Remembrancer, vol. 11 N.S., 1846, pp. 316-330.
+         People's Journal, by H.F. Chorley, vol. 2, 1847, pp. 38-40,
+           104-106.
+
+  ---- Browning Society.
+         Saturday Review, vol. 53, 1882, pp. 12, 13; vol. 58, 1884,
+           pp. 721, 722.
+
+  ---- Childe Roland.
+         Papers of the Manchester Literary Club, by the Rev. W.A. O'Conor,
+           vol. 3, 1877, pp. 12-25.
+         Critic (New York), by J.E. Cooke, vol. 8, 1886, pp. 201, 202,
+           and by A. Bates, pp. 231, 232.
+
+  ---- ---- Childe Roland, Childe Harold, and the Sangrail.
+              Papers of the Manchester Literary Club, by John Mortimer,
+                vol. 3, 1877, pp. 26-31.
+
+  ---- Christmas Eve and Easter-Day.
+         Prospective Review, vol. 6, 1850, pp. 267-279.
+         Littell's Living Age (from the Examiner), vol. 25, pp. 403-409.
+         The Germ, No. 4, by W.M. Rossetti, pp. 187-192.
+         Day of Rest, by George MacDonald, vol. 1, 1873, pp. 34-36, 55, 56.
+
+  ---- Clubs in the United States.
+         Literary World (Boston), by H. Corson, vol. 14, 1883, p. 127.
+
+  ---- Day with the Brownings at Pratolino.
+         Scribner's Monthly, by E.C. Kinney, vol. 1, 1870, pp. 185-188.
+
+  ---- Dead in Venice.
+         (Verses.) Athenaeum, Dec. 21, 1889, p. 860.
+
+  ---- The "Detachment" of.
+         Athenaeum, Jan. 4, 1890, pp. 18, 19.
+
+  ---- Dramatic Idyls.
+         Fortnightly Review, by Grant Allen, vol.26 N.S., 1879, pp.149-154.
+         Contemporary Review, by Mrs. Sutherland Orr, vol. 35, 1879,
+           pp. 289-302.
+         Saturday Review, June 21, 1879, pp. 774, 775.
+         Fraser's Magazine, vol. 20 N.S., 1879, pp. 103-124.
+         St. James's Magazine, by T. Bayne, vol. 8, fourth series, 1880,
+           pp. 108-118.
+         Athenaeum, May 10, 1879, pp. 593-595.
+         Academy, by Frank Wedmore, May 10, 1879, pp. 403, 404.
+         Athenaeum, July 10, 1880, pp. 39-41.
+         Literary World, July 23, 1880, pp. 49-51.
+
+  ---- Dramatis Personae.
+         St. James's Magazine, by R. Bell, vol. 10, 1864, pp. 477-491.
+         New Monthly Magazine, by T.F. Wedmore, vol. 133, 1865, pp.186-194.
+         Dublin University Magazine, vol. 64, 1864, pp. 573-579.
+         Eclectic Review, by E. Paxton Hood, vol. 7 N.S., 1864, pp. 62-72.
+
+  ---- Early Writings of.
+         Century, by E.W. Gosse, vol. 23, 1881, pp. 189-200.
+
+  ---- Ferishtah's Fancies.
+         Athenaeum, Dec. 6, 1884, pp. 725-727.
+         Saturday Review, vol. 58, 1884, pp. 727, 728.
+         Spectator, Dec. 6, 1884, pp. 1614-1616.
+         Academy, by H.C. Beeching, Dec. 13, 1884, pp. 385, 386.
+         Critic (New York), Dec. 1884, p. 279.
+         Oxford Magazine, vol. 3, 1885, pp. 161, 162.
+
+  ---- Fifine at the Fair.
+         Old and New, by C. C. Everett, vol. 6, 1872, pp. 609-615.
+         Canadian Monthly, by Goldwin Smith, vol. 2, 1872, pp. 285-287.
+         Temple Bar, vol. 37, 1873, pp. 315-328.
+         Literary World, July 12, 1872, pp. 17, 18, and July 19, pp.42, 43.
+         Fortnightly Review, by Sidney Colvin, vol. 12 N.S., 1872,
+           pp. 118-120.
+         Saturday Review, vol. 34, 1872, pp. 220, 221.
+
+  ---- First Poem of
+         St. James's Magazine, vol. 7 N.S., 1871, pp. 485-496.
+
+  ---- Funeral of.
+         Scots Magazine, by Elizabeth R. Chapman, Feb. 1890, pp. 216-223.
+
+  ---- Handbook to the Works of, Orr's.
+         Academy, by J.T. Nettleship, vol. 27, 1885, pp. 429-431.
+         Athenaeum, Sept. 26, 1885, pp. 396, 397.
+
+  ---- in 1869.
+         Cornhill Magazine, vol. 19, 1869, pp. 249-256.
+
+  ---- In a Balcony.
+         Theatre, by H.L. Mosely, May 1, 1885, pp. 225-230.
+
+  ---- In Memoriam.
+         New Review, by Edmund W. Gosse, Jan. 1890, pp. 91-96.
+
+  ---- Inn Album.
+         Macmillan's Magazine, by A.C. Bradley, vol. 33, 1876, pp. 347-354.
+         Nation, by Henry James, junr., vol. 22, 1876, pp. 49,50.
+         International Review, by Bayard Taylor, vol. 3, 1876, pp. 402-404.
+         Athenaeum, Nov. 27, 1875, pp. 701, 702.
+         Academy, by J.A. Symonds, Nov. 27, 1875, pp. 543, 544.
+         Spectator, December 11, 1875, pp. 1555-1557,
+         Examiner, Dec. 11, 1875, pp. 1389-1390.
+
+  ---- in Westminster Abbey.
+         Speaker, by Henry James, Jan. 4, 1890, pp. 10-12.
+
+  ---- Jocoseria.
+         National Review, by W.J. Courtliope, vol. 1, 1883, pp. 548-561.
+         Atlantic Monthly, vol. 51, 1883, pp. 840-845.
+         Cambridge Review, vol. 4, 1883, pp. 352, 353.
+         Gentleman's Magazine, by R.H. Shepherd, vol. 254, 1883,
+           pp. 624 630.
+         Academy, by J.A. Symonds, vol. 23, 1883, pp. 213, 214.
+         Athenaeum, March 24, 1883, pp. 367, 358.
+         Saturday Review, vol. 55, 1883, pp. 376, 377.
+         Spectator, March 17, 1883, pp. 351-353.
+
+  ---- Kingsland's.
+         Literary Opinion, May 1, 1887.
+
+  ---- La Saisiaz. The Two Poets of Croisic.
+         Academy, by G.A. Simcox, vol. 13, 1878, pp. 478-480.
+         Athenaeum, May 25, 1878, pp. 661-664.
+         Saturday Review, June 15, 1878, pp. 759, 760.
+
+  ---- Love Poems of.
+         Journal of Education, by Arthur Sidgwick, May 1, 1882, pp.139-143.
+
+  ---- Lyrical and Dramatic Poems.
+         Literary World (Boston), Feb. 24, 1883, p. 58.
+
+  ---- Men and Women.
+         Bentley's Miscellany, vol. 39, 1856, pp. 64-70.
+         British Quarterly Review, vol. 23, 1856, pp. 151-180.
+         Rambler, vol. 5 N.S., 1856, pp. 55-71.
+         Christian Remembrancer, vol. 31 N.S., 1856, pp. 281-294;
+           vol. 34 N.S., 1857, pp. 361-890.
+         Dublin University Magazine, vol. 47, 1856, pp. 673-675.
+         Fraser's Magazine, by G.
+         Brimley, vol. 53, 1856, pp. 105-116.
+         Irish Quarterly Review, vol. 6, 1856, pp. 21-28.
+         Westminster Review, vol. 9 N.S., 1856, pp. 290-296.
+
+  ---- Note on.
+         Art Review, by W. Mortimer, Jan. 1890, pp. 28-32.
+
+  ---- One Way of Love.
+         Literary World (Boston), by C.R. Corson, July 26, 1884,
+           pp. 250, 251.
+
+  ---- Pacchiarolto.
+         Academy, by Edward Dowden, July 29, 1876, pp. 99, 100.
+         Athenæum, July 22, 1876, pp. 101, 102.
+
+  ---- Paracelsus.
+          New Monthly Magazine, by John Forster, vol. 46, 1836, pp.289-308.
+          Examiner, by John Forster, Sept. 6, 1835, pp. 563-565.
+          Theologian, vol. 2, 1845, pp. 276-282.
+          Monthly Repository, by W.J. Fox, vol. 9 N.S., 1835, pp. 716-727.
+          Fraser's Magazine, by J. Heraud, vol. 13, 1836, pp. 363-374.
+          Leigh Hunt's Journal, vol. 2, 1835, pp. 405-408.
+          Revue des Deux Mondes, by Philarète Chasles, tom, xxii., 1840,
+            pp. 127-133.
+
+  ---- Parleyings with Certain People.
+         Literary Opinion, March 1, 1887.
+
+  ---- Pauline.
+         Monthly Repository, by W. J. Fox, vol. 7 N.S., 1833, pp. 252-262.
+         Athenæum, April 6, 1833, p. 216.
+
+  ---- Place of, in Literature.
+         Contemporary Review, by Mrs. Sutherland-Orr, vol. 23, 1874,
+           pp. 934-965; same article, Littell's Living Age, vol. 122,
+           pp. 67-85.
+
+  ---- Plays and Poems.
+         North American Review, by J. R. Lowell, vol. 66, 1848, pp.357-400.
+
+  ---- Poems.
+         British Quarterly Review, vol. 6, 1847, pp. 490-509.
+         Eclectic Review, vol. 26 N.S., 1849, pp. 203-214.
+         Eclectic Magazine, vol. 18, 1849, pp. 453-469.
+         Christian Examiner, by C. C. Everett, vol. 48, 1850, pp. 361-372.
+         Massachusetts Quarterly Review, vol. 3, 1850, pp. 347-385.
+         Fraser's Magazine, vol. 43, 1851, pp. 170-182.
+         Putnam's Monthly Magazine, vol. 7, 1856, pp. 372-381.
+         North British Review, vol. 34, 1861, pp. 350-374.
+         Chambers's Journal, vol. 19, 1863, pp. 91-95; vol. 20, pp. 39-41.
+         National Review, vol. 17, 1863, pp. 417-446.
+         Eclectic Review, by E. P. Hood, vol. 4 N.S., 1863, pp. 436-454;
+           vol. 7 N.S., 1864, pp. 62-72.
+         Edinburgh Review, vol. 120, 1864, pp. 537-565.
+         Christian Examiner, by C. C. Everett, vol. 77, 1864, pp. 51-64.
+         Quarterly Review, vol. 118, 1865, pp. 77-105.
+         Nuova Antologia di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, by Enrico Nencioni,
+           July 1867, pp. 468-481.
+         North British Review, by J. Hutchinson Stirling, vol. 49, 1868,
+           pp. 353-408.
+         Temple Bar, by Alfred Austin, vol. 26, 1869, pp. 316-333;
+           vol. 27, pp. 170-186; vol. 28, pp. 33-48.
+         British Quarterly Review, vol. 49, 1869, pp. 435-459.
+         Saint Paul's Magazine, by S.J. H[asell], vol. 7, 1871, pp.257-276;
+           same article, Eclectic Magazine, vol. 13 N.S., pp. 267-279,
+           and in Littell's Living Age, vol. 108, pp. 155-166.
+         Church Quarterly Review, by the Hon. and Rev. Arthur Lyttleton,
+           vol. 7, 1878, pp. 65-92.
+         Cambridge Review, vol. 3, 1881, pp. 126, 127.
+         Scottish Review, vol. 2, 1883, pp. 349-358.
+         London Quarterly Review, vol. 65, 1886, pp. 238-250.
+
+  ---- Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.
+         New Englander, by J. S. Sewall, vol. 33, 1874, pp. 493-505.
+         Examiner, Dec. 23, 1871, pp. 1267, 1268.
+         Academy, by G. A. Simcox, Jan. 15, 1872, pp. 24-26.
+         Literary World, Jan. 5, 1872, pp. 8, 9.
+
+  ---- Red Cotton Night-Cap Country.
+         Nation, by J.K. Dennett, vol. 17, 1873, pp. 116-118.
+         Contemporary Review, by Mrs. Sutherland-Orr, vol. 22, 1873,
+           pp. 87-106.
+         Penn Monthly Magazine, vol. 4, 1873, pp. 657-661.
+         Athenaeum, May 10, 1873, pp. 593, 594.
+
+  ---- Ring and the Book.
+         Athenaeum, Dec. 26, 1868, pp. 875, 876; March 20, 1869,
+           pp. 399, 400.
+         Edinburgh Review, vol. 130, 1869, pp. 164-186.
+         Dublin Review, vol. 13 N.S., 1869, pp. 48-62.
+         Chambers's Journal, July 24, 1869, pp. 473-476.
+         Fortnightly Review, by John Morley, vol. 5 N.S., 1869, pp.331-343.
+         Macmillan's Magazine, by J.A. Symonds, vol. 19, 1869, pp. 258-262,
+           and by J.R. Mozley, pp. 544-552.
+         North American Review, by E.J. Cutler, vol. 109, 1869, pp.279-283.
+         Nation, by J.R. Dennett, vol. 8, 1869, pp. 135, 136.
+         Tinsley's Magazine, vol. 3, 1869, pp. 665-674.
+         Christian Examiner, by J.W. Chadwick, vol. 86, 1869, pp. 295-315.
+         Gentleman's Magazine, by James Thomson, vol.251, 1881, pp.682-695.
+         St. James's Magazine, vol. 2 N.S., 1869, pp. 460-464.
+         Saint Paul's, vol. 7, 1871, pp. 377-397;
+           same article, Eclectic Magazine, vol. 13 N.S., pp. 400-412,
+           and in Littell's Living Age, vol. 108, pp. 771-783.
+         North British Review, vol. 51, 1870, pp. 97-126.
+         Quarterly Review, vol. 126, 1869, pp. 328-359.
+
+  ---- ---- Some of the Teaching of "The Ring and the Book."
+              Poet-Lore, by F.B. Hornbrooke, July 1889, pp. 314-320.
+
+  ---- Science of.
+         Poet-Lore, by Edward Berdoe, Aug. 15, 1889, pp. 353-362.
+
+  ---- Selections from.
+         London Quarterly Review, by Frank T. Marzials, vol. 20, 1863,
+           pp. 527-532.
+         Literary World, May 19, 1883, p. 157.
+
+  ---- Sequence of Sonnets on death of.
+         Fortnightly Review, by Algernon C. Swinburne, Jan. 1890, pp. 1-4.
+
+  ---- Some Thoughts on.
+         Macmillan's Magazine, by M.A. Lewis, vol. 46, 1882, pp. 205-219;
+           same article, Littell's Living Age, vol. 154, pp. 238-246.
+
+  ---- Sonnets to.
+         Macmillan's Magazine, by Aubrey de Vere, Feb. 1890, p. 258.
+         Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, by Sir Theodore Martin,
+           Jan. 1890, p. 112.
+         Household Words, vol. 4, 1852, p. 213.
+
+  ---- Sonnets of.
+         Manchester Quarterly, by Benjamin Sagar, vol. 6, 1887, pp.148-159.
+
+  ---- Sordello.
+         Fraser's Magazine, by E. Dowden, vol. 76, pp. 518-530.
+         Macmillan's Magazine, by R.W. Church, vol. 55, 1887, pp. 241-253.
+
+  ---- ---- Sordello at the East End.
+              Journal of Education, July 1, 1885, pp. 281-283.
+
+  ---- Stories from, Holland's.
+         Academy, by J. A. Blaikie, vol. 22, 1882, pp. 287, 288.
+
+  ---- Strafford: a Tragedy.
+         Edinburgh Review, vol. 65, 1837, pp. 132-151.
+
+  ---- Study of.
+         Overland Monthly, by Caroline Le Conte, vol. 3, 2nd series, 1884,
+           pp. 645-651.
+         Literary World (Boston), vol. 17, 1886, p. 44.
+
+  ---- Two Sonnets to.
+         New Monthly Magazine, vol. 48, 1835, p. 48.
+
+  ---- Types of Womanhood.
+         Woman's World, by Annie E. Ireland, Nov. 1889, pp. 47-50.
+
+  ---- Verses on.
+         Art Review (with portrait), by William Sharp, Feb. 1890, pp.33-36.
+         Murray's Magazine, by Rev. H.D. Rawnsley, Feb. 1890, pp. 145-150.
+         Belford's Magazine (poem of 20 six-line stanzas), by William
+           Sharp, March 1890.
+
+  ---- Wordsworth and Tennyson.
+         National Review, by Walter Bagehot, vol. 19, 1864, pp. 27-67;
+         reprinted in "Literary Studies", 1879;
+         same article, Eclectic Magazine, vol. 1 N.S., pp.273-284, 415-427,
+         and in Littell's Living Age, vol. 84, pp. 3-24.
+
+
+VII. CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WORKS,
+
+Pauline 1833
+
+Paracelsus 1835
+
+Strafford 1837
+
+Sordello 1840
+
+Pippa Passes (_Bells and Pomegranates_, No. I.). 1841
+
+King Victor and King Charles (_Bells and Pomegranates_, No. II.) 1842
+
+Dramatic Lyrics (_Bells and Pomegranates_, No. III). 1842
+  Cavalier Times.
+      I. Marching Along.
+     II. Give a Rouse.
+    III. My Wife Gertrude.
+  Italy and France.
+     I. Italy.
+    II. France.
+  Camp and Cloister.
+     I. Camp (French).
+    II. Cloister (Spanish).
+  In a Gondola.
+  Artemis Prologuizes.
+  Waring.
+  Queen Worship.
+     I. Eudel and the Lady of Tripoli.
+    II. Christina.
+  Madhouse Cells.
+     I. Johannes Agricola.
+    II. Porphyria.
+  Through the Metidja.
+  The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
+
+The Return of the Druses (_Bells and Pomegranates_, No. IV.) 1843
+
+A Blot in the 'Scutcheon (_Bells and Pomegranates_, No. V.) 1843
+
+Colombo's Birthday (_Bells and Pomegranates_, No. VI.) 1844
+
+Dramatic Romances and Lyrics (_Bells and Pomegranates_, No. VII.) 1845
+  How they brought the Good News.
+  Pictor Ignotus.
+  Italy in England.
+  England in Italy.
+  The Lost Leader.
+  The Lost Mistress.
+  Home Thoughts  from Abroad.
+  The Tomb at St. Praxeil's.
+  Garden Fancies.
+  I. The Flower's Name.
+  II. Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis.
+  France and Spain.
+  I. The Laboratory.
+  II. The Confessional.
+  The Flight of the Duchess.
+  Earth's Immortalities.
+  Song.
+  The Boy and the Angel.
+  Night and Morning.
+  Claret and Tokay.
+  Saul.
+  Time's Revenges.
+  The Glove.
+
+Luria.            }
+A Soul's Tragedy. } (_Bells and Pomegranates_, No. VIII.) 1846
+
+Christmas Eve and Easter-Day 1850
+
+Introductory Essay to Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley 1852
+
+Men and Women 1855
+  Vol. I.
+    Love among the ruins.
+    A Lover's Quarrel.
+    Evelyn Hope.
+    Up at a Villa--Down In the City.
+    A Woman's Last Word.
+    Fra Lippo Lippi.
+    A Toccata of Galuppi's.
+    By the Fireside.
+    Any Wife to any Husband.
+    An Epistle of Karshish,
+    Mesmerism.
+    A Serenade at the Villa.
+    My Star.
+    Instans Tyrannus.
+    A Pretty Woman.
+    "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came."
+    Respectability.
+    A Light Woman.
+    The Statue and the Bust.
+    Love in a Life.
+    Life in a Love.
+    How it strikes a Contemporary.
+    The Last Ride Together.
+    The Patriot.
+    Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha.
+    Bishop Blougram's Apology.
+    Memorabilia.
+  Vol. II.
+    Andrea del Sarto.
+    Before.
+    After.
+    In Three Days.
+    In a Year.
+    Old Pictures in Florence.
+    In a Balcony.
+    Saul.
+    "De Gustibus ----"
+    Women and Roses.
+    Protus.
+    Holy-Cross Day.
+    The Guardian-Angel.
+    Cleon.
+    The Twins.
+    Popularity.
+    The Heretic's Tragedy.
+    Two in the Campagna.
+    A Grammarian's Funeral.
+    One Way of Love.
+    Another Way of Love.
+    "Transcendentalism."
+    Misconceptions.
+    One Word More.
+
+Dramatis Personæ 1864
+  James Lee.
+  Gold Hair.
+  The Worst of It.
+  Dis Aliter Visum.
+  Too Late.
+  Abt Vogler.
+  Rabbi Ben Ezra.
+  A Death in the Desert.
+  Caliban upon Setebos.
+  Confessions.
+  May and Death.
+  Prospice.
+  Youth and Art.
+  A Face.
+  A Likeness.
+  Mr. Sludge.
+  Apparent Failure.
+  Epilogue.
+
+The Ring and the Book 1868-69
+
+Balaustion's Adventure 1871
+
+Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau 1871
+
+Fifine at the Fair 1872
+
+Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 1873
+
+Aristophanes' Apology 1875
+
+The Inn Album 1875
+
+Pacchiarotto, and other Poems 1876
+  Prologue.
+  Of Pacchiarotto.
+  At the "Mermaid."
+  House.
+  Shop.
+  Pisgah Sights, I. and II.
+  Fears and Scruples.
+  Natural Magic.
+  Magical Nature.
+  Bifurcation.
+  Numpholeptos.
+  Appearances.
+  St. Martin's Summer.
+  Hervé Riel. (Reprinted from Cornhill Magazine, March 1871.)
+  A Forgiveness.
+  Cenciaja.
+  Filippo Baldinucci.
+  Epilogue.
+
+The Agamemnon of Æschylus 1877
+
+La Saisiaz 1878
+
+The Two Poets of Croisie 1878
+
+Dramatic Idyls 1879-80
+  Series I.
+    Martin Relph.
+    Pheidippides.
+    Halbert and Hob.
+    Ivàn Ivànovitch.
+    Tray.
+    Ned Bratts.
+  Series II.
+    Proem.
+    Echetlos.
+    Clive.
+    Muléykeh.
+    Pietro of Abano.
+    Doctor ----
+    Pan and Luna.
+    Epilogue.
+
+Jocoseria 1883
+  Wanting is--What?
+  Donald.
+  Solomon and Balkis.
+  Cristina and Monaldeschi.
+  Mary Wollstonecraft and Fuseli.
+  Adam, Lilith, and Eve.
+  Ixion.
+  Jochanan Hakkadosh.
+  Never the Time and the Place.
+  Pambo.
+
+Ferishtah's Fancies 1884
+  Prologue.
+  Ferishtah's Fancies
+   1. The Eagle.
+   2. Melon-Seller.
+   3. Shah Abbas.
+   4. The Family.
+   5. The Sun.
+   6. Mihrab Shah.
+   7. A Camel-Driver.
+   8. Two Camels.
+   9. Cherries.
+  10. Plot-Culture.
+  11. A Pillar at Sebzevah.
+  12. A Bean-stripe; also Apple-Eating.
+  Epilogue.
+
+Parleyings with Certain People 1887
+  Apollo and the Fates--a Prologue.
+  I. With Bernard de Mandeville.
+  II. With Daniel Bartoli.
+  III. With Christopher Smart.
+  IV. With George Babb Dodington.
+  V. With Francis Furini
+  VI. With Gerard de Lairesse.
+  VII. With Charles Avison.
+  Fust and his Friends--an Epilogue.
+
+Asolando 1890
+  Prologue.
+  Rosny.
+  Dubiety.
+  Now.
+  Humility.
+  Poetics.
+  Summum Bonum.
+  A Pearl, a Girl.
+  Speculative.
+  White Witchcraft.
+  Bad Dreams
+  Inapprehensiveness.
+  Which?
+  The Cardinal and the Dog.
+  The Pope and the Net.
+  The Bean-Feast.
+  Muckle-mouth Meg.
+  Arcades Ambo.
+  The Lady and the Painter.
+  Ponte dell' Angelo, Venice.
+  Beatrice Signorini.
+  Flute-music, with an Accompaniment.
+  "Imperante Augusto natus est ----"
+  Development.
+  Rephan.
+  Reverie.
+  Epilogue.
+
+
+
+
+The Canterbury Poets.
+
+
+IMPORTANT ADDITIONS.
+
+
+WORKS BY ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+
+VOL. I.
+
+Pippa Passes, and other Poetic Dramas, by Robert Browning.
+  With an Introductory Note by Frank Rinder.
+
+VOL. II.
+
+A Blot in the 'Scutcheon, and other Poetic Dramas, by Robert Browning.
+  With an Introductory Note by Frank Rinder.
+
+VOL. III.
+
+Dramatic Romances and Lyrics; and Sordello, by Robert Browning.
+  To which is prefixed an Appreciation of Browning by Miss E. Dixon.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+BINDINGS.
+
+The above volumes are supplied in the following Bindings:--
+IN GREEN ROAN, Boxed, with Frontispiece in Photogravure, 2s. 6d. net.
+IN ART LINEN, with Frontispiece in Photogravure, 2s.
+IN WHITE LINEN, with Frontispiece in Photogravure, 2s.
+IN BROCADE, 2 Vols., in Shell Case to match (each vol. with Frontispiece),
+    price 4s. per Set, or 3 vols. 6s. per Set.
+And in the ordinary SHILLING BINDINGS, Green Cloth, Cut Edges, and
+    Blue Cloth, Uncut Edges (without Photogravure).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Three Volumes form an admirable and representative "Set," including
+a great part of Browning's best-known and most admired work, and (being
+each of about 400 pages) are among the largest yet issued in the
+CANTERBURY POETS. The Frontispiece of Vol. I. consists of a reproduction
+of one of Browning's last portraits; Mr. RUDOLF LEHMANN has kindly given
+permission for his portrait of Browning to be reproduced as a
+Frontispiece of Vol. II.; while a reproduction of a drawing of a View of
+Asolo forms the Frontispiece of the third Volume.
+
+
+
+
+New and Enlarged Edition, Crown 8vo, Cloth, 6s.
+
+MODERN PAINTING,
+By GEORGE MOORE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SOME PRESS NOTICES.
+
+"Of the very few hooks on art that painters and critics should on no
+account leave unread this is surely one."--_The Studio_.
+
+"His book is one of the best books about pictures that have come
+into our hands for some years."--_St. James's Gazette_.
+
+"If there is an art critic who knows exactly what he means and says
+it with exemplary lucidity, it is 'G.M.'"--_The Sketch_.
+
+"A more original, a better informed, a more suggestive, and let us
+add, a more amusing work on the art of to-day, we have never read
+than this volume."--_Glasgow Herald_.
+
+"Impressionism, to use that word, in the absence of any fitter
+one,--the impressionism which makes his own writing on art in this
+volume so effective, is, in short, the secret both of his likes and
+dislikes, his hatred of what he thinks conventional and mechanic,
+together with his very alert and careful evaluation of what comes home
+to him as straightforward, whether in Reynolds, or Rubens, or Ruysdael,
+in Japan, in Paris, or in modern England."--Mr. Pater in _The Chronicle_.
+
+"As an art critic Mr. George Moore certainly has some signal
+advantages. He is never dull, he is frankly personal, he is untroubled
+by tradition."--_Westminster Gazette_.
+
+"Mr. Moore, in spite of the impediments that he puts in the way of
+his own effectiveness, is one of the most competent writers on painting
+that we have."--_Manchester Guardian_.
+
+"His [Mr. Moore's] book is one that cannot fail to be much talked
+about; and everyone who is interested in modern painting will do well
+to make acquaintance with its views."--_Scottish Leader_.
+
+"As everybody knows by this time, Mr. Moore is a person of strong
+opinions and strong dislikes, and has the gift of expressing both in
+pungent language."--_The Times_.
+
+"Of his [Mr. Moore's] sincerity, of his courage, and of his candour
+there can be no doubt.... One of the most interesting writers on art
+that we have."--_Pall Mall Gazette_.
+
+
+
+
+THE SCOTT LIBRARY.
+
+Cloth, Uncut Edges, Gilt Top. Price 1s. 6d. per Volume.
+
+
+VOLUMES ALREADY ISSUED
+
+
+  1 Malory's Romance of King Arthur and the Quest of the Holy Grail.
+    Edited by Ernest Rhys.
+
+  2 Thoreau's Walden.
+    With Introductory Note by Will H. Dircks.
+
+  3 Thoreau's "Week."
+    With Prefatory Note by Will H. Dircks.
+
+  4 Thoreau's Essays.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by Will H. Dircks.
+
+  5 Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, etc.
+    By Thomas De Quincey. With Introductory Note by William Sharp.
+
+  6 Landor's Imaginary Conversations.
+    Selected, with Introduction, by Havelock Ellis.
+
+  7 Plutarch's Lives (Langhorne).
+    With Introductory Note by B. J. Snell, M.A.
+
+  8 Browne's Religio Medici, etc.
+    With Introduction by J. Addington Symonds.
+
+  9 Shelley's Essays and Letters.
+    Edited, with Introductory Note, by Ernest Rhys.
+
+ 10 Swift's Prose Writings.
+    Chosen and Arranged, with Introduction, by Walter Lewin.
+
+ 11 My Study Windows.
+    By James Russell Lowell. With Introduction by R, Garnett, LL.D.
+
+ 12 Lowell's Essays on the English Poets.
+    With a new Introduction by Mr. Lowell.
+
+ 13 The Biglow Papers.
+    By James Russell Lowell. With a Prefatory Note by Ernest Rhys.
+
+ 14 Great English Painters.
+    Selected from Cunningham's _Lives_. Edited by William Sharp.
+
+ 15 Byron's Letters and Journals.
+    Selected, with Introduction, by Mathilda Blind.
+
+ 16 Leigh Hunt's Essays.
+    With Introduction and Notes by Arthur Symons.
+
+ 17 Longfellow's "Hyperion," "Kavanagh," and "The Trouveres."
+    With Introduction by W. Tirebuck.
+
+ 18 Great Musical Composers.
+    By G.F. Ferris. Edited, with Introduction, by Mrs. William Sharp.
+
+ 19 The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.
+    Edited by Alice Zimmern.
+
+ 20 The Teaching of Epictetus.
+    Translated From the Greek, with Introduction and Notes,
+    by T.W. Rolleston.
+
+ 21 Selections From Seneca.
+    With Introduction by Walter Clode.
+
+ 22 Specimen Days in America.
+    By Walt Whitman. Revised by the Author, with fresh Preface.
+
+ 23 Democratic Vistas, and Other Papers.
+    By Walt Whitman. (Published by arrangement with the Author.)
+
+ 24 White's Natural History of Selborne.
+    With a Preface by Richard Jefferies.
+
+ 25 Defoe's Captain Singleton.
+    Edited, With Introduction, by H. Halliday Sparling.
+
+ 26 Mazzini's Essays: Literary, Political, and Religious.
+    With Introduction by William Clarke.
+
+ 27 Prose Writings of Heine.
+    With Introduction by Havelock Ellis.
+
+ 28 Reynolds's Discourses.
+    With Introduction by Helen Zimmern.
+
+ 29 Papers of Steele and Addison.
+    Edited By Walter Lewin.
+
+ 30 Burns's Letters.
+    Selected And Arranged, with Introduction, by J. Logie Robertson, M.A.
+
+ 31 Volsunga Saga.
+    William Morris. With Introduction by H.H. Sparling.
+
+ 32 Sartor Resartus.
+    By Thomas Carlyle. With Introduction by Ernest Rhys.
+
+ 33 Select Writings of Emerson.
+    With Introduction by Percival Chubb.
+
+ 34 Autobiography of Lord Herbert.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by Will H. Dircks.
+
+ 35 English Prose, from Maundeville to Thackeray.
+    Chosen and Edited by Arthur Galton.
+
+ 36 The Pillars of Society, and Other Plays.
+    By Henrik Ibsen. Edited, with an Introduction, by Havelock Ellis.
+
+ 37 Irish Fairy and Folk Tales.
+    Edited and Selected by W.B. Yeats.
+
+ 38 Essays of Dr. Johnson.
+    With Biographical Introduction and Notes by Stuart J. Reid.
+
+ 39 Essays of William Hazlitt.
+    Selected and Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Frank Carr.
+
+ 40 Landor's Pentameron, and Other Imaginary Conversations.
+    Edited, with a Preface, by H. Ellis.
+
+ 41 Poe's Tales and Essays.
+    Edited, with Introduction, by Ernest Rhys.
+
+ 42 Vicar of Wakefield.
+    By Oliver Goldsmith. Edited, with Preface, by Ernest Rhys.
+
+ 43 Political Orations, from Wentworth to Macaulay.
+    Edited, with Introduction, by William Clarke.
+
+ 44 The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table.
+    By Oliver Wendell Holmes.
+
+ 45 The Poet at the Breakfast-Table.
+    By Oliver Wendell Holmes.
+
+ 46 The Professor at the Breakfast-Table.
+    By Oliver Wendell Holmes.
+
+ 47 Lord Chesterfield's Letters to His Son.
+    Selected, with Introduction, by Charles Sayle.
+
+ 48 Stories from Carleton.
+    Selected, with Introduction, by W. Yeats.
+
+ 49 Jane Eyre.
+    By Charlotte Bronté. Edited by Clement K. Shorter.
+
+ 50 Elizabethan England.
+    Edited by Lothrop Withington, with a Preface by Dr. Furnivall.
+
+ 51 The Prose Writings of Thomas Davis.
+    Edited by T.W. Rolleston.
+
+ 52 Spence's Anecdotes. A Selection.
+    Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by John Underhill.
+
+ 53 More's Utopia, and Life of Edward V.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by Maurice Adams.
+
+ 54 Sadi's Gulistan, or Flower Garden.
+    Translated, with an Essay, by James Boss.
+
+ 55 English Fairy and Folk Tales.
+    Edited By E. Sidney Hartland.
+
+ 56 Northern Studies.
+    By Edmund Gosse. With a Note By Ernest Rhys.
+
+ 57 Early Reviews of Great Writers.
+    Edited By E. Stevenson.
+
+ 58 Aristotle's Ethics.
+    With George Henry Lewes's Essay on Aristotle prefixed.
+
+ 59 Landor's Pericles and Aspasu.
+    Edited, With an Introduction, by Havelock Ellis.
+
+ 60 Annals of Tacitus.
+    Thomas Gordon's Translation. Edited, with an Introduction,
+    by Arthur Galton.
+
+ 61 Essays of Elia.
+    By Charles Lamb. Edited, with an Introduction, by Ernest Rhys.
+
+ 62 Balzac's Shorter Stories.
+    Translated by William Wilson and the Count Stenbock.
+
+ 63 Comedies of De Musset.
+    Edited, with an Introductory Note, by S. L. Gwynn.
+
+ 64 Coral Reefs.
+    By Charles Darwin. Edited, with an Introduction, by Dr. J.W. Williams.
+
+ 65 Sheridan's Plays.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by Eudolf Dircks.
+
+ 66 Our Village. By Miss Mitford.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by Ernest Rhys.
+
+ 67 Master Humphrey's Clock, and Other Stories.
+    By Charles Dickens. With Introduction by Frank T. Marzials.
+
+ 68 Tales from Wonderland.
+    By Rudolph Baumbach. Translated by Helen B. Dole.
+
+ 69 Essays and Papers by Douglas Jerrold.
+    Edited by Walter Jerrold.
+
+ 70 Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
+    By Mary Wollstonecraft. Introduction by Mrs. E. Robins Pennell.
+
+ 71 "The Athenian Oracle." A Selection.
+    Edited by John Underhill, with Prefatory Note by Walter Besant.
+
+ 72 Essays of Sainte-Beuve.
+    Translated and Edited, with an Introduction, by Elizabeth Lee.
+
+ 73 Selections from Plato.
+    From the Translation of Sydenham and Taylor. Edited by T.W. Rolleston.
+
+ 74 Heine's Italian Travel Sketches, etc.
+    Translated by Elizabeth A. Sharp. With an Introduction from the French
+    of Theophile Gautier.
+
+ 75 Schiller's Maid of Orleans.
+    Translated, with an Introduction, by Major-General Patrick Maxwell.
+
+ 76 Selections from Sydney Smith.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by Ernest Rhys.
+
+ 77 The New Spirit.
+    By Havelock Ellis.
+
+ 78 The Book of Marvellous Adventures.
+    From the "Morte d'Arthur." Edited by Ernest Rhys.
+    [This, together with No. 1, forms the complete "Morte d'Arthur."]
+
+ 79 Essays and Aphorisms.
+    By Sir Arthur Helps. With an Introduction by E.A. Helps.
+
+ 80 Essays of Montaigne.
+    Selected, with a Prefatory Note, by Percival Chubb.
+
+ 81 The Luck of Barry Lyndon.
+    By W.M. Thackeray. Edited by F.T. Marzials.
+
+ 82 Schiller's William Tell.
+    Translated, with an Introduction, by Major-General Patrick Maxwell.
+
+ 83 Carlyle's Essays on German Literature.
+    With an Introduction by Ernest Rhys.
+
+ 84 Plays and Dramatic Essays of Charles Lamb.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by Rudolf Dircks.
+
+ 85 The Prose of Wordsworth.
+    Selected and Edited, with an Introduction, by Professor William Knight.
+
+ 86 Essays, Dialogues, and Thoughts of Count Giacomo Leopardi.
+    Translated, with an Introduction and Notes, by Major-General
+    Patrick Maxwell.
+
+ 87 The Inspector-general. A Russian Comedy.
+    By Nikolai V. Gogol. Translated from the original, with an Introduction
+    and Notes, by Arthur A. Sykes.
+
+ 88 Essays and Apothegms of Francis, Lord Bacon.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by John Buchan.
+
+ 89 Prose of Milton.
+    Selected And Edited, with an Introduction, by Richard Garnett, LL.D.
+
+ 90 The Republic of Plato.
+    Translated  By Thomas Taylor, with an Introduction by
+    Theodore Wratislaw.
+
+ 91 Passages From Froissart.
+    With an Introduction by Frank T. Marzials.
+
+ 92 The Prose and Table Talk of Coleridge.
+    Edited by Will H. Dircks.
+
+ 93 Heine in Art and Letters.
+    Translated by Elizabeth A. Sharp.
+
+ 94 Selected Essays of De Quincey.
+    With an Introduction by Sir George Douglas, Bart.
+
+ 95 Vasari's Lives of Italian Painters.
+    Selected and Prefaced by Havelock Ellis.
+
+ 96 Laocoon, and Other Prose Writings of Lessing.
+    A new Translation by W. B. Rönnfeldt.
+
+ 97 Pelleas and Melisanda, and the Sightless.
+    Two Plays by Maurice Maeterlinck.
+    Translated from the French by Laurence Alma Tadema.
+
+ 98 The Complete Angler of Walton and Cotton.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by Charles Hill Dick.
+
+ 99 Lessing's Nathan the Wise.
+    Translated by Major-General Patrick Maxwell.
+
+100 The Poetry of the Celtic Races, and Other Essays of Ernest Renan.
+    Translated by W.G. Hutchison.
+
+101 Criticisms, Reflections, and Maxims of Goethe.
+    Translated, with an Introduction, by W.B. Rönnfeldt.
+
+102 Essays of Schopenhauer.
+    Translated by Mrs. Rudolf Dircks. With an Introduction.
+
+103 Renan's Life of Jesus.
+    Translated, with an Introduction, by William G. Hutchison.
+
+104 The Confessions of Saint Augustine.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by Arthur Symons.
+
+105 The Principles of Success in Literature.
+    By George Henry Lewes. Edited, with an Introduction,
+    by T. Sharper Knowlson.
+
+106 The Lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Richard Hooker,
+    Mr. George Herbert, and Dr. Robert Sanderson.
+    By Izaac Walton. Edited, with an Introduction, by Charles Hill Dick.
+
+107 What is Art? by Leo Tolstoy.
+    Translated from the Original Russian MS., with an Introduction,
+    by Aylmer Maude.
+
+108 Renan's Antichrist.
+    Translated, with an Introduction, by W.G. Hutchison.
+
+109 Orations of Cicero.
+    Selected and Edited, with an Introduction, by Fred. W. Norris.
+
+110 Reflections on the Revolution in France.
+    By Edmund Burke. With an Introduction by George Sampson.
+
+111 The Letters of the Younger Pliny. Series I.
+    Translated, with an Introductory Essay, by John B. Firth, B.A.,
+    Late Scholar of Queen's College, Oxford.
+
+112 The Letters of the Younger Pliny. Series II.
+    Translated by John B. Firth, B.A.
+
+113 Selected Thoughts of Blaise Pascal.
+    Translated and Edited, with an Introduction and Notes,
+    by Gertrude Burford Rawlings.
+
+114 Scots Essayists: From Stirling to Stevenson.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by Oliphant Smeaton.
+
+115 On Liberty.
+    By John Stuart Mill. With an Introduction by W.L. Courtney.
+
+116 The Discourse on Method and Metaphysical Meditations of René Descartes.
+    Translated, with Introduction, by Gertrude B. Rawlings.
+
+117 Kâlidâsa's Sakuntalâ, etc.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by T. Holme.
+
+118 Newman's University Sketches.
+    Edited, with Introduction, by George Sampson.
+
+119 Newman's Select Essays.
+    Edited, with an Introduction, by George Sampson.
+
+
+
+
+MANUALS OF EMPLOYMENT FOR EDUCATED WOMEN.
+
+
+The object of this series of manuals will be to give to girls, more
+particularly to those belonging to the educated classes, who from
+inclination or necessity are looking forward to earning their own
+living, some assistance with reference to the choice of a profession,
+and to the best method of preparing for it when chosen.
+
+Foolscap 8vo, Stiff Paper Cover, Price 1s.; or in Limp Cloth, 1s. 6d.
+
+
+I.--SECONDARY TEACHING.
+
+This manual contains particulars of the qualifications necessary for a
+secondary teacher, with a list of the colleges and universities where
+training may be had, the cost of training, and the prospect of employment
+when trained.
+
+
+II.--ELEMENTARY TEACHING.
+
+This manual sums up clearly the chief facts which need to be known
+respecting the work to be done in elementary schools, and the conditions
+under which women may take a share in such work.
+
+
+III.--SICK NURSING.
+
+This manual contains useful information with regard to every branch
+of Nursing--Hospital, District, Private, and Mental Nursing, and
+Nursing in the Army and Navy and in Poor Law Institutions, with
+particulars of the best method of training, the usual salaries given, and
+the prospect of employment, with some account of the general advantages
+and drawbacks of the work.
+
+
+IV.--MEDICINE.
+
+This manual gives particulars of all the medical qualifications recognised
+by the General Medical Council which are open to women, and
+of the methods by which they can be obtained, with full details of the
+different universities and colleges at which women can pursue their
+medical studies.
+
+
+
+
+IBSEN'S PROSE DRAMAS.
+
+EDITED BY WILLIAM ARCHER.
+
+
+Complete in Five Vols. Crown 8vo, Cloth, Price 3s. 6d. each.
+Set of Five Vols., in Case, 17s. 6d.; in Half Morocco, in Case, 32s. 6d.
+
+
+VOL. I.
+  "A DOLL'S HOUSE," "THE LEAGUE OF YOUTH," and "THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY."
+  With Portrait of the Author, and Biographical Introduction by WILLIAM
+  ARCHER.
+
+VOL. II.
+  "GHOSTS," "AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE," and "THE WILD DUCK."
+  With an Introductory Note.
+
+VOL. III.
+  "LADY INGER OF OSTRAT," "THE VIKINGS AT HELGELAND," "THE PRETENDERS."
+  With an Introductory Note and Portrait of Ibsen.
+
+VOL. IV.
+  "EMPEROR AND GALILEAN."
+  With an Introductory Note by WILLIAM ARCHER.
+
+VOL. V.
+  "ROSMERSHOLM," "THE LADY FROM THE SEA," "HEDDA GABLER."
+  Translated by WILLIAM ARCHER. With an Introductory Note.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+AN INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE GIFT BOOK FOR EVERY ONE MUSICALLY INCLINED.
+
+In One Volume. Crown 8vo, Cloth, Richly Gilt. Price 3/6.
+
+
+MUSICIANS' WIT, HUMOUR, AND ANECDOTE.
+
+Being _On Dits_ of Composers, Singers, and Instrumentalists of
+all Times.
+
+BY FREDERICK J. CROWEST,
+
+Author of "The Great Tone Poets," "Verdi: Man and Musician";
+Editor of "The Master Musicians Series," etc., etc.
+
+Profusely Illustrated with Quaint Drawings by J. P. DONNE.
+
+
+
+
+COMPACT AND PRACTICAL.
+
+In Limp Cloth; for the Pocket. Price One Shilling.
+
+THE EUROPEAN CONVERSATION BOOKS.
+
+FRENCH.
+ITALIAN.
+SPANISH.
+GERMAN.
+NORWEGIAN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE MAKERS OF BRITISH ART.
+
+Square Crown 8vo, Cloth, 3s. 6d. net.
+
+With a Photogravure Portrait and 20 Half-tone Reproductions of Pictures,
+   and valuable Appendices.
+
+GEORGE ROMNEY. BY SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, M.P.
+
+JOHN CONSTABLE. BY THE RIGHT HON. LORD WINDSOR.
+
+SIR JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS. BY J. EADIE REID, Author of "The Schools and
+Methods of English Art."
+
+SIR DAVID WILKIE. BY PROFESSOR BAYNE.
+
+SIR EDWIN LANDSEER. BY THE EDITOR.
+  "This little volume may rank as the most complete account of Landseer
+  that the world is likely to possess."--_Times_.
+
+SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. BY ELSA D'ESTERRE-KEELING.
+  "To the series entitled 'The Makers of British Art' Miss Elsa
+   d'Esterre-Keeling contributes an admirable little volume on Sir
+   Joshua Reynolds. Miss Keeling's style is sprightly and epigrammatic,
+   and her judgments are well considered."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+J.M.W. TURNER. BY ROBERT CHIGNELL,
+  Author of "The Life and Paintings of Vicat Cole, R.A."
+  Crown 8vo, about 350 pp. each, Cloth Cover, 2/6 per Vol.;
+  Half-Polished Morocco, Gilt Top, 5s.
+
+
+
+
+Count Tolstoy's Works.
+
+The following Volumes are already issued--
+
+A RUSSIAN PROPRIETOR.
+THE COSSACKS.
+IVAN ILYITCH, AND OTHER STORIES.
+MY RELIGION.
+LIFE.
+MY CONFESSION.
+CHILDHOOD, BOYHOOD, YOUTH.
+THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WAR.
+ANNA KARÉNINA.  3/6.
+WHAT TO DO?
+WAR AND PEACE.  (4 vols.)
+THE LONG EXILE, ETC.
+SEVASTOPOL.
+THE KREUTZER SONATA, AND FAMILY HAPPINESS.
+THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU.
+WORK WHILE YE HAVE THE LIGHT.
+THE GOSPEL IN BRIEF.
+
+Uniform with the above--
+
+IMPRESSIONS OF RUSSIA. By Dr. GEORG BRANDES.
+  Post 4to, Cloth, Price 1s.
+
+PATRIOTISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
+  To Which is appended a Reply to Criticisms of the Work.
+  By COUNT TOLSTOY.
+
+
+1. Booklets by Count Tolstoy.
+
+Bound in White Grained Boards, with Gilt Lettering.
+
+WHERE LOVE IS, THERE GOD IS ALSO.
+THE TWO PILGRIMS.
+WHAT MEN LIVE BY.
+THE GODSON.
+IF YOU NEGLECT THE FIRE, YOU DON'T PUT IT OUT.
+WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT A MAN?
+
+
+2. Booklets by Count Tolstoy.
+
+NEW EDITIONS, REVISED.
+
+Small 12mo, Cloth, with Embossed Design on Cover, each containing
+Two Stories by Count Tolstoy, and Two Drawings by H.R. Millar. In Box,
+Price 2s. each.
+
+Volume I. contains--
+  WHERE LOVE IS, THERE GOD IS ALSO.
+  THE GODSON.
+
+Volume II. contains--
+  WHAT MEN LIVE BY.
+  WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT A MAN?
+
+Volume III. contains--
+  THE TWO PILGRIMS.
+  IF YOU NEGLECT THE FIRE, YOU DON'T PUT IT OUT.
+
+Volume IV. contains--
+  MASTER AND MAN.
+
+Volume V. contains--
+  TOLSTOY'S PARABLES.
+
+
+
+
+NEW ENGLAND LIBRARY.
+
+CONTAINING THE WORKS OF
+
+NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, AND HENRY THOREAU.
+
+GRAVURE EDITION.  Printed on Antique Paper. 2s. 6d. per Vol.
+
+Each Volume with a Frontispiece in Photogravure.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+EVERY-DAY HELP SERIES.
+
+Square 8vo, Parchment Cover, 6d.; Cloth, 6d.; Cloth and Roan, 1s.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+VALUABLE LITTLE BOOK BY ELLICE HOPKINS,
+Author of "Power of Womanhood."
+
+THE STORY OF LIFE.
+
+FOR THE USE OF MOTHERS OF BOYS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Cloth, Price 2s. 6d.
+
+BARTY'S STAR.
+
+BY NORMAN GALE, Author of "Songs for Little People," etc.
+
+Profusely Illustrated by GORDON BROWNE, and other Artists.
+
+Grown-up folk to whom children are dear will, we think, find in the
+chapters of _Barty's Star_ not a little to attract them. In Barty his
+parents noticed what they judged to be clear proofs of the child's
+earlier existence in another world; and these signs form the foundation
+of a book that certainly does not lack either grace or originality. The
+love of the parents, the one for the other, is made a commanding feature
+of the story.
+
+
+
+
+Crown 8vo, Cloth, 3s. 6d. each; some vols., 6s.
+
+THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE SERIES.
+
+EDITED BY HAVELOCK ELLIS.
+
+Illustrated Volumes containing between 300 and 400 pp.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+EVOLUTION OF SEX. By Professors GEDDES and THOMSON. 6s.
+ELECTRICITY IN MODERN LIFE. By G.W. DE TUNZELMANN.
+THE ORIGIN OF THE ARYANS. By Dr. TAYLOR.
+PHYSIOGNOMY AND EXPRESSION. By P. MANTEGAZZA.
+EVOLUTION AND DISEASE. By J.B. SUTTON.
+THE VILLAGE COMMUNITY. By G.L. GOMME.
+THE CRIMINAL. By HAVELOCK ELLIS. New Edition. 6s.
+SANITY AND INSANITY. By Dr. C. MERCIER.
+HYPNOTISM. By Dr. ALBERT MOLL (Berlin).
+MANUAL TRAINING. By Dr. WOODWARD (St. Louis).
+SCIENCE OF FAIRY TALES. By E.S. HARTLAND.
+PRIMITIVE FOLK. By ELIE RECLUS.
+EVOLUTION OF MARRIAGE. By CH. LETOURNEAU.
+BACTERIA AND THEIR PRODUCTS. By Dr. WOODHEAD.
+EDUCATION AND HEREDITY. By J.M. GUYAU.
+THE MAN OF GENIUS. By Prof. LOMBROSO.
+PROPERTY: ITS ORIGIN. By CH. LETOURNEAU.
+VOLCANOES PAST AND PRESENT. By Prof. HULL.
+PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEMS. By Dr. J.F. SYKES.
+MODERN METEOROLOGY. By FRANK WALDO, Ph.D.
+THE GERM-PLASM. By Professor WEISMANN. 6s.
+THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS. By F. HOUSSAY.
+MAN AND WOMAN. By HAVELOCK ELLIS. 6s.
+MODERN CAPITALISM. By JOHN A. HOBSON, M.A.
+THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE. By F. PODMORE, M.A.
+COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY. By Prof. C.L. MORGAN, F.R.S. 6s.
+THE ORIGINS OF INVENTION. By O.T. MASON.
+THE GROWTH OF THE BRAIN. By H.H. DONALDSON.
+EVOLUTION IN ART. By Prof. A.C. HADDON, F.R.S.
+HALLUCINATIONS AND ILLUSIONS. By E. PARISH. 6s.
+PSYCHOLOGY OF THE EMOTIONS. By Prof. RIBOT. 6s.
+THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY. By Dr. E.W. SCRIPTURE. 6s.
+SLEEP: ITS PHYSIOLOGY, PATHOLOGY, HYGIENE, AND PSYCHOLOGY.
+  By MARIE DE MANACÉINE.
+THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DIGESTION. By A. LOCKHART GILLESPIE, M.D.,
+  F.R.C.P. ED., F.R.S. ED. 6s.
+DEGENERACY: ITS CAUSES, SIGNS, AND RESULTS. By Prof. EUGENE S. TALBOT,
+  M.D., Chicago. 6s.
+THE HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. By R.F. SCHARFF, B.Sc., PH.D.,
+  F.Z.S. 6s.
+THE RACES OF MAN: A SKETCH OF ETHNOGRAPHY AND ANTHROPOLOGY.
+  By J. DENIKER. 6s.
+THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION. By Prof. STARBUCK. 6s.
+THE CHILD. By ALEXANDER FRANCIS CHAMBERLAIN, M.A., Ph.D. 65.
+THE MEDITERRANEAN RACE. By Prof. SERGI. 6s.
+THE STUDY OF RELIGION. By MORRIS JASTROW, Jun., Ph.D. 6s.
+HISTORY OF GEOLOGY AND PALÆONTOLOGY. By Prof. KARL ALFRED VON ZITTEL,
+  Munich. 6s.
+THE MAKING OF CITIZENS: A STUDY IN COMPARATIVE EDUCATION. By R.E. HUGHES,
+  M.A. 6s.
+
+
+
+
+SPECIAL EDITION OF THE
+
+CANTERBURY POETS.
+
+Square 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top Elegant, Price 2s.
+
+Each Volume with a Frontispiece in Photogravure.
+
+CHRISTIAN YEAR. With Portrait of John Keble.
+LONGFELLOW. With Portrait of Longfellow.
+SHELLEY. With Portrait of Shelley.
+WORDSWORTH. With Portrait of Wordsworth.
+WHITTIER. With Portrait of Whittier.
+BURNS. Songs } With Portrait of Burns, and View of "The
+BURNS. Poems } Auld Brig o' Doon."
+KEATS. With Portrait of Keats.
+EMERSON. With Portrait of Emerson.
+SONNETS OF THIS CENTURY. Portrait of P. B. Marston.
+WHITMAN. With Portrait of Whitman.
+LOVE LETTERS OF A VIOLINIST. Portrait of Eric Mackay.
+SCOTT. Lady of the Lake, etc. } With Portrait of Sir Walter Scott, and
+SCOTT. Marmion, etc.          } View of "The Silver Strand, Loch Katrine."
+CHILDREN OF THE POETS. With an Engraving of "The Orphans," by Gainsborough.
+SONNETS OF EUROPE. With Portrait of J. A. Symonds.
+SYDNEY DOBELL. With Portrait of Sydney Dobell.
+HERRICK. With Portrait of Herrick.
+BALLADS AND RONDEAUS. Portrait of W. E. Henley.
+IRISH MINSTRELSY. With Portrait of Thomas Davis.
+PARADISE LOST. With Portrait of Milton.
+FAIRY MUSIC. Engraving from Drawing by C. E. Brock.
+GOLDEN TREASURY. With Engraving of Virgin Mother.
+AMERICAN SONNETS. With Portrait of J. R. Lowell.
+IMITATION OF CHRIST. With Engraving, "Ecce Homo."
+PAINTER POETS. With Portrait of Walter Crane.
+WOMEN POETS. With Portrait of Mrs. Browning.
+POEMS OF HON. RODEN NOEL. Portrait of Hon. R. Noel.
+AMERICAN HUMOROUS VERSE. Portrait of Mark Twain.
+SONGS OF FREEDOM. With Portrait of William Morris.
+SCOTTISH MINOR POETS. With Portrait of R. Tannahill.
+CONTEMPORARY SCOTTISH VERSE. With Portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson.
+PARADISE REGAINED. With Portrait of Milton.
+CAVALIER POETS. With Portrait of Suckling.
+HUMOROUS POEMS. With Portrait of Hood.
+HERBERT. With Portrait of Herbert.
+POE. With Portrait of Poe.
+OWEN MEREDITH. With Portrait of late Lord Lytton.
+LOVE LYRICS. With Portrait of Raleigh.
+GERMAN BALLADS. With Portrait of Schiller.
+CAMPBELL. With Portrait of Campbell.
+CANADIAN POEMS. With View of Mount Stephen.
+EARLY ENGLISH POETRY. With Portrait of Earl of Surrey.
+ALLAN RAMSAY. With Portrait of Ramsay.
+SPENSER. With Portrait of Spenser.
+CHATTERTON. With Engraving, "The Death of Chatterton."
+COWPER. With Portrait of Cowper.
+CHAUCER. With Portrait of Chaucer.
+COLERIDGE. With Portrait of Coleridge.
+POPE. With Portrait of Pope.
+BYRON. Miscellaneous }
+BYRON. Don Juan      } With Portraits of Byron.
+JACOBITE SONGS. With Portrait of Prince Charlie.
+BORDER BALLADS. With View of Neidpath Castle.
+AUSTRALIAN BALLADS. With Portrait of A.L. Gordon.
+HOGG. With Portrait of Hogg.
+GOLDSMITH. With Portrait of Goldsmith.
+MOORE. With Portrait of Moore.
+DORA GREENWELL. With Portrait of Dora Greenwell.
+BLAKE. With Portrait of Blake.
+POEMS OF NATURE. With Portrait of Andrew Lang.
+PRAED. With Portrait.
+SOUTHEY. With Portrait.
+HUGO. With Portrait.
+GOETHE. With Portrait.
+BERANGER. With Portrait.
+HEINE. With Portrait.
+SEA MUSIC. With View of Corbière Rocks, Jersey.
+SONG-TIDE. With Portrait of Philip Bourke Marston.
+LADY OF LYONS. With Portrait of Bulwer Lytton.
+SHAKESPEARE: Songs and Sonnets. With Portrait.
+BEN JONSON. With Portrait.
+HORACE. With Portrait.
+CRABBE. With Portrait.
+CRADLE SONGS. With Engraving from Drawing by T.E. Macklin.
+BALLADS OF SPORT.             Do.            do.
+MATTHEW ARNOLD. With Portrait.
+AUSTIN'S DAYS OF THE YEAR. With Portrait.
+CLOUGH'S BOTHIE, and other Poems. With View.
+BROWNING'S Pippa Passes, etc.           }
+BROWNING'S Blot in the 'Scutcheon, etc. } With Portrait.
+BROWNING'S Dramatic Lyrics.             }
+MACKAY'S LOVER'S MISSAL. With Portrait.
+KIRKE WHITE'S POEMS. With Portrait.
+LYRA NICOTIANA. With Portrait.
+AURORA LEIGH. With Portrait of E.B. Browning.
+NAVAL SONGS. With Portrait of Lord Nelson.
+TENNYSON: In Memoriam, Maud, etc. With Portrait.
+TENNYSON: English Idyls, The Princess, etc. With View of Farringford House.
+WAR SONGS. With Portrait of Lord Roberts.
+JAMES THOMSON. With Portrait.
+ALEXANDER SMITH. With Portrait.
+
+
+
+
+COMPANION SERIES TO "THE MAKERS OF BRITISH ART."
+
+An entirely fresh and novel series of literary-musical illustrated
+monographs, planned and edited by Mr. Frederick J. Crowest, Author of
+"The Great Tone Poets," etc., etc.
+
+
+THE MUSIC STORY SERIES.
+
+The great aim with "The Music Story Series" of books will be to make
+them indispensable volumes upon the subjects of which they treat. They
+will be authoritative, interesting, and educational books--furnished
+with appendices which will give them permanent value as works of
+reference, data, etc. Each volume will tell all that the reader may want
+to know upon any of the aspects of musical art which the various works
+of the series will cover.
+
+The following volumes are ready or in course of production, and will be
+published at short intervals:--
+
+THE STORY OF ORATORIO.  BY ANNIE W. PATTERSON, B.A., MUS. DOC.
+THE STORY OF NOTATION.  BY C.F. ABDY WILLIAMS, M.A., MUS. BAC.
+THE STORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.  BY ALGERNON S. ROSE, Author of
+     "Talks with Bandsmen."
+THE STORY OF HARMONY.  BY EUSTACE J. BREAKSPEARE, Author of
+     "Mozart," "Musical Æsthetics," etc.
+THE STORY OF THE ORGAN.  BY C.F. ABDY WILLIAMS, Author of
+     "Bach" and "Handel" ("Master Musicians Series").
+THE STORY OF THE ORCHESTRA. BY STEWART MACPHERSON, Fellow
+     and Professor, Royal Academy of Music; Conductor of the Westminster
+     Orchestral Society.
+THE STORY OF CHAMBER MUSIC.  BY N. KILBURN, MUS. BAC.
+     (Cantab.), Conductor of the Middlesbrough, Sunderland, and Bishop
+     Auckland Musical Societies.
+THE STORY OF BIBLE MUSIC.  BY ELEONORE D'ESTERRE-KEELING,
+     Author of "The Musicians' Birthday Book."
+THE STORY OF THE VIOLIN.  BY A PRACTICAL VIOLINIST.
+THE STORY OF CHURCH MUSIC. BY THE EDITOR.
+ETC., ETC., ETC.
+
+Each volume will be produced in the highest style of typographical
+excellence, with choice illustrations in photogravure, collotype, line,
+and half-tone reproductions. The paper for the series will be specially
+made, deckle edge, with wide margins for readers' and students'
+notes. The size of the volumes will be square crown 8vo, richly gilt,
+and bound in extra cloth; price 3s. 6d. net.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+NOW READY:
+
+THE STORY OF ORATORIO,
+
+300 pp., with a Collotype Portrait of Handel, Four Half-tone Portraits
+of the great Composers of Oratorios, numerous Line Reproductions in
+facsimile, and a splendid Photogravure Frontispiece of Raphael's
+masterpiece--"St. Cecilia"--after the painting in the Academy of
+Bologna.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
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+THE WALTER SCOTT PUBLISHING COMPANY, LTD., LONDON AND NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE
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+End of Project Gutenberg's Life of Robert Browning, by William Sharp
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14476 ***