PR I ME R O F B R OW NI NG

By E DW AR D BE RDOE m ,

A uthor o The B r own in C clo a'dia f g y p ,

LON DON G EORG E ROU T LEDG E SON S LT D ,

NEW YORK : E . P. DUTTON CO B Y THE SAME A UTHOR THE B ROW NI NG CYCLOPJEDI A

ii - o. r 1 0 Fourt h Edition. Pages x v l 57 P i ce 16 T HE R E O PI NI ONS OF P SS. — l ime T T s . Conscientio us and painstaking. u ' t v —Morn A work sugges i e of imme n se indu stry. t rug P os . “ B as I t is not too mu ch to say that Dr. e rdoe h a n d the a i ud of e ve ad o f B o w and e r e gr t t e ry re er r ning, h as ate iall aid e d th e s ud o f E nglis h l i e ra ure m r y t y — t t i v o B ri i lr IV k/ . in o ne of i s r p s d l p e n s . t s a y “ t e t e e m t A o ea n d and c ed tab ec o f w k m st l r e r i le pi e or . — Not a d fi cu is sh k ed . Va F r if l i ni t ai . “ ty r y A o u n o f dus r d v —B aok m n me t in t y and e otion . ma n . ’ B R OW NI NG S MESSAG E TO HI S TI ME

His R e n h oso h and c ence ligio , P il p y S i .

r ra and Facs m With Po t it i ile Letters .

h ird E di l P T t o n. rlce P I NI NS OFTHE PR ESS O O . ' Fu l o f ad i at o and s a h l m r i n ymp t y . Sa turday

R ev iew. “ S o av w h uld h e a ide circulatio n ; it is inte rest i ng ' — and t u a iv . L iter a r [ V r/ s im l t e y a d. W e hav e no hesitatio n in stro ngly re commend ing l v this it tle olu me to any who desire to understand the ' o a and a a u de o f ob t B o w n m r l ment l ttit R er r ni g. Universit y Hera /d. I NTRODUCTI ON

THERE are few works in our literature which so well repay careful and loving study as the poems o f R B obert rowning . To know B rowning well

is to have acquired a liberal education . The B ritish public have taken a long time in finding i out is now z his th s , but it recogni ed that claims cannot be neglected by those who would think i h gh thoughts and commune with noble souls . l I t has been the fashion to cal the poet obscure , n l and in v a alytica trospecti e , and this by those who have never taken the pains to learn really is what he is . The truth , he frequently deals with subjects that in their nature are profound ; s Qb , but though he treats gw ‘matters deeply it is ' true to say that he dealsWItFHEéTgsubjects ’ b As he o —scuafly. a poet He has writtm nan v m y exquisite lo e poems , some char ing and h as lyrics , many dramatic monologues , told h the story of a crowd of half - forgotten persons

more or less important in their time and way . The aim of this Primer is to indicate briefly

the subj ects treated in the different poems , and

to indicate in plain language their main outlines . I n many o f the poems the thoughts are ex i h n n d and press ed i nh g ly co ce trate form , much 6 ’ ’ iv l utroauctzbfl

food for reflection is given in three or four words

or lines . I n such cases the reader unaccustomed to fixing the mind closely on everything read will ’ B n often miss rowning s mea ing , and derive little

profit from the perusal .

a - Day For ex mple , we are told in Easter , that ’ “ s a scientific faith s absurd . In Christma Eve we read that

G od w se easure br u , ho pl o ght Man n be n s an s awa i to i g , t d y A s were a an rea o ff e it h db dth , to giv ' h - e R oom fo r t e newly mad e to liv .

In Sordello ’ th e sc eme w c r n rance Evil , h by ”hi h , th o Ig o , G ab rs ex ood l ou to ist .

I n By the Fireside we see ” How th e wo rld is mad e fo r each o f us '

and the thoughtful student will not need to be told that in each of these passages there is food for reflection which would require many pages

of comment to explain . The gold is never beaten into leaf in B rowning : he gives it in nuggets ;

rough at times , but precious always . I n such expressi ons as

L e n s essen n at as ittl thi g go l i g”, till l t mes G o d e n em Co b hi d th .

Th e mere a ms es se me to d pi . we have the utmost that science can tell us of i and the or gin of life , creation matter . We may I ntroductzon v

k B pic up gems like these in every page of rowning , and the loss is great to those who do not - seek i e m . d lig ntly ti’ll they find the B n n row i g s expression is not only concentrated , i but he is exceed ngly sparing in his words , and he abbreviates his particles or discards them altogether in a way that is often grotesque . Thus we have ’ ’ Th e wr n i th e m er a . n th e cre re ’ o g tt Sti g o at u . ’ ur th e cream fl wer th w e 0 e a . a C d o , o h t Wh t i th e wa o f fi na fl r s r se erse Tr y l ou i h P o , V y ’ B ut the greatest diffi culty of all is B rowning s and a n l n v ast v ried lear ing , especia ly in co nexion

- o f- - - with out the way and half forgotten subjects .

He seems to know everything , and in the most ingenuous manner gives his readers credit for an r e udition equal to his own . The student is advised to begin the study of

B rowning with the shilling volume of Selections . With the aid of the Primer the main idea of each can poem readily be discovered , and a thoughtful perusal of the poem itself ought to make all

t . plain . B u B rowning is not amusement He all l stimulates , and if studied at wi l at least compel his readers to think .

EDW ARD B ER DOE .

ONDON anuar 1 0 . L , j y 8 , 9 4 I ntroduction

B IOGRAPHICAL NOTE .

ROB ERT B ROW NI NG was born at Camberwell on

1 8 1 2 . . a May 7, He was educated at Peckham l School ti l he was near fourteen , then had a u private tutor at home , and attended lect res at

. 1 8 University College , London In 34 he travelled z in Russia . He married Eli abeth B arrett when

- in 1 8 his he was thirty four , and 47 resided with 1 8 B n n l wife in Florence . In 55 the row i gs travel ed i . On 28 1 861 . B in Normandy June , , Mrs rown ng

. B i in c died Robert rowning d ed Venice , De em 1 2 1 88 in ber , 9 , and was buried Westminster

1 . Abbey , December 3 ’The dates of the publi cation of all the poet s works are gi ven in the notes to the poems described in this Primer . A Primer o f B ro wning

PA N E ULI .

( 1 833 ) — e A me e . h Paulin ’ Frag nt of a Conf ssion T is n was the poet s first work , writte when he was

. As l twenty years Old a whole it is nebu ous , although in many parts it condenses into brilliant

stars . To a certain extent it is a psychological ’ analysis of the poet s personality , and admits us

to the secret chambers of his thoughts . Crude

and inchoate as it is , it contains the rudiments of all the noblest and finest work by which

B rowning was to achieve immortality . Ex pede H erculem. Th ere were those who read the anony mous poem who detected that an original genius l al had been born into the iterary world , and though in after years B rowning was ashamed of u now ll his earliest work , we wo ld not wi ingly lose

a line of it . I t is embryonic , and as we do not study embryology until we have ‘ learned our o anatomy and physiol gy , the stu”dent should post pone the reading oi Pauline until he knows ’ more of the poet s normal work .

I t is a fragmentary monologue; introspective , i imag native , and replete with a passionate desire God for a supreme universal , a restlessness

c w b e all a e see n w as e fee 311 . Whi h ould , h v , , k o . t t , l R E . B 2 P aracelsus.

It is a confession of moods and mental attitudes , ’ n not of deeds a soul s awakeni g , a revelation of c high ideals with low aims , a convi tion that earth is not the sphere of the human soul because man c c e s annot so narrow himself but he ex e d it. H”e

s . . love a woman Pauline , I am thine for ever l — Love me , Pau ine leave me not . Divine love r wo ks his redemption and restoration , mediated too by the love of Pauline .

PA RAC ELSUS .

( 1 835 )

— r Paracelsus . Theoph astus B ombas tus Para c s Of 1 —1 1 el us Hohenheim , who lived 493 54 , was one of the most remarkable characters in the r c histo y of medi ine and science . He was born ten t years later than Luther , a Einsiedeln , near

Z c , c c uri h studied magi , al hemy and astrology , and after his course at the University of B asel studied chemistry in the laboratory Of the Fuggers in the Tyrol . He then travelled widely as a s r military u geon , and afterwards wandered in B r ohemian fashion ove the world , picking up knowledge by observation and converse with

, r peasants by any means rathe than from books . r He investigated Natu e at first hand . Despising r , h is autho ity he bent head to no man . After this r B he became a professo at asel , was distinguished c as a physician , effe ting great cures with medic ines c r of his own dis ove y , burned the books of his r c c p ede essors , and be oming detested by his col s r league , was driven f om B asel by the priests and c s do tor , who denounced him as a mountebank and a P arace/sun 3

1 1 lz quack . In 54 he died in the hospital of Sa burg from inj uries received from the servants of certain

n his al . physicia s , j e ous enemies He was a true r martyr of science . He left one hund ed and six treatises on scientific and philosophical subj ects . z He discovered the metal inc and hydrogen gas , i invented laudanum , and anticipated our d scovery of n tra sfusion of blood , introduced the use of i c mercury into med cine , and ame very near to the discoveries which go under the name of

Darwinism . B rowning has taken the facts of the life of this i n hero of med ci e , and buil t up for us the study o f a soul whose whole passion was the acquisition of l u knowledge , and with marvel o s insight , having evolved from his study of what was authentic in not relation to Paracelsus , has only given us a

e i noble po m , bu t has d vined the true character B 1 8 of his hero , who , when rowning wrote in 35 , h was esteemed not ing better than a quack , and has raised him to his true niche in the temple of fame . I f we read the articl”e Al E nc clo zedia B chemy in the y p ritannica , we see ’ that men of science have recogniz ed B rowning s ’ great poem as a far truer estimate o f the man s work than any we had previously . He had ' — — errors they were the faul ts of his time but no great discoverer is a charlatan . n The Poem is divided i to five books . P C LSUS ASPI S : B ARA E RE ook I. The scene is W iirz bur laid at g Paracelsus the student , a in v t k g lea e of his friends , Festus and Michal , tells how he feels that he has a great commission from God he dare not subdue the vast longings l u 4 P arace s s. F for knowledge which fill his soul . estus tells him that he ought not to despise the ordinary means of learning . Paracelsus protests that he will abj ure the idle acts of magic ; he goes to c r prove his soul , to omprehend not only the wo ks r d G od . c of Go , but Himself Mi hal , the tende

- c woman friend , urges him to ast his dreams away , r c s and warns him against his pride . Pa a elsu begs that their love may not hinder his Obedience to his high mission .

ere no t es s are ere no t ear M c a Are th , F tu , th , d i h l n s in th e a en re o f th e er Two poi t dv tu div , ne— w en a e ar h e re ares n e O h , b gg , p p to plu g , One— w en a r nce h e r ses w his ear h , p i , i ith p l es s I n e F tu , plu g t W e wai w en r se Fes us . t you h you i

T I : PARAC ELS U S AT A NS B ook II . The scene is ’ a Greek conjurer s house in Constantinople r He has made discove ies , but they have not ‘ satisfied his great ambition . He needs rest fo r his overwrought brain he will learn from magic i what hard work has failed to yield him . H s r c hea t was human on e , now love has gone . God , r c c pe haps , to onfound his pride , has stri ken his r mind . And now f om within he hears a voice t Of r s r it is hat Ap ile , the pi it of a departed poet r whose aspi ation was to love beauty only . Para s cel us sought knowledge alone . Aprile would love infinitely all forms Of art and all the delights of r c Nature . Pa a elsus demands that he should do c r Obeisan e to him , the Knowe . Aprile refuses to acknowledge the kingship of one who knows ss i nothing of the loveline of l fe . Paracelsus now l sees the error into which both have fa len . He l s P arace su .

x A i k has e cluded love , as pr le has excluded now ledge ; they are two halves of o ne dissevered world . Paracelsus feels that he has attained , but ' it n is earthl y attainment , not Divine u ion , that he seeks . P 1 6 C LSU S B . At B 2 ARA E ook I I I asle , 5 , Festus Old meets his friend , now a famous Professor at ’ of the University lif”e s dispenser , idol the courts and schools . His pupils crowd the c ad ben hes and worship the man . Paracelsus mits his outward success , but owns that at heart he is miserable . He aspired to know God he has attained— a professo rship at B asle He has wrought cures , made discoveries , has a pile of diplomas , and in place of his high aims a host of petty , vile delights have arisen within him . He — a - has become brutal h lf mad . P C L U P ARA E S S AS I RES B ook IV . The scene is r h as 1 28 . at Colma , at an inn , 5 He sent for Festus to tell him t hat he is e xposed to the world c as a quack , is an out ast from those who lately worshipped him . His pupils grew tired of him cu when he attempted to teach them , the fa lty drew o ff from him when their Old methods were r so ( 1 inte fered with , he turn his back upon the

University . Once more the philosopher has a st rted on his travels , not now as a lean ascetic , c all but embra ing the j oys of life . Festus warns him that the base pleasures which have superseded

‘ his nobler aims will never content him , and urges him to resume the past and return with him to

Einsiedeln . Paracelsus declares this to be im his A possible , baser life forbids . sneering devil is hi wit n him . He tries to drown his disappoint 6 P aracelsus.

ment in wine . This fails him now ; he can hardly s c sink deeper . Festu attempts to omfort and

s . rr . advi e He , too, has felt so ow Sweet Michal c is dead . This rouses Para elsus to endeavour on his part to comfort Festus by declaring his ’ faith in the soul s immortality . 1 1 PAR AcE LSU S ATTAI NS B ook V . In 54 Para cel sus lies dying in a cell in the hospit al at Salz burg . Watching him through the night is his fai thful r r for r r f iend , p aying the to tu ed champion of r c s s : man . Pa a el u awakes his failing strength st ruggles like the flame of an e x piring taper. In half - delirious phrases he tells of the insults he r B s r c c endu ed at a le , whe e they alled him qua k , G od c . c and heat , and liar He alls on for one hour of st rength to set h is heart on Him and love . c z s s s G o d He re ogni e Fe tu , who tells him that will r S take him to His b east , and on earth plendour s r his r c hall est upon name for ever . Pa a elsus is s knows that he dying , but he will rise and peak

s c c . tanding , as be omes a tea her of men He has s his rc can inned , he feels need for me y , and he ' t rust G o d. How much of G od he had learned His joy in creation His intentions with regard to ’ r r c Of r s man His final wo k , the p odu t the wo ld remotest ages its mous of preparation the love mingling with everything that tended towards the highest work of creation the progress which is the law of life . He can descry the tendency ’ G od r s to even in man s p e ent imperfe c tion . He r rr Of r sees the g eat e or his life , how he had ove looked the G od in man ; how he had failed to c be note the good in evil , and to dete t the love neath the mask of hate how he had denied the ' Stra or fi d. 7

- as irin s half reasons , the faint p g , the struggles for truth the littleness in man , yet the upward n n tende cy in all his weakness . All this he k ew

. And . not , and he failed so he sinks to rest [For a complete study of the life and work of ’ B w n Paracelsus , and ro ni g s poem thereon , I may refer the reader to the chapter Paracelsus , the ’ m B Refor er of Medicine , in my rowning s Mes sage to his Time .

FFO STRA RD .

( 1 8370

— ord : A r d . h Straff T age y T is tragedy , in five c o f a ts , has for its plot the impeachment the Earl of Strafford and his condemnation and exe

cution . The poem deals with the devotion of Strafford

s to his sovereign , whom he loves , but with who cause he has no sympathy . The contrast between the loyalty of the subj ec t and the treachery of ’ B the King , whose character in rowning s hands f fares ill enough , is boldly marked . Stra ford — — serves one man only Charles and leaves the patriots to fight for England as best they may. L f f o e , ady Carlisle warns Stra ford ‘his dang r and begs him to secure his retreat while he can do so . He is u nmoved— his blind devotion to an unworthy ideal could have only ruin in the end . Defeated fi in the North , he nds that Charles has treacher ously listened to proposals o f reconciliation with c a the Scot h , and that the patriots are in le gue r o d with them . He is impeached and imp is ne in t e C r him h Tower . ha les makes no effort to save , 8 Sordello.

s and signs his death - warrant at th’e reque t of n , . L e Pym ady Carlisle , with th’ King s con ivance arranges a plan for Strafford s escape . He refuses

c . . to run away , and is led to exe ution Dr Tod hunter says the personages of the tragedy are ”— monomaniacs of ideas Strafford of loyalty r to his King , Lady Ca lisle of loyalty to the infatua tion Of Strafford , Pym of loyalty to an ideal r England . B owning has not left the King even a rag of conventional royalty to cover his naked

. ness . He has stript him with a vengeance B ut B rowning was by no means historically

did . accurate in this tragedy , nor he intend to be

SORDELLO.

( 1 840 ) — 5 Sordello . This poem also is a study of a soul . “ It is a picture of the troublous times of the ea rly part Of the thirteenth century in North Italy . Sordello was a t roubadour ”who is referred to by in Dante in his Purgatory . His history is r Of volved in the obscu ity romance , but that he was a skilful Provencal poet is certain . He was l Of also a brave soldier , and died about the midd e l the thirteenth century . Sordel o was born at G oito , near Mantua , and was for some time Of o i attached to the household the Count . St . B c Of G oniface , the hief the uelf party , in the rc r Ma h of T eviso . The age in which Sordello lived was illuminated by the most brilliant chivalric virtues and disgraced by the most r c c at o ious rimes . Heroes and monsters stand out prominently in the turbulent history of the time . rd llo So e . 9

The people were haunted by the recollection of

z z n of . the ferocious E eli o , tyran t Verona I t was said that So rdello h ad married a daughter or C sister of Ez z elino . ontemporary writers dis e n i n prov d by their testimo y these br llia t stories , and probably the glory attaching to his memory is largely due to the admiration which Dante n the a expresses for him . Da te met him at port ls o f wh o Purgatory , amid those had perished by violence without a chance of repenting them o f n : O their sins . Whe he saw Virgil he cried h n n of n Ma tua , I am Sordello thy cou try of l Pro The whole story the real Sorde lo , says fessor n i r n o f So nensche n , is a cu ious insta ce

. na d a development Origi lly a trouba our , app r of the u and ently with most vices , fa lts , virtues o f the typical troubadour o f the thirtee nth cen ad tury , he gradually became , as the centuries v anced o f ra m- Chevalier , first a hero romance , a p and - model Italian knight errant , and finally that B o f which we see rowning has made him . I t is impossible to understand the poem without a fair knowledge of the history o f the period in which l Sorde lo lived and sang . Frederick I I was Em e r r a p o nd Honorius I I I was Pope . The Guelfs and the Ghibellines were in conflict with each other . The first encounter between the two V 1 parties took place at icenz a towards 1 94 . Eccelino n wh o l the Seco d , a lied himself with the and was republics of Verona Padua , exiled from z Vicen a , himself , his whole family and his faction , his B by a Podesta , enemy . efore submitting to to this sentence , he undertook defend himself by setting fire to the neighbouring houses ; a great I O Sordello.

part of the town was burned during the conflict , in which Eccelino was beaten . These were the first scenes of confusion and massacre which met L the eyes of the son of the ord of Romano , the Eccelino th ferocious the Third , born 4 of April , 1 1 94 B iographie Universelle

The Guelfs supported the Pope , whilst the

Ghibellines adh ered to the Emperor Frederick . Taurello Salinguerra was the right - hand man Of 1 00 Eccelino and also of his son . In 2 he was head of the Ghibelline faction in Ferrara . I n 1 20 G c r 5 the head of the uelf fa tion , both in Ferra a rc Of z z r and the Ma h Verona , was A o VI , Ma quis f 1 0 AZ Z O c O Este . In 2 7 VI was ompelled by

Eccelino da Onara to retire from Verona . Salin guerra expelled from that city all the adherents Of s AZ Z O Marqui , and began to act as Lord of

. 1 2 08 AZ Z O x Salin uerra Ferrara In VI e pelled g ,

1 - 1 2 1 0 who in 2 0 9 re entered Ferrara . About peace was re - established between A z z o VI and li u rr 1 1 Z l rra Sa ng e a. In 2 2 AZ O VI I defeated Sa ingue r I n 1 and bu ned his palace . 2 2 2 the G hibelline cause prevailed at Ferrara Az z o and the Guelfs lin r c . Sa uer a had to leave the ity g , pretending a c c r z z to m ke pea e , aptu ed A o VI I and his com r pany to avenge this , siege was laid to a favou ite r Of Salin uerra r st onghold g , and it was sta ved into alin r submission . S gue ra appealed to Eccelino G da Romano , and they studied to crush the uelfs , r of whom the Ma quis of Este was the chief . In 1 2 25 the Lombard League procured the release Of Count Richard , who took refuge in Mantua , u V r but ltimately returned to e ona . In 1 227 Eccelino r was n the Younge established in Vero a ,

1 2 o d llo S r e .

r c in song with other t oubadours , was de lared the r z winner of the p i e , and was made poet to the h er sh e Lady Palma . He fell in love with , but was destined for the bride of Count Richard of B c onifa e , but it was rumoured that she would

refuse him . Sordello , Master of the Realms of c Song , be ame indolent , failed to reach his ideal , his and degradation was complete . Sordello c was hosen to sing the praises of Salinguerra. He r r efused , and ran away . He is now requi ed to ’ compose a marriage hymn for Palma s betrothal

f B c . to Richard O St . onifa e He hastens to meet c Palma at Verona . He dis overs that she loves r him , and she ar anges to fly with Sordello to S lin a uerra r. g as arbitrato Sordello , seeing the m r isery of the people of Fe rara , espouses their

c r . r r ause , and lea ns his altruism So dello esolves to build up a Rome which should mean the Rights B t r of Mankind . u the splendid d eam vanished ;

c . he could imagine , but ould not build Talking was his trade ; he tries to convert Taurello Salinguerra to his views and bend him to the B t l o Guelf cause . u Taure l determines to win Sordello to the Ghibellines ; he invests Sordello ’ r a Taurello with the Empero s b dge , and Palma tells that Adelaide on her death - bed confessed that ’ r Taurello s So dello was own son , who did not r s r pe i h as he believed at Vicenz a . Palma hu ries Taurello c c away, that Sordello may olle t his

. s On thoughts Now i the great temptation . G s e e , e m be e be e , th on hand h ay ’chi f of the hi llin the c espousing Emperor s ause , with Palma for ’ r his b ide . On the other hand was the People s ’ c ause . So he lovingly eyes the tempter s apple . P i a P ass s I pp e . 3

f G After all , what was the di ference between uelf and Ghibelline P r The conflict in his soul rages . He has t ied to satisfy its longing , and has failed why not seek now the common j oys of men Palma and Taurello

- c r hear a foot stamp as they dis uss the futu e , o r in the ro m whe e the”y left Sordello , and out t z z c c they oo reeled di ily . They rea h the hamber door and dash aside the veil , only to find Sordello “ ” dead , under his foot the badge . Has he lost or c won He learned how to live , as he ame to

' ma th c . de e G die He reat Renun iation , and in ’ seeming defeat he achieved his soul s success . Sordello is the most difficult to understand of ’ r all B rowning s works . This is pa tly due to the c ic c c ompl ated psy hological problems introdu ed , making it so involved that it has been compared B z c r l to a pathlesss ra ilian forest in whi h the t ave ler , amidst the most luxu rious vegetation and wealth

r . B ut of flo al beauty , infallibly loses his way a study of the history of the times in which the characters lived will do much to aid the reader in l finding his road , though he wi l be well rewarded can l even if he misses it , as he hard y fail to be gratified and instructed by the noble and beautiful passages with which every page of the poem is n c r e ri hed . The plot is not the whole wo k .

PIPPA PASSES .

( 1 841 )

— Pippa Passes : A D rama . Pippa is a poor girl employed at the silk mills at Asolo , in the

r . Trevisan , in No thern Italy She has but a I P i a P asses 4 pp . ’ e e e e r e singl ’day s holiday in th whol y a it is N w r r Yea s day , and she dete mines to make the most r of it . At dayb eak she rises and determines what r she will do with mo ning , noon , evening and h e night . S knows that there are four persons in

r is O The e ttima , the gr

Luca sleeps in . his mansion while his wife meets h er lover Sebald the sculptor J ules will wed his Phene to - day ; Luigi meets his /lady- mother at e e e ; r m me v ntid’ Monsigno fro Ro will visit his brother s home , and so , whether the day be fine r for or sto my , all these people will be happy ; but r Pippa she p ays the day may be fine , as it is the only r r r day in the year for h er. He e the e a e four kinds ’ ’ ’ r r of love . Love s love , husband s love , a mothe s ’ h G . s e love , and od s love Pippa determines will

x s r h h a riest . be Mon igno , the oly and ppy She

- d rr starts out singing , and her work to y is to ca y ’ God s message to the consciences of the e four s’ persons whom she has been envying in h er inno cent way . Guilty Ottima and her lover had mur c r dered Lu a that they might be f ee in their sin, As Pippa passes the house they hear her sing ’ r disen God s in His heaven . They a e both c hanted , and the woman takes all the guilt upon

c . herself . Pippa has onverted both While Pippa is passing to Orcana some students from Venice are enj oying a j est they have played off on the B young sculptor Jules . y sham letters they have c r lov eS tri ked him into mar ying a woman whom he , believing her to be worthy of his attachment ; at noon the truth is told him j ust as the ceremony D sse P ippa P a s. I 5

is over . He gives his bride gold and prepares to s h er eparate from , but Pippa passes singing Give her but a least excuse to love me '

u . J les reasons , This woman needs my love He will evoke her moral sense in some isle in far - off ’ w seas . He forgives her . Pippa s song has orked h t e reconciliation . c di s When evening omes Luigi , a patriot , is cussing with his mother a plot to kill the Emperor s r of Au t ia . His mother endeavours to dissuade . r him u him , and u ges to postpone his j o rney to

m r . c Vienna till the o ning He is in lined to yield ,

when Pippa passes singing , No need the king ’ c should ever die Luigi says , I t is God s voi e c alls , and leaves the house , thus escaping the r police , who were on their way to a rest him . At ’ night Pippa draws near to the house of the B ishop s r c al brothe , lose to the Cathedr , and here we are shown how little we mortals know what passes in

the hearts of those whom we envy and admire . O r She would be ttima , the murde ess ; the bride

of J ules j ust detected in fraud ; the happy Luigi , who so narrowly escaped an Austrian dungeon ; h and‘ above all she would be the oly Monsignor , who is actually engaged with one of his offi cials in

c r . a plot to effe t her uin For she is his niece , r a and he has appropriated her inhe it nce , and now

takes steps to be rid of h er. Pippa passes singing G od a verse that ends , Suddenly took me . G a Monsignor springs up crying , g this villain i Miserere mei D o ine Remove him , qu ck , m How near G od is to us all in conscience How wonderfully the weakest and most insignificant of

n c - us may i fluen e our fellow men A word , a look ’ 1 6 Kin Vic/or a zza Kin Caar/es g g . may save a brother or sister a hundred times a ’ ’ day we may be doing God s work or the devil s .

G O G KIN VICT R AN D KIN CHARLES .

( 1 842 )

K V c o r and K ing i t ing Charles : A Tragedy . c 1 666 Vi tor Amadeus I I , born in , was Duke

. rc of Savoy He was fie e and selfish , profound cr r in dis imination , and a b eaker of vows both to G od and man B ut he was an able and c warlike monar h , beloved by the people , and a c c r 1 1 benefa tor to his ount y . I n 7 5 his favourite 50 11 Victor died ; his second son Charles Emanuel r had never been a favou ite with the King . After u 1 2 8 c the death of his Q een in 7 , the King de ided c 50 11 to abdi ate in favour of his Charles Emanuel . a He g ve out that he was weary of affairs of State , and wished to end his days in retirement . I t is probable that his real motives lay much deeper . He was involved in difficulties of State policy from which he could only ex tricate himself by this grave step . His people , his ministers , and his son entreated him to forego his proj ect , but he carried it out with the completest ceremonial , and retired with his second wife to his castle at Chambery . r Then he grew wea y of his solitude , his temper became violent , and his wife suggested that he had acted unwisely in resigning his crown . He still remained on good terms with his son , who visited him at Chambery . In 1 73 1 Charles heard that his father was about to proceed to Turin to resume the crown he had resigned . His father gave as his reason that he ’ r nd Kin r/ s Kifl g Via o a g Clza e . I 7 only desired a climate more suitable to his present r c state of health . Cha les was satisfied , and pla ed ’ r the castle of Moncalie i at his father s service . Victor sent for the Marquis del B orgo on Septem 2 1 1 ber 5, 73 , and ordered him to deliver up the deed by which he had resigned the crown . The minister informed the King of the demand , and r Cha les was inclined to waver , as he was a good , obedient son . He consulted the chief offi cers of r s State , and it was ag eed that it was impo sible to ’ r commy with the old king s demand . It was afte wards found necessary that Victor should be ’

. d Ormea e e e , bee arr st d Th’ Marquis who had n r x c the old king s p ime minister , e e uted the war of rant arrest , and Victor was conveyed to the

. On Oc 1 1 2 castle of Rivoli near Turin tober 3 , 73 , he died . DRAMATIC LYRICS .

DRAMATI C LY RI CS ( 1 84 1 85

C r s avalie Tune .

1 M HI L N . . ARC NG A O G 1 E 2 . G V A RO U SE . T A DDL 3 . B OO ND SA E . Stirring Royalist songs in the interests of King r s c Cha le I , and in denun iation of the Roundheads . Dr r r a i s h s . . V llie Stanfo d set them to music — The Lost Leader. This poem is a very popular is r one . I t the sor owful lament of disciples for the defection of their leader from the principles of B r Liberalism , and , as owning admitted , refers to r s r r Wo d wo th , who in his youth had st ong sym

c c s s . pathi s with that au e , but lo t them in later life H”ow they brought the go o d News fro m Ghent to Aix [ 1 6 - There is no actual historical basis r rr fo the incidents of this sti ing poem ; but they were all likely event s during the War in the Nether s r r land . Th ee horsemen go off at their ha dest to c rr s r r a y the good new , two ho ses d op dead on the r was s way , and the he o the good teed Roland , who was voted the last measure of meal left in the city .

- - Through the Metidja to Abd el Kadr. This poem describes an incident in the French W ar

- - with Algeria in 1 842 . Abd el Kadr was an Arab 1 8

' ’ ' ' — 20 Cristina A Honzan s Last W ora.

c that her lover is exe uted in her sight , whilst she is imprisoned for her passionate denunciation of the treachery . — Cristina The lady of the poem is Maria B 1 8 06 Christina , of Naples . orn in , she was

rr 1 8 2 . ma ied in 9 to Ferdinand VI I , King of Spain c The poem is based on the fa t that a young man , who had been accorded some notice from this l c a roya oquette , and had loved her , became ins ne in consequence of her heartless treatment of him . ’ The passion of love in B rowning s work is treated as the most sacred thing in the human soul . The man or woman who trifles with love destroys this r c r c most p e ious faculty . The fli t and oquette are the losers the forsaken one has saved his own soul ’ e e e . e and’gain d the oth r s as w ll This is on of r life s g eat ironies . The Lost Mi stress describes the resignation of a great love in a spirit o fsacrifice by a man who has ’ ver perfect control o himself . The woman s voice s will stay in his soul for ever , yet she mu t be to r him but a me e friend . ’ Ear s o a i — mm e . e me th I rt li’t s Th y are Fa and . B ut c Love the poet s tomb is overed with lichen , soon to blot out his name and date , and the J une fever of passion is quenched by the shower at the end of the year . — Meeting at Night and Parting at M orning Home gives love , and the tasks of life amid the world of men maintain it . Love and work are comple mentary blessings . — Song A lover demands admiration for his

e e e e h er. lady v n fro’m thos who do not lov A W o man s Last Word — Perfect love requires E velyn Hope Up at a Villa 2 1 no words love is the only truthl Logic chills the absolute sacrifi ce o f self must be made on the altar of love . — Evelyn H0pe . Is the soliloquy of a man who loved a girl of sixteen. She died too young for

to t he man h . her time love , and was t rice as old too so G od e Is it late , then Not , he says , cr ates to His i the love reward the love , love w ll not be

No . can . lost . atom ever perishes He wait I n l of h r worlds to come he wi l be more worthy e , and not she will u nderstand . The atoms shall mock

the evanescence of human love . — Love Among the Ruins . The scene is evening R n C n of in the oma ampag a , amid the ruins cities u on once great and famous . M sing the evanescence all e w of human things , the lover m ets the girl ith s l eager eye and ye low hair , in whose embrace he rec ogniz es that the triumphs and glories of the past are as nothing to the love that is best of all o B that earth has t give . With rowning love is for ’ ’ A A Love rs Quarrel . shaft from the devil s — — ho w a bitter word has divided the lovers . Hearts can do without each other in lovely “ ” “

m . W w l su mer ell , says the man , inter w”il d an . c me , then I shall have her for evermore — w — A Up at a Villa Do n in the City. poor Italian

n ann f . ge tleman loves city life , but c ot af ord it to o Compelled live at a villa on the m untain side , he is horribly bored— the life is no better than a ’ fir - fli . e es beast s He hates and bees , everything

that the poets extol . What he lo ngs for is the f “ hustle o . and crowd city life Oh , a day in the _

c - ity square , there is no such pleasure in life 1 ’— in Florence. 2 2 A Toooala of Galzfppz s P ic/ures ’ —A A Toccata of Galuppi s . Toccata is a prelude

- G c or touch piece . aluppi was a omposer of the eighteenth century . The poem deals with the

- decadent Venetians , the mere pleasure seekers , ’ and the scientists with their researches frivolous lives they all lived heard the dreamy music which die c n told them they must , but went on dan i g

— - i and idling or knowledge seek ng , without real “ c consecration to scien e , till death took them where they never see the sun . — c Old Pi ctu res in Florence . The poet ontem plates the city o f Florence from a hill overlooking r it . He recalls the ancient masters whose pictu es adorn the churches and cloisters of the famous town where they lived and worked . The world forgets its benefactors , the great frescoes are r neglected and decaying . As the a tists are

s . afe in heaven , perhaps they do not care He G r e k reflects on the development of the artist . e art created man anew in marble it taught us the perfection of the body ; but one day the painters awoke to the beauty of the soul , and then they worked for eternity as the Greeks worked for time . s G od c There was arre t in reek art , the b y ould develop no further ; for the soul - painters there c r ould be no ar est , for the soul eternally develops , and some tell us when thi s life is over we shall enter on a succession of lives where we shall r r e repeat in la ge what here we p actise in littl , For r s s the poet , howeve , he a ks for rest ; he think ’ he has learned his lesson here . Vasari s Lives of the Painters should be read in connection with the lives of the artists mentioned in this poem . — 2 De G uy/ions Sanl. 3

— De Gustibus A pretty English lane in summer is compared with a noble landscape in w the Ape nnines . The poet says hen his life is over Op en my h eart and you will se”e

G ra e ins e o f a . v d id it , I t ly B rowning has very little to say in his poems about

English scenery . v - — o o s o b oad. A H me Th ught , fr m A r lovely little poem in praise of English birds and flowers in

April and May ; full of yearning for home .

- — o o s o th e Se a. H me Th ught , fr m Sailing past ’ l B a in Trafa gar s y, with Gibraltar the distance , in the poet patriotic fervour cries , Here and here did England help me h ow can I help Eng land

v — and Saul . This is perhaps the grandest most ’ b f eautiful o all B rowning s religious po em s. I t is founded on the incident in the life o f David whe n he was sent fo rlto cure by his music the 1 mental derangement o f Saul ( 1 Sam . xvi . 4 . The influence o f music in curi ng diseases o f the

n n . mind was well u derstood by the a cients Saul , n al o f w in the me t pathology the Hebre s , was supposed to be suffering from the influence o f ” ’ r Lo an evil spi it from the rd , and David s music

- was expected to exorcise it . The well known influence of music o n the lower animals is noticed

in the poem . David took his harp and began k playing the tune all the sheep new , thus appeal ’ ing to Saul s mere ap m . Then he th e n i and t played tu e the sna ls cricke s love , for

n . c w eve they , as St Fran is of Assisi kne , are our t and be bro hers sisters , and there is sympathy — d 24 Ml Star A ny lVi/iz to A ny Husban .

l tween us al . David advanced his theme ; he

- played the help tune of the reapers , trying to expand his heart in the warmth of brotherliness . B ut higher yet ' The march of the honoured dead is played— the praise of the men whose faults are forgotten in the work of the men com l t — p e ed. Then came the marriage chant the

c . march , too , of the omradeship of man Still nobler strains when the priests ascend the altar steps and offer sacrifice to God . And then by s low degrees the music began to do its work . The song went forward from the wild j oys of living to the stimulating thought of high ambition r concent ated in Saul , King of Israel . Saul was “ released and aware . In a magnificent pro h etic c p burst the In arnation of Christ is foretold . ‘ — r My Star. W he e the ast ronomer sees a world th e poet sees the i ridescent glory of prismatic ’ colours . The scientist s world has a soul which it has Opened to him . The poem was probably a Mr s . B tribute to rowning . — B Fr - d . o f y the’ i e Si e The poem is a confession f ” or . h the poet s love his wife W om else , he “ r c asks her , da e he look ba kward for or dare ”, pursue the path grey heads abhor ? Her love for him and h is fo r h er have so influenced his

r s spi itual development , that in the memory of thi i rrevoc able union he can approach the bounds of life undaunted . Any Wife to Any Husband — A dying wife is disturbed by the thought that her husband will not be faithful to her memory when she leaves him . He is weak , and though he will not cease

and - to love her cherish her memory , soul love — f P re / ”a/nan. 2 Two in {no Canzpagna A f y 5

will not hinder the fl esh - love that will intrude its w a presence . She ill take her j e lousy to another

— W Expresses thes paifi K Human love is Wut i Divine L the fa nt shadow of the x ove , the i to f r nl best th ng the world has o fer mo tals , can o y case th of n e pain the year ing heart when it i’s - B heaven born, The poem expresses rowning s s fo r pas ion the permanent ,

Must I go e th e s e - a no b ar Still lik thi tl b ll , , Onwar w e ne er w n s b w d , h v li ht i d lo , Fi xed by no fri e nd y st ar

Misconceptions - A bird rests for a moment on a branch which straightway for its j oy bursts into

blossom . A queen leant on a heart for a moment E s ere she rested regally . ven o the poor heart had

fancy ecstatic . ad at —On A Seren e the Villa . a sultry summer

night a lover serenades his lady , but as her villa was dark and her wi ndow fast he turns bitterly l away , whi e she sleeps undisturbed alike by the his thunder and music .

- One W a of o . I n o y L ve this p em , unrequited love and defeat accepted with dignity are charm

ingly expressed . Another Way of Love is a companion poem

to the above . The woman in the fi rst poem does not notice the roses offered her ; in the sec ond it is the man who is weary of the flowers ; but the lady does bear the neglect with the dignity ”and f composure of the man in One W ay o Love .

r W om - not A P etty an . Is it enough for a woman f— A e 2 6 P especiaoiliij qore and ft r. who is simply a beauty to be that and nothing more The best way to grace a rose is to leave r it not gathe it , smell it , kiss it , wear it , and then throw it away . The world needs the pretty woman B eauty is an end in itself . — il s Respectability . The world w l let us do j u t r what we like , p ovided only we take out its e s G licence . Ev rything depend on the overnment mark the Custom - house officers chalk on our baggage . Love in a Life describes a lover searching for his love , but never overtaking her . Life in a Love tells how the man recogniz es his l r s s s fai u e , yet per i t in devoting his life to the r pu suit . The poem seems to emphasiz e the fact a our ideals al us c th t ways evade , yet life annot be ' better Spent than in devotion to one worthy idea . r — r x In Th ee Days . The eage e pectation of a r B ut love for a meeting with his love . one may suggest that much may happen of ill in three

. B ut r days the fea shall peri sh in scorn . —An s In a Year. incon tant lover breaks a faithful ’ ’

r . s s c woman s hea t The man a k , Can t we tou h s r these bubble , then , but they b eak Crumble r the human hea t , and what comes nex t Is it G od

— o and os . A r r s W men R es d eam of th ee rose . e r r e e e m Round th f’aded fi st os float th d ad wo en of the poet s pages . Round the perfect second v — rose follow the li ing loving , loved women of to - day and in the rear round the bud hover the

multitude of beauties yet unborn . Which is the dearest rose to me P B — or and r. a ef e Afte That is , before ndafter a

2 8 Master Hugh es — R eturn of fi re D ruses

— - An Master Hughes of Saxe Gotha . imaginary composer is questioned by an organist as to the meaning of the melody which flies (hence called a fugue) from one part to another . These old c w u ompositions ere mountainous in their str cture , one idea being piled upon another till all meaning

c . was lost in loudland So we , with our pretences , S all hams , and subterfuges , have but obliterated ’ God s gold which Truth and Nature are ever trying to make clear to us . Palestrina emancipated music from the trammels of pedantry j ust as Pascal swept away by clear - sighted common sense the casuistry of Escobar . The Danaides 1 6 r s in verse were the daughte s of Danau , who were condemned for their crimes to pour water for ever , in the regions below, into a vessel with holes in the bottom .

RETURN OF THE THE D RUSES . ( 1 843 )

r of r s : r — The Retu n the D use A T agedy . The Syrian D ruses occupy the mountainous region

- of the Lebanon and Anti Lebanon . They are an

e m e , m e exc edingly yst rious unco municativ people , who never disclose the secrets of their religion , which is said to have been taught , at the early part r of the eleventh centu y , by one who called himself B iamr llah Hakeem a . ’ B rowning s drama does not appear to be founded on any historical facts . The time occupied by the tragedy is one day . Dj abal is an initiated Druse whose family was massacred in the island which dr . is the scene of the ama This island , of the s 2 Tno R etur n of fire D r u es. 9

o was z L s uthern Sporades , coloni ed by the ebanon Druses and garrisoned by the K nights Hospi h as w tallers of Rhodes . Dj abal felt ithin him a

Divine call to free the land from its Oppressors . The tragedy opens with the delib erations of the u Dr se initiates , who are expecting the manifesta — tion of a Divine liberator the Hakeem . The governor of the island is a cruel and oppressive mas

S be slain . ter , and Dj abal has decided that he hall a o f He has secured the lliance the Venetians , who have promised that a flee t of their Ships Shall be prepared to transport the D ruses to their home L S l e re in the ebanon , and hal be in readin ss to ceive them when the murder of the prefect shall have liberated his countrymen . The complicated part of the story now begins . A Druse maiden , Anael , is devoted to her people , and has vowed to wed no one but their liberator . That he may win to her , Dj abal declares himself be the Hakeem Ana l incarnate for the salvation of the Druses . c and her tribe believe him . He has decreed the Anael death of the tyrant , and knows this . Dj abal She n wor is her god as well as her lover , yet ca not S hip him as divine . Dj abal half believes in the

sanctity of his mission , but his heart at last fails l him , and he determines to fly after ki ling the pre

feet . ' On his way to the tyrant s chamber he meets Anacl f i s h e , and learns r m her that has slain the

prefect . Dj abal then confesses everything to her . to a At first she refuses believe in his f lseness , but of even when convinced of the truth the matter ,

will not cast him from her heart . She loves him od more as man than as g ; he is less remote . They 30 A B lot in tlte T onto/zoom now discover that the murder need not have been c l ommitted . Lois de Dreux , a postu ant of the order of knighthood , whom Dj abal had met in Anael Europe , has fallen in love with and aspired to win her . Lois has represented to the Chapter c of the Order the evil character of the prefe t , and has obtained an order for his removal . c so The young knight is appointed his su cessor , that the liberation of the Druses is now at hand . Anacl urges Dj abal to own his imposition to his people . He refuses . She cannot forgive him , and so denounces him to the European rulers of the

s l. i land , who bring him to tria His accuser is l Anac his life hangs upon her words . He urges l S She . a her to peak them , but this cannot do Dj ab is now man only his glory as a divine being she can could not share , she at least be united with him in his disgrace . All her love for him is awak “ Sh e a ened, and hails him , Hakeem and f lls

od. dead at his feet . The man has conquered the g u Dj abal , committing the care of the Dr ses to his r f iend Lois , and bidding him guard his people home again and win their blessing for the deed , stabs himself as he bends over the body of the Ana faithful el. As he dies the Venetians enter and plant the ’ Lion of St . Mark . Djabal s last cry mingles with “ S On their houts , to the mountain At the mountain , Druses

’ B O A L T IN THE SCUTCHEON . ( 1 843 ) ’ B o c c o : r d — A l t in the S ut he n A T age y . A A B lot in t/ze S a rto/zoom 3 1

i . simple though h ghly dramatic story Thorold , n i Earl Tresham , is a monoma iac to fam ly pride his ancestry and his own reputation absorb his o f thoughts , and the wreck the universe were to

him a less evil than a stain on the family honour . n His only sister , Mildred Tresham , an orpha , has in her innocence allowed herself to be seduced by n Mertoun He ry , Earl , whose estates j oin those of

the Tresh ams. He could have lawfully possessed the girl he loved had he not been afraid of the proud

brother, and had had courage to ask her in n marriage . At last , a xious to repair the wrong , ’ he formally presents himself as the girl s lover . The Earl sees no obj ection to the marriage and

ut d fi u . makes none . B the if c lty was not over

, , e Gerard an old and faithful retainer ’has se n a man , night after night , climb to the lady s chamber .

Having no idea who the visitor might be , he tells

his master the facts . Thorold , in the utmost l menta distress , questions his sister , who denies

nothing . She refuses to say who her lover is , and , l M r e toun . stranger stil , will not agree to dismiss At midnight Tresham sees the lover , whom he ’ z does not recogni e , prepare to mount to his sister s

. and room They fight , the Earl falls mortally ’

. S wounded Tresham bursts into his , ister s room ; Mertoun al she sees that he has killed , and so that he is himself dying of the poison he has swallowed . h S e . Her heart is broken , and dies Guendolen , h ow o the cousin of Mildred , had seen matters sto d , and would have rectified them had it not been rendered impossible by the adventure in the ground when the unhappy young Earl allowed Thorold to kill him . ’ ’ 32 Colornbo s B irt/zaay.

The tragedy has been performed on several c s s r is anal o ca ion by distinguished acto s , but too y

tical to become popular.

’ O B B C LOM E S I RTHDAY . ( 1 844 ) ’ — An r olonube s B r d y : y . m C ’i th a A Pla i agina y c B T COIOmb e c s r histori al p y , Du hes of J ulie s and s r Cleves , is in danger of losing her ove eignty r a r by the ope ation of the Salic L w. P ince B r c e thold ould have dispossessed her , but , to f smooth matters , o fers her marriage , not even

. c pretending to love her Colombe loves Valen e , r an advocate , and he loves her . So , at the sh ine c of love , she sacrifi es a throne . A C A DRAM TI ROM NCES .

( 1 84 1 85

h e r — A In cident of t F ench Camp . fter the storm ing of Ratisbon , a messenger rode to Napoleon with ’ c the news that the ity had surrendered . You re ’ . il wounded said the Emperor Nay , I m k led , l Sire said the boy as he fel dead . r o — A The Pat i t . patriot , recently the idol of the al his people , has f len from pedestal and is being led to execution . Through a hail of pelting stones in he goes to his death , but feels safe that God will repay . — — A My Last Duchess Ferrara . haughty Italian nobleman is showing his picture gaHt qaL Qunt whose daughter he is about to marry . S tanding

‘ before the picture of fi1s last Duchess (he was a l widower ) he explains that she was wont to smi e,

b , b one ( she not only on her hus and ut on every , ” was so soon made glad . So he gave commands ” , all e and then smiles stopped tog ther . The concentrated tragedy of these words Show that B rowning was an impressionist before the French movement began) The noble widower discusses the question of the dowry he is to receive with the 4 wh o lady is to succeed his last duchess . — Co Gismond. A unt tale of the ordeal by battle . a A f lse knight slanders the queen of a tournament . as P.B. D ’ l Time s Ker/an er. 34 TI n B oy and t/ze A nge g A strange knight fights with the slanderer and kills

. him , and then marries the lady The B oy and the Angel emphasiz es our duty to be content to serve God in that state of life unto which it has pleased Him to call us . A boy desired

fi tl . to be Pope , that he might more y praise God ’ c Th eocrite b e , be me Ga riel took th lad s pla e and ’ ca Pope ; ”but God missed the lad s little human al . praise , though an angel was his substitute The Th eocrite o change was vain for both . had to g

Back to th e cell and poo r employ R esume th e craft sman and th e boy I

I ns”tans Tyrannus The Threatening Ty —A rant . king desired to crush a defenceless man , when , j ust as he had him in his power , the man

e e . appeal d to God th n the king was afraid’ The title of the poem ”was suggested by Horace s Ode on the Just Man .

— B w - influ Mesme rism . y ill power a hypnotist ences a woman to come to him through a storm .

In due time she enters . The mesmerist , alarmed at his own power , prays that he may not abuse it . — T e G o e . e h l v Th old sto’ry of the lady who threw her glove into a lion s cage that her lover might venture to rescue it . The lover dared the

. B feat , and then flung the glove in her face rowning , in Opposition to every one else , j ustifies the woman , ’ c who , doubting her lover s ourage , rightly put it to the test . De Lorge married a lady of the Court who kept him busy fetchi”ng straying sad gloves she was always mislaying . ’ Time s Revenges . The corruption of the best is th e r L wo st says the atin proverb . B rowning

36 I n a Gondola TI n Last R ide Togetlzer.

of October . It commemorates the destruction of the Turkish fleet at the battle of Lepanto by the

1 1 . Catholic powers of Europe on October 7 , 57 — A In a Gondola . lover sings in a gondola to

, 0 11d his mistress , who accompanies him £ ,

rous c W W , and the lover

I S stabbed as he hands the lady ashore . He craves “ one more kiss and dies content . I have lived ee ind d ’ B Waring tells how rowning s friend Mr . Alfred i Domett , suddenly disappeared , hav ng shaken off , without a word to his friends , the restraints of

c . onventional life , and vanished into the unknown

T e Tw . l b e h” ins Give a’nd It sha l e giv n to L you , a story from uther s Table Talk . Thrust out dale (give ) and the other dabitur (it shall be i given to you ) will go away of h mself . o — A A Light W man . question of a stronger soul in a matter of love . A woman ensnares a man j ust to add to her many conquests . The man has a al friend who feels equ to conquering her . The

' game is a serious one , for , while the man merely pretends to love the woman , she recogniz es her master at the game and really loves him . The poem shows how awkward a thing it is to play with souls . s d o r — A The La t Ri e T gethe . rej ected lover has al a fin interview with his love . The concentration of the dramatic intensity of the poem is tremen dous . The decrees of fate are loyally complied

. with . They ride He thinks , What if for ever he “ ride on with her as now , The instant made eternity P ’ — r a l Tno P ied P iper A G amm rian s Funera . 37

— The Pied Piper of Hamelin . The story of the piper who by his potent music cleared the village of Hamelin of the rats for a stipulated fee by making them follow him to the river , where they were drowned . When the town refused to pay the agreed amount , the piper played a still more power ful d melody , which rew all the children of the place into a cavern in the mountain side , where they were all entombed alive . — A The Flight of the Duchess . mysterious story , dramatically told in a peculiarly fascinating manner by an old huntsman who has spent his life in the service of a Duke and his mother at their castle in a land which is an appanage of the German Kaiser . The Duke is a monomaniac for mediaeval customs his young wife is chilled by neglect and visibly pines away . The Duke arranged a great hunting party , and as he rode down the valley he met a of troop of gipsies , and an old witch the party to came forth to greet the huntsmen . She begs to wh o be allowed to pay her respects the Duchess , z was left behind in the castle . The Duke sei es the opportunity as a means o f frightening his wife and making her more submissive , and the crone is admitted she is transfigured in the presence o f and h e v the Duchess , tells r that she has disco ered Sh e is of their race by infallible signs . Having and n bewitched her the retai er , the gipsy carries off wh o on the Duchess , rides her palfrey with the crone , and is heard of no more . ’ A Grammarian s Funeral Shortly after the of L rn in — e . A R vival ’ea ing Europe company of the grammarian s disciples ar e bearing his coffi n for e n burial on a mountain top . He had in youth be ’ — r ur 38 TI n Heretic s Tragedy P ot .

z L sei ed by the spirit of the New earning , and had consecrated his natural advantages of mind and

body to its progress , and in his eagerness to eat up the plant of learning had become cramped and r withe ed . B efore living he would learn how r to live , and so deepe he bent over his books and let the body decay so uncared for that even in the “ ” - r death st uggle he ground at grammar . When

the end came they laid h im. wh ere the

n n s are se ne Light i g loo d , St ars come and go 1 ’ - The Hereti c s Tragedy A Middle Age Interlude . ( It would seem to be a glimpse from the burni ng

- du B r A D . 1 1 of J acques ourg Molay at Pa is , 3 4 ; as distorted by the reflection from Flemish brain

to brain during the course of a couple of centuries . ) Molay was G rand Master of the Order of the r Knights Templa s , suppressed by a decree of r Pope Clement V in 1 3 1 2 . They we e accused of r s t ea ons and conspiracies with the infidels . The

year following Molay was burnt at Paris , and r r several othe s suffe ed death , though they all with thei r latest breath protested their innocence of r the c imes laid to their charge . Holy C ross Day — Ori which the J ews were fo rcg o attend an Annual Christian S on in _ _ _ egrn R o me . On the Festival of the Exaltation of the r l 1 Holy C oss, which fa ls annually on September 4 , it was long the custom in Rome to compel the J ews r c to hea se”rmons at the hurch of St . Angelo in

r G . Pesche ia , close to the hetto The bad business

has now been abolished . Protus — . There is no historical foundation for ’ ’ B — z a TIn Statue and tlte ust P orplyn s Lover. 39 ’ A . l m son n this poem b acks ith s , amed J ohn the nn n in l n n of n Pa o ian , the dec i i g years the Roma Empire usurps the throne of the baby Emperor

Protus . , who is the idol of the people — f a ue and B u . o The St t the st The story the poem , which is partly founded on fact and partly legend e n R c al in ary , is conc r ed with the ic ardi P ace and F n F Florence the Grand Duke erdina d the irst , who was smitten w1 th the charms of the bride whom the head of the house of Riccardi had j ust brought home . Her husband noticed or heard something which induced him to make his lady a n prisoner in her chamber , whose door was the closed till th e body should be removed for burial . B ut l w she cou d watch the world from the indow , and f to it su ficed , for she thought she could fly the

Duke who loved her . The Duke tried various to n of stratagems gain possessio the lady , but each day some obstacle hindered their flight . The l weeks grew months , and the years passed til age crept on. Della Robbia was ordered to make her on v to a bust her window waiting for her lo er pass , and the Duke set J ohn of Douay to make an equestrian statue o f him and place it in the square looking straight at the window where the lady had o L placed the bust . And s these two await the ast

J udgment . The moral of the poem is the weak of ness and folly indecision . The lovers played their game neither with boldness nor with Skill . ’ —I n f v Porphyria s Lover . a paroxysm o lo e madness a man murders a woman— wh o has un lawfully given herself to him— that she may be his And unalterably because dead . The man says , yet God has not said a word — 4 0 C/zilde R oland L aria .

”— Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came . This is the story of a knight who has undertaken a ri t in l m o a ‘g dark tower , the way to j e fi a n o pig g. — ”ag ‘ hi wa mmcultTeSErfi dan ers w ch s full of g , and the

rightW W W . His pre W M ; he himself is soon 1n ( IE

ai d . sp r , but is impelle to go on The landscape all was dark and desolate ; a noise was everywhere , M ike thg w fl u he could hear the names of the lost adventurers as he was confronted s et suddenly by the round , quat turret , L dauntless “

th o h is k li a and b e orn i to g h p ”l w , Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came . At the head “ ’ of th”e poem is a note , Se e Edgar s so”ng in B Lear. rowning wrote Childe Roland one e b day in’Paris as a vivid picture suggest d y Edgar s life the horse was suggested by the figure ’ of a red horse in a piece of tapest ry in B rowning s '

. r nor h as house The poem is not an allego y , it

fairl s e r any hidden meaning , though we may y p haps read into it more than the poet had in his mind when he wrote it .

L URIA .

( 1 846 )

r : r — Lu ia A T agedy . Time 1 4 The drama deals with the wars between different Italian cities during the period of the constant struggles G G c between the uelf and hibelline fa tions . One of the most important of these internecine efforts for supremacy was the war between the Florentine Ln i 1 r a. 4

and the Pisan republics . The play has for its obj ect to show how Pisa fell under the dominion L of its powerful rival . The characters are uria , a Moo rish commander of the Florentine forces ; s his n Hu ain , a Moor , frie d Puc’cio , the old Flor L oflicer cutine commander , now uria s chief B c m ra cio , com issary of the republic of Florence z J acopo , his secretary ; Tibur io , commander of

z . the Pisans and Domi ia , a noble Florentine lady ’ L o n The scene is uria s camp , between Fl re ce and

x . L Pisa . The time e tends only over o ne day uria ’ B r one o f c is owning s Othello , and his noblest har acters— a simple , honest man wholly devoted to the f interests of Florence . On the eve o a battle he learns that the Florentines have invented a charge c of treachery , be ause they feared they would have v or to reward the ictorious general , that he might use his power and influence with the people to be

come master of their city . They set spies and l wove their toi s , aided by the displaced Puccio , who would naturally be discontented ; so that by the time Luria had won their battle for them his

death sentence will be pronounced . He heard z the news from Tibur io , the Pisan general , who endeavoured to win him to his side and so punish

. B ut L z Florence the noble uria thanks Tibur io ,

dismisses him , and then reflects , he has it in his

power to ruin Florence , but would it console him that his Florentines walked with a sadder step ? o ne of h as He has but way escape left him . He brought poison from his own land for use in such an emergency as this he drinks

F rence is sa e rin h is and e re n —'li lo v k t , ig t e I d I d h , ’ 4 2 A Soul s Traged'. ’ A SOUL S TRAGEDY .

’ - A Soul s Tragedy . The title is ironical , for in this”play we have no tragedy , and very little soul . The hero is Chiappi no , a patriot in r b aggadocio and fine sentiments , who has fomented aenz a popular feeling against the Provost of F , and Luitolfo has been sentenced to ex ile . His friend c w has influen e ith the Provost , and has volun teered ’ to exert it on Chiappino s behalf with the View of obtaining a pardon . The first Act is termed the ’

Chia ino s . poetry of pp life , the second Act its prose The story opens with a dialogue between Eulalia ’ and Chiappino in Luitolfo s house . They discuss the ’ reason for Luitolfo s prolonged absence on his uit errand of intercession with the Provost . L olfo

are . and Eulalia betrothed lovers Chiappino , while him his friend endeavours to save him , is running down while making love to Eulalia . Chiappino hates Luitolfo for the favours he has done him he ’ tries to make himself important in the woman s r eyes , poses as the ma tyr of humanity , and makes s light of the favours be towed upon him . While they Luitolfo talk rushes in with blood upon him . He r decla es that he has killed the Provost , and that the cr f owd are in pursuit o him . Chiappino forces Luitolfo s to fly in his di guise , gives him his pass r po t , and brags that he will protect Eulalia and meet the angry pursuers .

The people enter , and Chiappino , seeing that they are friendly , declares it was he who killed the ’ and a c d L it lfo s Provost , so t kes the re it of u o act

as - E ve 44 Clzristnz .

pendent of one another , though both have for of their subj ect a vision Christ , and deal e e re with r ligious questions in a’mann r which veals to us much of the poet s attitude towards Christianity and his own religious convi”ctions . The scene of the poem Christmas Eve is a

country near a common . I t is Sunday ve of the Feast of the and Nativity . The weather is stormy, the mem r be s of the congregation , very humorously de

scribed , have gathered in their coarse , dirty and wet garments to hear a bigp ted reac m e u d u l m e pour forth in his i m ’nse st pi ”ity f l easur A to meet his audience s avidity . stran”ger to l the sect , a Ga lio , a carer for none of it , soon of has enough of it , and flings out the place in

disgust . A s into S he passe . the fresh air he finds there is

a lull in the wind and rain . The moon was up , and he is glad to be in communion with h is own c worshi chur h as a er of God in Nature. He had d c z learne to re ogni e Him in the immensities , and Hi with the power had found s lov e the nobler dower . In this way he would seek to press towards G od

let men seek Him in a narrow shrine if they would . c And , as he mused , the storm had eased a moon c rainbow , vast and perfe t , rose in its chorded

c . rr h olours With te or he beheld C rist , the back — of Him no more . He had been present in that c s poor hapel as the friend of the mean worshipper . w He ith His sweeping vestment , vast and white , whose hem the awed beholder could j ust recog z ni e . Clinging to the salvation of His vesture he saw Clzristnzas - E we . 4 5

for th e h of L and a moment w ite face the ord , was

i of u - n caught up in the wh rl the robe , p bor e over i the world t ll th’ey stopped at the great dome of

God . C . T e , St Peter s hurch at Rome h whole basilica was filled with worshippers this Christmas

Eve . Christ enters the Nature worshipper was left outside the door

Lef He re urn al ne t till t , ’o Sav e for th e garment s ex t reme fold Aban one s i b ess m ol d d t ll to l y h d . ’ He realiz ed that although to him R ome s teachi ng an was obscured by errors i m rsifi es . the love th e Crucified h and L of O”ne was t ere , ove was the - all uffi cient . s law ’ A gain he is caught up in the vesture s fold , and transferred this time to a lecture - hall in a Univer sit in n y town Germa y , where lecturer ' is discoursing on the Chri was i n was C or not d scussi g whether there ever a hrist , n whe the Saviour entered the place , but He would not bid his companion trust him”self within the - exhausted air bell of the critic . The professor C rej ects Christ as hristians know Him . W here Papist and Dissenter struggle the air may become mephitic but the German left no air to poison at all . Yet he retains something . Is it intellect that he must rever to worship Him Goodness is due from man to God man , still more to , and does not confer on its e possessor the right to rule the rac s, n all u And duri g the arg ment Christ was present . The professor had pounded the pearl of price to dust , yet he does not cast it away ; he bids his - 4 6 E aster Day. hearers cherish the precious residue and venerate e the myth . Then the storm b gan afresh , and the black night caught him . Christ was gone , the and vesture fast receding ; he caught at it , , once

. . more lapped in its fold , was in the little chapel The preacher had reached tenthly and lastly un rammatica —in it was all crude and g a word , the water of life was being dispensed with a strong taste of the soil in a poor earthen vessel . Yet it was the water of life the listener will criticiz e no more . — - T . he Easter Day . The poem is a dialogue

first speaker exclaims , How very hard it is to be a Christian We do not see the diffi culty at the ‘ beginning of the race ; as we proceed it shifts “ Of c . its pla e The second speaker says , course c fi the hief dif culty i s belief . If once we can tho ev e ri roughly believe , the rest is easy , martyrdom ’ itself . Faith may be God s touchstone . We de G od S i sire that hould geometr se , that religion S x hould be based on e acter laws . The first speaker k says , You would grow as a tree , stand as a roc , ut be above faith . We have to make our music o ’ ” of creation s groans . The second speaker admits re that a is absurd , but we may _ - ’ Y __ quire t least . Men sacr1fice their M m Beetles or snuff boxes ; they c s r have some ertainty to in pi e them . The Chris tian has evidence of a sort ; if once in the believing mood the giving up of pleasures adds a spice to life . w The believer gets hope , blind hopes where ith to

all. flavour life , that is The speaker proceeds to tell how one Easter night he was crossing the common near the chapel (spoken of in Christmas 47

Eve when he was led to ask himself how would it be with him were he to fall dead that moment would he die faithful or faithless He had always desired to know the worst of everything . Com mom- to for sense told him he had nothing fear , n i was he no t a Christia Then he had th s vision . s o f s He saw written in line fire acro s the sky , B urn it The whole earth and heaven were o f lit with the flames the J udgment Day . In a moment his naked soul stood before the Seat of — J udgment all his disguises , all his trifling with L conscience stripped away . ife was done . Christ him him h stood before , told t at as he had de liberately chosen the world it should be his for ever for ever keep the M for which '

h a . his he , d struggled Then be saw error , and f asked for Art in place o Nature . This too was conceded , a’nd at once he saw that earth can only fi for serve earth s ends , it was insuf cient eternity an t- d he cried in anguish , Mind is bes I will — ” seiz e mind forego the rest ' B ut it was ah swered that the best of mind on earth and all its ’ a in endowments were God s p rt , and no wise to be considered an interest in the mind of man ; losing

G od . n , he loses His inspirations The he prays for the S love alone , and God said , Take how of love for the name 's sake but remember who created to thee love , died for love of thee , and thou didst to on refuse believe th”e story , the ground that the love was too much . man of God Now the saw the whole truth , and L o f ' Let cried , Thou ove God me not know that all is lost 1 Let me go on h0 ping to reach one B L And eve the etter and he awoke , rej oicing n 4 8 Men and W ome . ’ that he was not left apart in God s contempt ; thanking G od that it is hard to be a Christian , and that he is not condemned to earth and rage for ever . In these poems Christmas- Eve and Easter , ’ B n n Day , we have the essence of row i g s Christian c ai and i tea hing . We shall meet ag n aga n in this brief sketch of his works incontrovertible proo fs that Robert B rowning was not a prophet of theism e C merely , but was a firm believer in J sus hrist as c so the Divine Saviour of mankind . This fa t is frequently obscured or altogether ignored by many ’ c m ommentators on the poet s works , that it is eces sary to state it categorically .

MEN AND WOMEN . ‘

( 1 84 1 85 M

Transcendentalism A Poem in Twelve Books . —A n c . A imaginary title , there is no su h work critic of poetry says

a n e 1 Ma a br er s ea ? Stop pl yi g . po t y oth p k ' ’ ' Tis s ea a s r err r n s o ur art you p k , th t you o . So g W h ereas you pl ease to sp eak th ese nak ed thought s ns ea o f ra n em in s n s I t d d pi g th ight s and so u d .

These lines sum up the whole controversy about ’ B rowning s work . The young demand luxuriant

. on imagery , the old need philosophy I t is , the

. contrary, maintained that it is the other way about J acob B oehme was a great mystic of the seven teenth century . J ohn of Halberstadt was a One magician . day the magic of poetry suffused B the soul of oehme , and imagination glorified his r / o e A mo P h s i Ka e zer M cian. , y 4 9

c life . The magi of J ohn of Halberstadt created the world anew for him .

How r k a o - A of it St i es Contemp rary. poet Valladolid was mistaken by the mob for an agent of the Government because he was observ ed to n take such notice of things . Putti g this and ’ that together they felt convinced that A s sur , ’ prising fate and B s disappearance were traceable

to this espionage .

m o o z - n Arte is Pr l gi es . Dia a revived Hippolytus by the aid of fEsculapius when he was slain at the n instigatio of Venus , who was enraged at his

neglect of her and by his devotion to Diana . The

chaste goddess nursed her friend back to life . The poet has adopted the Greek spelling of proper — A scle ios E scula us P hoibus names thus p for fl , P bu Art hoe s . emis for is the Greek name of Diana , Aphrodite is the Greek name of Venus ; P oseidon Ne tune Heré uno n of is p , is j , Quee Heaven ; At henai is Minerva. An Epi stle containing th e Strange Medical Ex

- A e rience of Karshish ab a . p , the Ar Physici n

s - i wandering cholar physician , e t me of

L old - our ord , writes to his te giving an account o f certain matters of ich he has f discovered in the course o his travels . He tells him of some rare dru and sends him samples of di hi h he in reme es w c has collected Palestine , and to on says that in his j ourneyings he came Jericho , the dangerous road from which city to Jerusalem

he had met with sundry misadventures , and had iI fl noted cases of gLJLQQLim-et e t which he reports in approved medical phrase . ”Amongst these he n d mentions a case of ma ia, complicate by

R B . E ' r oola 50 fo/em mes Ag z .

and e e § r e , jl e tranc , p p y the diagnosis he und stands

' was th e c z z . perfectly, but it cure whi h pu led him

dentl be em e z c y en ’ploy d by a Na arene physi ian of the patient s tribe who bade him , when he

did . seemed dead, Rise and he rise He was “ - f z o o b b , one La arus a J’ew go d ha it of ody da s slee in heltombjl ad efi cted and his three y w p ; t e such a ch ang in that he eyes the world now e - fl him Kar m a , and L rtion e e g fl gg h vi ws a great fi p pQ , armament or a mule - load of gourds as all the same trifle will to him , whilst some ; appear of infinite

d. import, He desires only G o The ici z a phys an would have liked to meet the N a rene , and to have held a consultation with him on the c case , but he dis overed that he perished in a r r c z tumult many yea s p eviously , ac used of wi ardry , s m rebellion and of holding a prodigious creeHT f z La arus , he says , regards his ” - of the woe Creator and J who dwelt in u flesh amongst us for awhilef B ut why write of trivial matters P He has discovered a blue - fl ower r r ing nit ous , on the ma gin of a pool . B ut c let en i out e _ e wth e h annot g_los_ his t r turning to w i l l . “ “

c r . the tremendous suggestion on e mo e Think ,

So th e A - G rea were th e All- n t , ll t , lovi g oo is s r e I t t ang . ’ This wonderful poem is one of B rowning s most c cal i remarkable and suggestive psy hologi stud es . s r co d a o — Johanne Ag i la in Me it ti n . J ohannes

' Agricola was the founder of the sect of Antino m x ians , and his tenets to some e tent are held by

A ndrea del Sarto.

B affairs . rowning introduces us to him while working for the munificent House OM W e e e me e e wh r h was w d up in t palace paintin’g saints . He escaped from his window for a night s frolic . with the girls in the streets below . (Arrested h c by the wat c men , he makes his defen e and tells them his history; The period is that in which the world was revolting from the austere religionism i m nated f th R e i c d art , and , in the glory o e wli lm o i ‘ c z naissan e , was beginning to reali e that Lthe it ih world is no blot for us , nor _ means

fi afi This ke - o tense y , and W is the yn te it is see of the poem , and easy to that Fra Lippo ’ had the poet s sympathies in his View of the pro r vince of the fine a ts . The flower songs in the poem 'are of the variety known as Stornelli the peasants of Tuscany sing them at their work . Andrea del Sarto (called The Faultless — This poem deals with the character of the famous painter of the Florentine school who

1 8 . L z was born in 4 7 He married ucre ia del Fede ,

1 1 2 . the widow of a hatter , in 5 She was a very and l me m , e e , handso wo a’n our pictur ga l ries in many of Andrea s paintings of the Madonna , give proof of this , as she was the model for many of his most famous pictures . Vasari describes her as faithless , overbearing and vixenish . Two of his c pi tures were sent to the French Court, and were so ' - admired that Andrea was ing{Ed to Paris by

r c . 1 1 8 F an is I He went in 5 , and was cordially ’ received and handsomely rewarded . At his wife s r request he returned to Italy , and was ent usted by the K ing of France with a sum of money to pur Tomb— B isl o B /ozz r m B is/top orders bis z p g a . C53

i chase works of art for him in that country . Th s W W We welt there throughout i c the remarkable siege , and caught the pest len e i n 1 1 a e o f which followed , dying 53 , at the g forty t three . As W t

W and both are unique . a ess ut sou ’ l less is the verdict of art critics on Andrea s works , n and in this poem B row ing tells us why this was so . r And ea was an immoral man , passionately de mandinglov e a woman who had neither heart

el . his nonint lect He robbed King Francis , gener ous patron , and W old—aWe ucrez1a not W ’g was the cause of her husband s No woman ruined his m ad none to ruin yet he lived and worked

to please his wife , and she despised him in return . ’ B o ord r mb at Pr x Th e ish p e s his T St . a ed s — th Chu rch . This poem is monologue of a bishop of the art and licentious R en and e s ying , iai ai m fi i soul for death , is engaged in giving d rections about he wishes his relations to erect in his

Mr . Ruskin says of this poem : I t is 1 of nearly that I have said the central Renais ‘ ‘ ’v h s sance in t irty page of the Stones of Venice , ’ B put into as many lines , rowning s also being the

antecedent work . ’ l u o — B ish op B o gram s Ap logy . The B ishop is a rt man of letters , of fastidious taste and of cou ly r ah i l ne s . . Gi W n , w tha a M Mr gadibs li is a young terary man , a writer of smart arti a z and cles for the m ga ines , but shallow ignorant e ” 54 Cl o .

of the world outside that of books . He settles

fl i ant re - everything in a pp , f e thinking way , and maintains that B lougram cannot really believe in c what he pretends to defend , and can only be a ting r B a pa t . He is dining with the ishop , and after ’ his A olo i dinner is treated to lordship s - p gy Poor Gigadibs £93 159 §”m u gg y before the r c s r c lea ned a uist and i onical dialecti ian , and must have been glad to escape from h 1s post p randial vivisection . It is generally supposed that the character of the

late Cardinal Wiseman was intended here , but the “ picture drawn is that of an arch hypocrite and ac the frankest of fools , and no one who was i ua nted . q with Dr Wiseman , unless indeed he were . Gi adibs a g , could have thought the likeness a

. i true one The poem is br lliantly clever , and some passages are full of beauty . 1 n — otu C e o . Cleon and Pr s are imaginary char a t r c e s. The t ime is that of the dark dec adence of r h the Pagan wo ld , j ust as the light of C ristianity was dawning . Cleon is a poet from the isles of e rece1ved Gre ne, who has a letter from his royal l tron P otus c i . p r , with many ostly g fts The king has asked him if he has no”t attained the very so crown and proper end of life , and having greatly c r ? suc eeded , does he fea death as do lower men Cleon professes his profound discouragement with it s life at even best most progress is most failure . It will be no comfort to him sleeping in his ur”n that . men will tell his praise I t is so horrible . He would like to believe that Z eus may intend us for some future state , but this was not revealed And as he complained St . Paul was preaching to the — Lady of Tripoli f ri a B alcony. 55

Pagan world the message of life and immortality which Christ had revealed . Their doctrine could was fast approaching when”the doctrine would be rej ec ted by no sane man .

- Rudel to th e Lady of Tripoli . Geoffrey de Rudel was a French troubadour . In the poem he com pares himself to the sun - flower as he turns to the

l sun - flower East , where his lady dwe ls afar . The is not concerned for the bees which gather its sweet

on . ness , nor he for the men who feed his songs

The Lady of Tripoli is his concern . — B . B . 1 To . 8 One Word More . E ( 55 Ir1 these B most exquisite and sacred lines Mr . rowning dedi cated his collection of poems called Me n and ” “ of Women to his wife , his Moon poets He de sires to offer her some gift more precious than those R a he gave the world . As afael used his Mad nna n to to and co secrated pencil write sonnets his lady , ‘ B Dante painted an angel for eatrice , so he will for the moment leave his proper work of speaking ’ ’ n other me s thoughts , and pour out his own heart s in love for his wife these passionate lines , as his most unique offering .

I N A B ALCONY ( 1 855 )

B co —C r In a al ny oncent ated into a single hour , we have here the crises of three lives revealing a tragedy which has for its scene the balcony of a palace . The persons are a Queen in whom middle unsatis life is passing , leaving her craving for love fi e d , though she is married in form but not in heart . ’ o — arms Lee s W e 56 D ramatis P ers na f if .

e ee e Constance , a cousin of th Qu n and a lady of th’ r r Cou t , is loved by No bert , who is in the Queen s

service . He has served the State well , and the

Queen has set her heart upon him . Constance is

a diplomatist , and an unfortunate one , for she urges that her lover must not pe rmi t the Queen to know c that his heart is pledged to Constan e , but must pretend that he has served the Queen for her own r cr r sake . Constance is prepa ed to sa ifice he self for r Norbert and the Queen , who eagerly g asps at c e r the love whi h she believ s is offe ed her . Nor for c bert , however , in protesting his love Constan e , r c is overhea d by the Queen , who at on e sees her n hopes dashed to the ground , and that by an i sultin g plot . The festive music of the ball pro ceedingwithin is stopped as the Queen leaves the lc r r c ba ony ; the footsteps of the gua d app oa h ,

the lovers feel their impending doom , but one

' r passionate moment unites them in hea t for ever .

A PE R SONZE DR MATI S .

’ — I n James Lee s Wife . a series of meditations an unhappy wife indicates the development of her c onviction that her husband has ceased to love her , and that it is futile for her to struggle any longer to win him back . ’ i yames L ee s W fe. 57

— do . I . At th e Win w She reflects that summer

l i on . has departed . Winter fal s heav ly her heart Will he change too — i h I I . By the Fi reside . The fire is bu lt of s ip

wreck wood . Are her hopes to be shipwrecked also — I I I . In the Doorway . The steps of coming

winter hasten . Her heart shrivels . God meant that love should warm the heart when the world

was cold without . —t a r . I e IV Al ong the Be ach . is no longer pp h nsion— i — e t is certainty . Her love and she gave — him all she had had become irksome to him . — t . V . On the Cliff I is summer She watches a rock left dry by the surf as she leans on the turf n bur t to the roots , and on the rock there settles a of magnificent butterfly , blotting out the ugliness r ock and turf . So does love glorify the burnt and

bare minds of men . — . d a B ook d C f . VI Rea ing , un er the li f She reads a poem written by a young man (B rowning when

- twenty three ) on the wailing of the wind . Is en the wind a dumb winged thing , he asks , trus ting its cause to him ? She says it is not ’

uf . s fering , it is change Nothing endures there s ’ life s pact , perhaps probation . — VI I . Among the Rock s She comforts herself by the reflection that we may make the low earth

- nature better by suffusing it with our love tides . — VI I I . B eside the Drawing B oardf She has failed to draw the cast of a dead hand in its infi nite

beauty . There is a great deal more than beauty in the hand of a peasant girl even . The living a woman is better th n the dead cast . She will be — 58 On D eck D is A liter Visum.

r up and doing . She cannot d aw perfection , and she cannot gain love she will no longer dream . — L IX . On Deck She leaves J ames Lee . ove may not cease altogether , but it may be weary and worn out . So she set him free . - She owned she c had no beauty ; but had he loved her , love ould have made her beautiful . In the years to come it may be even so , and his eyes at last be opened .

f - r Gold Hai r a Story o Porni c . Po nic is a sea

B . side town in rittany , and the story is a true one A young girl with a saintly reputation and a wealth of golden hair lay dying , and desired that her hair might not be disturbed after her death . Her s wishe were respected , and she was buried near the

G . high altar of the church of St . illes Some years r r afterwa ds , in repai ing the floor , it was found that the coffin had fallen to pieces and thi rty double ’ , louis - d or were discovered that had been hidden

. a by the girl in he”r hair She was at heart miser . O c riginal sin , says the poet , the orruption ’ ” ’ r of man s hea t , is illustrated by the girl s avarice .

r I - A The Wo st of t . man loves a wife who has

r al . his p oved f se to him He sorrows , not for own ’ c loss , but that his swan must take the row s rebuff . ’ r He hopes she may reach heaven s pu ity at last .

He will live on , but if they meet in Paradise , will pass , nor turn his face . 1 Dis A r V o r B ro de nos lite isum , Le y n Jours . An elderly man meets a young woman after a part

e . be but ing o’f ten y ars They had en lovers , the b r e man s prudence raised a a ’rier to th ir union , and r c both lovers missed thei life s hance . He chose a r lower ideal , she married whe e she could not love

1 - ea en no t so . r E n 11 H v thought Vi gil , . . 42 8 .

A D eaf/z in {be D esert.

h and e c . Yout e _ , b , e who—l _ ag are and dou t are th r e s s lifest l. Ou imuli of the sou r buff , our tings to e r urg us on , and our strivings are the measu e of

our ultimate success . The flesh can help the soul

as that helps the body . We are to await death

i . w thout fear We are the cup , God is the potter we receive our shape by every turn of the wheel ’ and the touches of the Master s hand . We are not

to j udge of the cup by its stem , but by the bowl ’ which presses the Master s lips . Youth must seek

its heritage in age . rt — 1 0 111 1 5? A Death in the Dese 5 4 , the beloved

disciple , lay dying , worn with the weight of well nigh a hundred years he was the last of the men who had seen the Lord and the finaL-li-nk which f bound the youth ul C hurch to its apostolic days .

He lay in a cave , hiding from the persecutors of r c the followers of Ch ist . Wat hed and attended r by five converts , the dying saint is roused f om his unconscious state by a youth who repeats in his ear the words from the gospel he had w”ritten , I am the Resurrection and the Life . The - saint is rousedf reflects that soon it will be that “ A none will say I saw . lready men had dis puted and misbelieved ; he foresaw that unborn n l “ people in strange la ds wou d one day as”k , Was did ? John at all , and he say he saw What can he say to assure them He declares that the gospel has infinitely more power than mere history ' jaith is better th an si ht and the story of the c ross will sm uain the priz e of learning love and will no more part with it than men would

give up the use of fire for purple or for gold . John had seen the transfiguration and the miracles of u on et Caliban p S ebos.

r Christ , yet even he , J ohn , had fo saken Him and fled ; yet he had gained the truth and others would succeed him who would j oyft embrace Mira l s martyrdom , W p e are ll 1 h t lo ue l. a ggug r i se l The way to solve quest ons is to accept by the reason the Christ of God . Man of necessity must pass from mistake to fact . The age of doubt will come but Christianity will never um die . Progress comes through struggles and on certainty, For himself , he would remain earth anotherhundred years to help his struggling brothers , but even as he utters the loving ex his B pression of desire he is dea”d , reast to

G od . reast with , as once he lay Caliban upo n Se tebos ; or Natural Theology in the Island — The original of Caliban is the ’“ savag”e and deformed slave of Shakespeare s Tem pest . Setebos was the Patagonian god (Setta Pi f t both in ga e t a) . The island may be the Utopia

the poem is to rebuke the an thro pomorphic idea of God as it exists in ignorant and unlov ing minds) I t is an attempt to trace the evolution of the f concrete idea o the Supreme B eing. B rutal and coarse n redi t mr inds e L he _ C1 ea - m _ L n in i i c p ous entiments malig , v d ct ve, ap fi g towards ind C i mank . aliban th nks that Setebos makes h to i t ings amuse h mself , j ust as Caliban does . He thinks there may be a something over Setebos that made him call it The Quiet . This Quiet may conquer Him . All at once a storm comes and Caliban is frightened he feels be:was a fool to gibe at Setebos . He will lie flat and love Him . — L ik ness 62 Confessions A e .

Confe ssions — A dying man indignantly re pudiates the suggestion”that he has found the world a vale of tears . He had loved .

How sad and b ad and mad it was B t en h ow was swee 1 u th , it t

— May and Death The verses express the wish that all the delights of spring had died with the

- re dearly loved friend the poet had lost . He “ l l . tracts the wish , let May be sti May Yet he would except one plant of the woods which has ’ in its leaves a streak of spring s blood . That

blood comes from his heart . The spotted Persi

caria is the plant referred to . — Deaf and Dumb : A Group by Woolner . The keynote of the poem expresses the idea that ’a glory may arise from a defect , j ust as the prism s nl obstruction breaks a ray of su ight into . the

seven colours of the spectrum . — Prosp”ice (Look Forward ) . The poet ever a s fighter , far from fearing death here anticip ate

with courage the last and best fight of all . The

poem was written shortly after the death of Mrs .

B rowning . E d ury i ce to Orpheus : A Pi cture by Leighton . . The poet represents Eurydice Speaking to Orpheus the passionate words of love which made him for get the commands of Pluto and Persephone not to

look back , on pain of losing his wife again . — W Y outh and Art A meditation on What might ’ — — have been in love . Love s priz e missed all

lost for ever . ’ ace — A i A F g rl s face painted by an artist poet . i A Lik eness . The abom nation of desolation S ud e— A re a lu M r l a nt F i re. 6 . g pp 3

in . Th e n vi the holy place ’ stra ger olating the sacred shrine in a man s heart .

. d d . Mr Slu ge , The Me ium Sludge is i D . D . Home , the American Med um , and in the poem B rowning analyses the ignoble case of an impostor detected in cheating one of his dupes by his pretended communications with the Spirit world . He is about to be kicked out of the house but is permitted to make his defence . The impostor declares that the public are willing to ’ l be deceived , it s all your fau t , you curious ’ gentlefolk The poet puts into the rogue s mouth the best defence that can be made for the d ishonest mediums . The public prompt the i to med ums , push them the brink , they are com pelled to dive . They only manufacture what is S demanded . The medium explains that the pirits have to make use of very defective means in com mun B icating with mortals . The spirit of eethoven using the mind of a medium ignorant of music can ’ but imperfec tly express the composer s musical soul . Sludge reminds his patrons that the B ible c tea hes spiritualism , and claims that he has aided the cause of religion by his demonstrations that ’ with the spi it world we ve sure way of inter r ’ ” c as ourse , j ust in Saul s time The specious rea soning of the scamp fails to reassure his awakened dupe , who pays his fee and dismisses him . The true character of the impostor is t e vealed by the volley of abuse he pours out when he has left the house . — Apparent Failu re Describes a visit to the

Morgue at Paris . The poet sees three bodies of c sui ides exposed for ide ntification . They are ’ ’ 6 E i/o 7w— B al ns/ on s A az'entnre 4 p g a i .

i perhaps v ctims respectively of Pride , Covetous ’ and L ness , ust , but the Optimist poet s faith does r not fail him even the e . What God blessed

' once can never prove accurst . E o ue — B pil g David , Renan and rowning him

' self are the three religious prophets of this poem . David represents the highest point reached by the

b . Bug ger/ l w of the Hebrew pe ople Renan voices the bereavement of an age which has found that there 15 no G od and that we are all orphans . B n f row ing o fers us consolation , the Christ face de has not left us , it does not vanish , or but

The - o Christ face gr ws , wthe idea expands with e needs of the age .

’ B ALAUSTI ONS ADVENTUR E .

( 1 871 3 ’ B alaustion s Adventu re Including a Transcript — alaustion from Euripides . B was a Greek girl wh o from Rhodes , , when the Athenians were defeated at Syracuse refused to forsake Athens . She fled from Rhodes and saved her companions in the ship when by accident it was driven towards Alkestis o f Syracuse , by reciting to them the

Euripides . The people loved the Greek poets , and she was carried in triumph to recite the play as she had seen it acted in Rhodes . A young

man who heard her accompanied her to Athens , Alkestis where they were married . The story of

of one . the wife Admetus , is a familiar She laid down her life for her husband when she had been told by an oracle that he could not recover from / W w ’ A risto lzanes A l p po ogy. the malady from which he suffered unless some friend died in his stead . According to some classical writers Hercules brought her back to ’ earth from Hades . B rowning s poem is no mere is translation of the Greek , but as has been said

a beautiful misrepresentation of the original .

’ A A OL ARISTOPH NES P OGY .

( 1 8750 ’ Aristophanes Apol ogy Including a Transcript from Euripides : being The Last Adventure of — ’ Balaustion B alaustion has married Euthukles , the young man whom she met at Syracuse' She had seen the poet Euripides and had paid her homage to his genius . The poet is dead L and Athens has fallen . eaving the doomed u city she has set sail with her h sband for Rhodes. She records her recollections of her Euripides in Athens and bids her husband write down her words as she speaks . She recalls the night when they heard that the poet was dead , and how she had Opened his poem— the Herakles — and began

n Ar ~ to read . Sudde ly the drunken voices of isto n n phanes , the comic poet , and his compa io s alaustion disturb them . B loves genius and bows ’ to Aristophanes though he is drunk . The poet s comedy has j ust been crowned. I t was c alled “ ” “ ’ Th esmOph oriaz usae ( The Women s Festi val and he visits B alaustion as the admirer of Euripides that he may j ustify his treatment of B alaustion n . him the dead poet questio s , she l‘ R B . o ’ a e lo 66 A ris toplz n s Apo gy.

n A . puts him on his defe ce , and hence the pology The author of the Alkestis was but a prig he wrote of wicked things . Aristophanes attacked the abuses of the time . He saw the Herakles , B alau i n which the tragic poet had given to st o . When the dignity and purity of B alaustion had abashed the giddy companions of Aristophanes c e e , th y l ft the poet in onverse with his hosts an’d m es m then for any pag we have the c’o ic poet s e e e B alaustion s d f nc of his work’s and criticisms B thereon . rowning s poem is filled with allusions to the plots and characters of the plays of Aristo phanes and cannot be understood without a some what lengthy commentary such as would be B unsuitable to a mere primer of rowning . The whole poem is minutely analysed and the classical “ allusion”s are explained in my B rowning Cyclo paedia. i The apology made by Aristophanes endeavoured to prove that comedy was the best way of teach in B alaustion g truth , and he challenges to deny this . She tells him how the dead Euripides had “ given her the Herakles , and proposes to read it as defence . She read . [The Herakles or Raging Hercules of fiterall B Euripides is y translated by rowning . I t deals with the last of the twelve labours of the hero when he descended into hell to bring upon earth the three - headed dog Cerberus ' The reading of this work which was i nterrupted by the entry of Aristophanes and his companions

. s had sobered the poet He muses , hold that Evil L o and ittle are j ust as natural as Go d and Great , and he demands to know them and not one phase

THE R ING AND THE B OOK .

( 1 868

The R ing and the B ook . This long poem was published in four volumes , each consist ‘ of ing of three books . The title the work is x ai n of B o i e pl ned in the Ope i ng lines ok I , wh ch gives the dry facts of the long story in brief . When a Roman j eweller makes a ring he mingles l so his pure gold with a certain amount of a loy , as to enable it to bear file and hammer but , the l ring having been fashioned , the a loy is dissolved out with acid , and the ring in all its purity and beauty remains perfect . So much for the R ing.

For the B ook it happened thus : Mr . B rowning was one day wandering about the square of .

. z St Loren o , in Florence , and on a street stall where all sorts of odd things were exposed for as sale he purch ed an old square yellow book , part print , part manuscript , with the following summary of its contents

A R oman mu rd er- case Po sition o f th e entire criminal cause Of G u Francesc n n eman ido hi i , obl , W cer a n r th e cut - r a s in h is a ith t i Fou th o t p y, Tr e all fi v e and f n u l an d ut ea i d , , ou d g i ty p to d th ea in o r an in as b efi tted ran s By h d g h g g k , R me on Fe ru r en - T At o b a y Tw ty wo . Since o ur salvation Six t een Ninety - Eight erein is s u e if and w en Wh it di p t d , h , T/ze R in and ilze B ook 6 g . 9 . ’ usbands ma kill a ul erous wi es et sca e H y d t v y , p Th e s r f rfe cu toma y o it .

B efore the ring was fashioned the pure gold lay so of in the ingot , the pure truth the murder case lay in this book ; but it was not in such a form As as a poet could use . the j eweller adds r alloy to pe mit the artistic working of the ring , so the poet must mix his fancy with the simple legal evidence contained in the B ook so as to make it presentable to the reader . The hard facts of the case are these . The Public Prosecutor demands the punishment of Count Guido Frances chini and his accomplices for the murder of his wife . Then the counsel acting for the accused protests that Guido ought to be rewarded with his four friends as sustainers of law and society .

his . He killed wife , it is admitted , but did it laudably

The case was postponed . I t was argued that the woman was a saint and martyr . More postpone ment . Then it was argued that she was a miracle of wickedness . More witnesses and more argu o n ments n both sides . The court pro ounced C ount Guido guilty , his murdered wife Pompilia pure in thought , word and deed ; and signed f B ut sentence o death against all the accused . ’ Guido s counsel made another move . The count c laimed clerical privilege as , in accordance with in o ne the frequent custom of the time , he was of f al the minor orders o the priesthood . Appe was R therefore made to the Pope . oman society ’ al began to t k , the quality took the husband s part , the Pope was benevolent and unwilli ng to take B ut life ; Guido stood a chance of getting Off. a c the Pope was shrewd nd cons ientious ; and , T/ze R in and {li e B ook 70 g .

off having’mastered the whole matter , said Cut - Guido s head to morrow and hang up his mates . n A d it was done .

All this was the pure metal of the little book , but we want to know more . Who was the hand some young priest Caponsacchi who carried off the i Com arini w fe Who were the old couple , the p , who were murdered with Pompilia ? B rowning has ferreted it out for us , mixing his fancy with the

b be . facts so as to ring them home to us’the tter He has been to Arez z o the Count s city— the ’ ” wife s trap and torture place . He visited C n and astelnuovo , where husba d and wife priest for first and last time met face to face . He visited

Rome , pondered all the story in his soul in I taly and in London when he returned home till the i whole of the events lived aga n in his brain .

Count Guido , of an ancient though poor family , r Com arin i— ma ried Pompilia p young , good and beautiful— at Rome and brought her to his home

zz . at Are o , where they led miserable lives That i she might find peace , the w fe ran away in company Ca onsacch i of the priest p , to her parents at Rome s and the hu band followed with four accomplices , caught her in a villa on a Christmas night with her ’ ilia putative parents and killed the three . Pom s ’ p first- r re infant , Guido s bo n son , had been put p f v iously in a place o safety . e The Po m as above explained is in twelve books , thus :

B OOK I . The dry facts in brief as j ust given . R E B OOK I I . HALF OM (the view of those antagonistic to the wife ) . re r B OOK I I I . THE OTHE R HALF ROM E ( p e Tne R i n and lze B ook 1 g i . 7

senting the Opinions of those who take her

part ) . B O O . E I U U ID K I V T RT M Q (a third party ,

neither wholly on one side or the other ) . B sc ~ OOK V . COUNr G UIDO FR ANce mzzr ( nis o wn defence ) . ’ B OO K VI . G UI SEPPE CAPONSACC HI (the Canon s

explanation ) . B O . I I O K VI I POMP L A (her story , as she told it

- s on her death bed to the nun ) . ' B Y OO K VI I I . DOMI N US H AC I NTH U S DE ARC H ’ ANG ELI S (Count Guido s counsel and his speech

1 for the defence ) . 1 J

- B OOK IX . Jums DOCTOR J O HANN E S B APTI STA ’ B OTTI NI US (The Public Prosecutor s speech ) . B OO K X . THE POPE (who here reviews the ’ whole case and gives his decision on Guido s appeal

to him) . B O O K X I . G U IDO (his last interview in prison w S ith his piritual advisers ) . B I OO K X I . THE B OO K A ND THE RING (the

conclusion of the whole matter ) . — B OOK I I . Half Ro me The scene is in the Church whe re the bodies of the murdered Com r r pa ini are ex posed to view before the alta . The story of the tragedy is told by a partisan of Count

Guido . Pietro and Violante Comparini are the

reputed parents of Pompilia . They were wealthy

and had a suburban villa in Rome . The husband b craved an heir , and the wife ya trick had , at h c the appropriate time , produced an infant w i h c v she had pur hased , and made him belie e it was

his own daughter . Violante having been success ful n me i this , determined , when the girl beca of B ok 72 The R ing and I ke o .

rri ma ageable age , to find a suitable husband for G c her . Count uido was the man who was tri ked into marrying Pompilia The woman told her mi sh and nothing of the matter till the ceremony ‘ h ad t e im lace indi p , when he pretended to be g n to na t . The pair accompanied their daughter ’ zz her husband s palace at Are o , which they found ’ - poverty stricken and miserable . The Count s

Ol - r his r d lady mother was a d agon , brother Gi o ‘ s lamo a bad , licentious man . After four month ’ Pom ilia s z z of this purgatory , p parents left Are o , r and returned to Rome . The e the mother told c of the truth about Pompilia , with the obj e t cheat ing the Count out of the dowry that it was agreed r r s should be paid . The case came befo e the Cou t ,

but they refused to intervene . Pompilia , left s alone with her old husband , looked out ide for

Ca o nsacchi . life , and p , the young priest , appeared e P ople began to talk , the husband to Open his n eyes . O e morning Guido awoke to find his wife flown she and the priest had gone o ff to Rome

in the night , the husband having previously been

'

. i r r drugged , it was alleged The fug tives we e ov e

taken , the police arrested the priest . They

demanded to be taken to Rome . Love letters c were produ ed , and the case was fought before r the lawye s . The accused declared that the

letters were not written by them . The priest ’ Was r x sentenced to th ee years e ile , the wife was

sent to a convent for awhile . Guido and Pom

pilia both demanded a divorce . Shortly after this Pompilia was allowed to reside with her pre

. c tended parents She gave birth to a hild . Guido n R was furious , and we t to ome , to the villa , with o k T/ze R ing and file B o . 73

n t din C n four co federa es , he preten g to be apo

h . sacc i the priest The door was Opened , when he in rushed with his braves , with the result that the two Comparini are lying in the church and Pompilia is in the hospital dying of her u wo nds . e B OO K I I I . The Other Half Rom makes ex cuses for Pietro and Violante . Their fault was a ’ venial one . Violante s confession was but right and proper . As for the wooing , it was all done by the Count . Guido pronounced the whole tale lie and i on and one long , threw h mself the Courts , ' it was decided that he was to retain the dowry .

Then more proceedin gs . The Count formed the

i his - diabol cal plan to drive girl wife , by his cruelty , into the sin which would enable him to be rid o f her without parting with her money l Pompi ia could not write , but by fraud he concocted a letter by guiding her hand over of pencilled words , the purport which she did not know , that implicated her in an attempt to dis t honour and inj ure him . He set a rap into which

l not . C she cou d avoid falling The priest , apon s sacchi , learning her sad tory and moved by compassion , aided her to escape . Pompilia had previously appealed to the secular Governor and h of u the Arc bishop , but both were friends G ido , and refused to interfere . The story of the investigation before the Courts was told how Pompilia owned that she caught at the sole hand stretched out to snatch her from hell ; how Capo nsacch i proudly declared that as man s o , and much more a s prie t , he was b und to help weak i nnocence ; how he exposed the trap o k 74 l e R ing and Ike B o . set by Guido for them both how he had never touched her lips , nor she his hand , from first to

S . last , nor poken a word the Virgin might not hear

The rest we know . B OO”K IV . Tertium Quid A third some thing —expresses the Opinion of the courtly and polite person who looks with a sort of contempt “ ” - on this episode in burgess life . He finds it diffi cult to decide who was fool and who knave who sinned more was a nice point . He opines that there were six of one and half a doz en of the

. e e e e m other Th fin’r v ng ance which beca e old blood was Guido s ; the victim was the hard - beset c Ca o nsa ch i c . Pompilia , the hero of the pie e p c B OOK V . The poem now deals dire tly with the B w persons of the drama , and here ro ning is at his best in the psychological analysis of a set Of characters which could have been res olved into their elements so completely by no other poet

. G save Shakespeare His Iago is uido Pompilia , ’ r Ca o nsacch i G the ma tyred saint p , od s champion c r — c r the Pope , Vi ege ent of God all these ha acters , so diverse , are made to live before us , so that we know them better than we know ourselves . Guido is led into the Court straight from the torture chamber , where he has confessed the murders , a and defends himself , m intaining that what he did was on beh alf of religion and social morality . He was cheated and duped by Pompilia and her parents . His wife broke her pact , and published c r the fa t to all the wo ld , and she was no dove , either . She might have conquered him by love

c . and cured him by patien e , had she cared to try ’ s r c He was law me e exe utant , and he demands of

/ R n th e B ook 76 T ze i g and .

— l he i s glad they see the truth . Even whi e he

pleads for Pompilia , they tell him she is dead . He has been excited in his address ; now he grows calm again and concludes with a despairing cry to the God whom he is no longer permitted

to serve as priest .

— - B OO K VI I . Pompilia . From her death bed

Pompilia tells the story of her life . She is j ust seventeen years and five months Old ; has been “ ” x c the mother of a son e a tly two weeks . She

- s f has twenty two dagger wound , suf ers not too

- c . mu h pain , and is to die to night Now she will

never see her boy . People said husbands love

their wives hers had killed her . They said Ca o nsacchi p , though a prie”st , did love her , and S no wonder you love him , haking their heads , c pitying and not blaming very mu h . Then she S tells the story of the dreadful night . As she inks rr c away from life , she finds that so ows hange into something better . Her child is safe , her pain not l very great . Then she told the nuns how a l this c trouble ame about . Up to her marriage , at i one th rteen years , she was very happy . Then day Violante told her Sh e meant ne x t day to bring a cavalier whom she must allow to kiss her hand . He would be the same evening at San Lorenz o to l e marry her but all wou d be as b fore , and she B ut would still live at home . she must hold her

i - tongue that was the way with g rl brides . Next ,

G . uido came He was old and like an owl , and his smile and touch of her hand made her uncom fort bl a e .

r r They we e mar ied one night , and she thought h a On S e l . e all was over , as sti l rem ined at home l e R in and tlze B ook g . 77

nin v mor g , howe er , Guido came to claim his wife , sa then she w her mother was to blame . She was

in . to be noble , and live a palace They were not

. A z z to separate All would live together at re o . all And so she went with Guido . Since then was a terrific dream to her . The Count had married and was for money , it not forthcoming , so he turned upon her in his rage . He accused her of being a coquette . In her trouble she went to the Archbishop , but he would not interfere . Her ’ r husband s hate increased . Henceforth her praye s were to G od alone . Three years she dwelt in o c Sh e that gl omy pala e , when , one day , learned that there could be a man who could be a saviour to the weak , and to the vile a foe . It was at the n play where she first saw Capo sacchi. At supper her husband threatened her with his sword . Her maid , in league with her master , told her of the i priest who loved her . Pompil a bade her say no more , but the importunity continued . When

April was half over , and every one was leaving Ca o nsacch i for Rome , and p , too , she thought was it possible she also could reach Rome Her ’ t husband s rela ive , Conti , suggested , Ask ’ Capo nsacchi ; he s your true St . George . She told th e maid Capo nsacchi might come . He came , she spoke of her contemplated flight ; her yearning to be at rest with her parent s in Rome . Then she told o f all the horrors of the

'

l . fata night . She forgave her husband She

l . cou d not love him , but his mother did Her

. body , but never her soul , had lain beside him

- - Then , with her fast failing mind sight , she “ n tur s to the image of the lover of her life , the d o k 78 Tile R ing an tlze B o .

- soldier saint . He is a priest , and could not Sh e marry nor would he if he could , thinks the true marriage is for heaven . om s H ac de rc a B OOK VI I I . D inu y inthus A h n i — He gel S. is counsel on behalf of Count Guido , and we are introduced to him as he is preparing i the defence he is to make for his cl ent . He is a r family man , and it is the bi thday of his son , and he congratulates himself on the good fortune so which has given him a noble to defend , and in good a cause , too , as the defence of his honour . l He wi l display his eloquence and learning , but does it all in a perfunctory manner . r oc or B OOK IX . Ju is D t Johannes B aptista

B ottinius is the Public Prosecutor . He is a

c - oi- - ba helor man the world , with no very lofty ideas about anything . He thinks highly of S Pompilia in a way , but upposes there were some friskings . He does not altogether credit Pom ’ pilia s story. She had made her confession at the point of death , and was absolved ; it was only charity in her to spend her last breath by pre i tending utter innocence , and thus rehabil tate a o n a chi the character of C p s c . She was not bound to tell the naked truth about him . — B . o e . OOK X The P p Guido , having claimed c benefit of lergy , the case has now com e before c al the Pope as to a ourt of fin appeal . The Pope (Innocent XI I ) has made a prolonged study of c the evidence addu ed on the trial , and the whole circumstances of the case now he has to decide the fate of the Count and his accomplices in the murder . He must be just , and dare not let the ' ’ felon go free. Guido s life was furnished with all Tlie R in and tire B ook g . 79

C n i z n the help a hristia civ li atio could bestow , and he deliberately clothes himself with the protection C vi of the hurch , that he might olate the law with

n . h impu ity T ree parts consecrate , he sought to ’ do his murder in the Church s pale . He believed

n i . o ly in the v le of life His cruelty , lust of money , and crafty malice enveloped Pompilia , but her

- u k o ermine like so l too no p llution from all this . I t arose that in the providence of God were born new attributes to two souls . Priest and wife both champions o f truth— developed new safe s guards of their noble nature .

Ca o nsacchi - p , his warrior priest , has mas

' ueraded . He ch am q , but it was grandly done pioned God at first blush . W hen temptation c ame he had taken it by the head and hair , had ’ done his battle , and has praise . The Church s men - at- arms were negligent while this man in mask and motley had to do their work . For G uido he has no hope unless the truth be at last

flashed out and Guido see , one instant , and be saved . The Pope signs the order for the execu c tion of the Count and his ac omplices . — . n B OO K X I . Guido The Cou t is now in the prison cell awaiting execution . His friends , a Acciaiuoli Panciatichi are Cardin l and Abate , to remain with him till the fatal moment . He l r pleads with them for their aid , sti l p otesting his c P inno ence . W hy must he die What though ° half R ome condemned him ? th e o ther half took

. ? ' irn enitent his part Repent not he He is p . Would the Church slay the impenitent Take u s n yo r crucifix away he crie , and then , whe all e ins se ms hopeless , he beg to abuse the Pope , the 8 0 Tke R in and fli e B ook g .

C and . And s ardinals , all while he curses he hear c B S the hant of the rotherhood , who ing the O ffice of the Dying at his cell door . He shrieks

Aba e — ar na1 — h r s — Mar a — G o d t , C di , C i t , i , , m a w o u let em m r er m e ? Po pili , ill y th u d

— B OO K XI I . The B ook and the Ring On 2 2 1 6 8 February , 9 , Guido and his confederates were executed . This concluding book gives the report of the executions and the comments made about them in Rome from four persons . The first is a letter from a noble stranger in Rome . I t begins w l ith gossip about the Pope and po itics , and tells x of a wager he lost by the e ecution of Guido . The ecclesiastics who had attended the Count on the eve of his execution were satisfied that they had brought him to repentance . The execution was a fine spectacle , and the Count made a speec h to the multitude , begging forgiveness of God and ’ the people s prayers . There were three letters which were bound up ’ B with rowning s famous find at Florence . ’ One n of these was written by the Cou t s advocate , Archan elis De g , and was addressed to the friends of the Count . He considers that no blot has fallen on the escutcheon of his noble house , as he had All respect and commiseration from all Rome . this was mere politeness . Enclosed with the and letter is another for the lawyer , is to be kept to himself . I n it the advocate ex presses his b e e annoyance that his super d fwenc was wasted , and , as he got nothing for his ork , he does not care how soon the obstinate Pope dies . The next ’ letter is from the Fisc B ottini . Pompilia s inno P rince Hokenstiel Selzwan an 8 1 g .

cence was easily proved . Guido had made very good sport . B ottini wishes he had been on the other side . Pompilia gave him no opportunity to Show his skill .

C HOHENSTI E L- C A AU PRIN E S HW NG , A S VIOUR OF SOCIETY .

r Hoh n ti - e s el c o of oc . P ince S hwangau , Savi ur S iety — The Prince represents the Emperor , Napo

- leon I I I . Hoh enstiel Schwangau represents ’ France . The poem is an analysis of the Emperor s

t . supposed character , not a por rait of the man B r Mrs . rowning was g eatly interested in hi”m and considered him as the Saviour of Society . She

praised him because he came to deliver I taly . The Prince in a reverie at the Tuileries thinks of himself as talking with an adventuress in a room l L he knew we l near eicester Square , when an

exile here . The poet permits him to make an ’ apology for his life— it was B rowning s way to

let his characters defend themselves thus . The Prince answers the charges brought against him

by his enemies , and endeavours , with sophistry ,

to quiet the reproaches of his own conscience . The poem has been misunderstood by some readers as ’ a defence of Napoleon s expediency in politics . B ut B rowning was as much interested in analysing

- B lou ram the soul of a worldly minded bishop like g , d or an impostor like Slu ge , as in revealing for us the purity of Pompilia or the wisdom and”j ustice of the Pope in The Ring and the B ook . This ’ s poem is one of B rowning s dramatic monologue , 0 R E. a t/ze Fair 82 Fifine t . and no greater mistake could be made than to suppose the Prince spoke the thought of the l creator of this character , a though we have some times hints of what B rowning himself really thinks .

FIFINE AT THE FAI R .

— Fifine at the Fai n The argument of this StO ford poem is very difficult to follow . Mr . p B n rooke says , its i volution”s resemble a number of live eels in a tub of water . — The Prologue Amphibian This describes i a swimmer far out at sea , disporting h mself under

- he the noon sun ; as floats , a beautiful butter r a fly hove s bove him , a creature of the sky , as he for a time , a creature of the water neither can can unite with the other , for neither exchange e elements ; still , if we cannot fly , the next b st — a - e thing is to swim half way hous , as it were , between the world o f spiri t and that of grosser B h is Earth . rowning wonders if the soul of and departed wife hovers over him in this way , looks with pity on the mimicry of her airy

. B flight (Mrs . rowning died eleven years before Fifi ne was published . ) The scene of the poem is laid in the neighbour

of wn B . hood Pornic , a seaside to in rittany B h rowning , while staying there wit his family , saw the gipsy w”oman , who suggested to him the Fifi n idea of e . He selected her as a type of the general woman , in contrast to the spiritual type of womanhood . I t is the time of the fair n th e whe strolling players visit the place . Don

’ otton Ni kt- a un r 84 R ea C g C p Co t y.

disgust gave way to pity , the people were more

human than he thought . Venice Square became r n the wo ld , to his fa cy , the masquerade was life , and he learned that the proper goal for wisdom is e e th ground and not the sky,' H saw how nicely

balanced are our hates and loves . We must accept c what is , for hange is the law , even of the religion

by which man approaches G od. I t i falsehwd wh

125 W Don J uan and his l wife return to their vi la , he resolves to live and

die a quiet married man , and earn the approbation

‘ of the Mayor At th at moment a letter is put into his hand ; there has been some mistake Fifi ne thinks— h e h as given her gold instead of Silver ;

he will go and see about it and is off. Five minutes was all the time he asked He is absent much and longer , on his return Elvi re has vanished .

The Epilogue unites husband and wife . Her spirit has returned to claim him . The final les”son of life is Love is all , and death is naught . B rowning once explained that his fancy was to show morally how a Don Juan might j ustify b r himself partly by truth , somewhat y sophist y .

ED - A R COTTON N IG HT C P COUNTRY . ( 1 873 )

R ed Co o - Ca C r o r r and tt n Night p ount y ; , Tu f

- be Towe rs . The title of this poem was so stowed in consequence o f B rowning having met Miss Thackeray in a part of Normandy which ' R ea ot on Nz - a o nt C t gkt C p C u ry. 8 5 she j okin”gly ch ristened White Cotton Night - Cap

C n . B ountry , on accou t of its sleepiness rowning , c having heard the tragedy whi h his ”story tells , said Red Cotton Night - Cap Country would be the more appropriate term . B rowning visited ’ 1 8 . A 2 St ubin s in 7 , and was interested in the singular story of the family which owned s Clairvaux , a re tored priory in the locality . The in l na pr cipa details of the story are true , the mes

. L son only being altered eonce Miranda , the and l heir of a wealthy Paris j ewe ler , led a dissipated l ife , and one day fell in love with an adventuress ,

C u . al so lara M lhausen She was ready married , i C the jeweller ret red with the woman to lairvaux , leaving a manager in charge of his business . For

five years the couple lived together , then Miranda was called to Paris to account to his mother for his extravagance . He took her reproaches so to much heart that he attempted suicide . He was ’ saved , and restored to health by Clara s nursing , to when he was again summoned his mother , only to find her dead . He was told that his conduct was responsible for her death . He gave up the i bulk of his property to his relat ves , reserving only enough for the decent support of himself and

to . Clara , from whom he arranged part for ever When the time arrived to execute the legal documents he was found before a large fire endeavouring to destroy himself . He had held his

' were destro ed hands in the flames till they y , and v was dragged from the room crying , I must ha e more hands to burn He lay in delirium for three months . W hen restored to health he took 86 Tko I nn A lknnz.

to of Clara back his heart , disposed his shop and c returned to Clairvaux , he devoted his substan e liberally to the poor and tried to save his soul by acts of charity . Near Clairvaux there was a pilgrimage chapel wi th a statue of the Virgin reputed to be miraculous . He became a of our L i devotee ady , declar ng that it was she to n off who had prompted him bur his hands . Mounting the stairs of the View - tower in his of r grounds , he demands the Vi gin that she should work a miracle for him and France by suspending the law of gravity as he cast himself from the tower . The next moment he lay dead on the turf . He bequeathed his property to the r ffi of Chu ch , reserving su cient for the support l Clara . The relatives disputed the wil , but it was ’ c C de ided in the lady s favour , and she was hatelaine B x 1 8 2 . of Clairvau , where rowning saw her in 7

LB THE INN A UM . ( 1 875 ) b — The Inn Al um . The principal features of ro this tragedy are taken f m real life . In the parlour of a village inn an elderly and cultivated roué is playing at cards with a rich young man to whom he has j ust lost ten thousand pounds at

. w f e b play The young fello o fers to canc l the de t , which he knows his companion could ill afford to

. s pay He is a sured that it shall be paid . They leave the inn . The young man inquires h ow it is that his friend with all his advantages is such a failure . He is told that four years ago he had withered his own life he should have married a Tke I nn A llmnr 8 . 7 woman who could have saved him from his way ward existence ; had won her heart and then f to betrayed her , though he had o fered make amends by marriage . She had declined the offer with scorn and had settled down as the wife of a to a l poor country parson , whom she had unh ppi y d to l neglecte tel her past , and was consequently

of - For now at the mercy the woman wrecker . ’ the scoundrel s love for his victim has turned to hate , because she had disdained to save him from himself . The younger man then tells his story . He has loved a woman wh o refused him as she was vowed to another . There are points in his story which suggest to him that they have both loved the same woman . I n the third part of the poem we are introduced to the women— an elder and a younger who are talking in the parlour of the inn j ust left vacant by the card players . The younger is a girl whom the young man of the story is to marry and Sh e to has begged her old friend , the elder woman , see meet her , that she may the man she is of engaged to . During the absence the younger

- woman the elder is looking over the inn album ,

- n old when she is terror stricken at seei gher ’lover enter the room . The lady is the clergyman s wife , wh o for and the man is the old roué , is waiting his friend who has won this ten thousand pounds . old There are recriminations , and in their midst his to love for her returns , and he entreats her fly with him . W h ile he kneels by her in bursts the to young man , who is startled see the lady to whom he had vainly offered his heart four years ago . B oth 88 Tke I nn A lkam.

think they have been entrapped . The woman explains her presence there and bids the elder man leave the youth . The devil tempts the roué to one more crime . He writes some lines in the album , closes it and hands it to the woman . I n the book he has written a note to her telling her that her young lover is still faithful to her , and threatening her that if Sh e does not receive him on familiar terms the story of her past shame shall be exposed to her husband . Left alone with the young man he proposes to discharge his gambling debt by bartering the woman who ' has put herself in his power— to compel her to yield herself up to the man in exchange for the money he cannot pay . He leaves the room and in superb c composure the intended vi tim enters . ’ “ B f ack in God s name she cries . The young man tells her the roué has told heaps o f lies about her , which he has not believed ; he con trives to let her know the use that was to be made

. f of her He o fers her his hand if free to accept it ,

r . Sh e any way as her f iend Till death answers , h S e . for has taken poison The adversary returns , c thinks his s heme successful , congratulates the couple , the woman reads the line in the Album . “

. Consent You stop my mouth , the only way . B ut there was another way . The young man

’ dicator s acquittal on the charge of murder by i n telling the facts the album .

For the facts of the t ragedy see Notes and c 2 1 8 6. Queries , Mar h 5, 7 PACCHI AR OTTO AND HOW HE WORKED

IN DISTEMPER , ETC , ( 1 876)

Pacchiarotto and How He Work ed in Distempe r — with other Poems Prologue The poet on a sum mer day fixes his eyes on a red brick wall in his gar den . The wall is clothed with a luxuriant creeper , and he reflects that wall upon wall divide us from the subtle thing that is spirit the body is a barrier , but he will hope hard and send forth his soul to the congenial spirit beyond the ring o f neighbours h w ich like a wall divides him from his love . Of P ch i ro — P c h iarotto ac a tto . J acopo a c was a

n 1 . 1 0 pai ter , born in Siena in 474 In 53 he took L part in the conspiracy of the ibertini and Popolani , 1 n B z and in 533 he j oi ed the ardotti , a la y order of 1 reformers . He had to hide for his life in 535, and was concealed by an order of priests in a tomb in the church of St . J ohn . He escaped on the second day covered with vermin . He was i 1 ex led in 539 , but was soon recalled and died shortly afterwards . B rowning wrote this poem in a frolicsome mood to rebuke the fussy persons Wh o try to set every one else right while neglecting their own

. B proper business The ardotti , or spare u horses , walked q ietly beside the waggon while the Pacchiarotto others drew it , the monk who lectures 89 ’‘ 0 cek a o o k P oe s 9 I a i r tt ,r wit/z Ot er m . advises him to be a working horse— to stick to his paint brush and earn his own living . So B rowning addresses his critics at an assembly

- of May Day sweeps , who suggest that he burns a deal of coal in his kitchen , and the neighbours do say he ought to consume his own smoke . ’ B rowning will not b”e hard upon them . Twas God made you dingy , he says . “ ”— At the Mermaid. The Mermaid Tavern in Cheapside was the favourite resort of the Eliz abe than poets and dramatists . In the person of B Shakespeare , rowning tells the world that if they want to know anything about him they must seek it in his works and not try to pry into his life and opinions behind them . — House The po et refuses to unlock his heart

- e with a sonnet key . Hous fronts often fall out in earthquakes , but a writer may keep his secrets to himself till an imprudent biographer rifles them . — Shep The poet deplores the life of men who work only for money , and lose their higher selves in their absorption in earthly employments .

- — - I . AS Pisgah Sights . from a mountain top

the things below appear small and insignificant , so the vision of life as we are leaving it is bereft of

its littlenesses and difficulties . We see the round

orb of things as we are lifted away from life . I I . I f we could live our life over again would we strive any longer P We should be stationary in the B t midst of the hurry and scurry . u we should have been losers by escaping our trials and

strivings when our course was run . —On Fears and Scruples . the Spiritual uses of f uncertainty . The silence o the Divine B eing is

2 Fil d o r 9 ippo B al inucci on tk P ivilege of B urial.

Returning home one night he saw the veiled figure of a man flying from the house . As he turns to

- enter his door he sees his wife stone still , stone ” “

' Sh e . white . Kill me cried The man is innocent the fault is mine alone . I love him as

I hate you . Strike He postpones his vengeance and for three years they live apart in the house . At last the woman i l demands that this act ng sha l cease , and then tells him Sh e had loved him and lost him through a lie . She had strung herself to teach him that the first fool Sh e favoured would pri ze beyond life the treasure he had neglected . I t was contempt which ’ filled the husband s mind now . He made her write her confession with her own blood drawn in by the po t of a poisoned dagger . e e The mon’k to whom the husband conf ss d was the woman s lover the husband killed him also . — I n B Cenciaja. this poem rowning throws light c on th”e tragic events of the Cen i story . Cen cia a l j , the poet once explained , means a bund e — of rags a trifle . The Pope would have pardoned B eatrice Cenci had not a case of matricide occurred at Rome at the time which determined him to make an example of the Cenci . When the Pope was petitioned on behalf of the family , he said She must die . Paolo Santa Croce murdered his S l mother , and he is fled ; she ha l not flee at least F o B aldinucci on i e of B r a ilipp the Pr vileg u i l ,

- f AD . I A R emi niscence o 676. The incidents are historical and relate to the persecution of the J ews r in Italy . A Ch istian farmer owned a field E k lns pilog ue Tko Againenznon of E sc y . 9 3 ’ adj oining the Jews Cemetery in Florence . The

' farmer , partly to annoy the J ews , employed the painter B uti to execute a picture o f the Virgin Mary and place it j ust where it would most annoy the J ews . The Jews tried to bribe the owner to turn the picture the other way . The farmer c a cepted the gold , but played a scurvy trick on r c x them , for he had a pictu e of the Cru ifi ion made r to confront them . As the artist and his farme ’ friend were laughing over the trick the Rabbi s son entered the studio desiring to purchase the original oil painting of the Madonna from which the fresco in the field was painted . The artist sold it and the Jew bore it away to hang up , ll L as he explained , in his ga ery with edas and what not . — Epilogu e The poet ridicules those who declare that his poems are hard to understand . He declares that they have in their cellars forty barrels ’ six of with Shakespeare s brand , some five or his — works are duly appreciated the rest neglected . ’ There are four big butts of Milton s brew , and we B content ourselves with a few drops . rowning has some good old Port for those who can c it — appre iate as for the multitude , let them drink

- nettle broth till their taste irnproves .

THE AGAMEMNON OF E SCHYLUS. ( 1 877) E The Agamemnon of schylus . This is r k lite al translation . Agamemnon was a ing Mycenae and Argos and Commander - in- chief i the Greek forces before Troy . He was marr ed L a 94 Saisiaz .

C T ndarus lytemnestra , the daughter of y , king of Sparta . When the Greek expedition against A Troy was detained at ulis , Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to appease Diana, whom he had offended by killing her favourite stag . During the Troj an War Agamemnon behaved al B with great v our , but he took riseis , the favourite mistress of Achilles , by force , and that hero , in in consequence , refused to appear the field till he was recalled to action by the death of his friend

Patroclus . al After the f l of Troy , the beautiful Princess Cassandra fell to Agamemnon as his Share of the

S . poils Cassandra , endowed with the gift of prophecy , warned him not to return home . He was assured that his wife would put him to death , but the warning was disregarded and he returned A lE isth us to Greece . ided by her adulterer g , Clytemnestra murdered her husband as he came from the bath .

L I I AZ A SA S .

i i — Sai iaz La Sa s az . La s is the name of a

G . villa near eneva A . E . S . are the initials of i S Ann Egerton Smith who , wh le pending the 1 8 B his autumn of 77 with Mr . rowning and sister La Saisiaz at , died suddenly of heart disease on 1 the morning of September 4 . The oem may be ’ p ” co r sidered B r as rowning s I n Memo iam , and is od the result of his musings on death , G , the soul and the future state . Here we have no mere utter ’ B own auces of the dramatist , we have rowning s

DRAMATIC IDYLS .

DRAMATIC IDY LS. FI RST SE RI ES

These are tragedies with psychological studies of the chief actors . Martin Relph wants to know whether he is a murderer or only a coward . He pretends every year on the anniversary of a certain t ragedy that c s he was a oward , but he has mi givings . I n a r rebellion , in the reign of King Geo ge , the rebels had learned the strength of the Royal troops sent against them by reas on of some spy . A girl had e written to her lover , the letter had be n intercepted , the information innocently given had suggested c treason . Her lover was Vin ent Parkes ; the c ommander of the troops had sent for this man , r c who was in a distant pa t of the ountry , bidding him come and dispel the cloud hanging over the girl if he could . A week was allowed for the j our ney , and the man had not appeared . The girl meanwhile had been tried by court - martial and sentenced to be shot that day .

The villagers were assembled to see the sight , and Martin Relph , who had loved the girl , was there also . The word is given , up go the guns , the crowd kneel in prayer , all but Martin Relph , who stands on the hill and sees a man running madly 96 ' ’ ’ P kezaz aes —I van [ oanoz/itck ppi . 9 7

waving something white . No one in all the e him crowd s es but Martin Relph , and he is S speechless , makes no ign , and the woman is dead . ’ Vincent Parkes also is dead with the King s letter in his hand that would have saved the woman .

Was it fear that kept Martin silent , or was he a murderer Pheidippides ( the Greek words mean Rej oice We — This - poem tells the story of the athlete who ran from Athens to Sparta to ask for aid in resisting the Second Persian I nvasion (B . C . The distance the runner covered in two days i 1 20 and two nights is , accord ng to the route taken , to 1 50 miles . He was in time to be at Marathon .

The battle over , he ran to announce the victory to

Athens and fell dead . Herodotus tells the whole story (B ook vi . 94 — A i . i? Halbe rt and Hob . study in hered ty A brutal son assaults his father in a quarrel one night . The father is struck mute— he remembers that he had , when a young man , treated his father in a

i . r sim lar fashion He c ies , I stopped here and ,

Hob , do you the same The son relaxed his hold ’ to of his father s throat , and they returned the home from which the son was casting the old man . Next morning the father was dead and the son in sane . Conscience rules supreme even over heredity and cerebral aberration .

- Ivan Ivan ovitch . I n telling the well known

' Russian story of the mother who in escapi ng from the w’olves saved herself at the expense of her chil dren s lives , the poet , with his touchstone , brings ’ out th e wretched mother s sense of satisfaction at P B . H live 9 8 Tray C . ’ L . her own escape . ife s sweet she cries For this Ivan Ivanovitch slays her . He is tried for murder and is acquitted by the aged Pope . They

r i . tell him he is f ee . How otherw se he asked — r s c , T ay. Three bards ing ea h a song of a hero but n”ot heroic men but a dog a mere instinctive c s , dog, whom a vivise tor wi hes to dissect alive ’ is the poet s hero . The dog plunged into the water ’ to save a child s doll , the saving instinct in him being too powerful for his reasoning powers . ’ c B rowning hated vivisection . The s ientist s mind is not large enough to find room for admira ’ tion of a dog s soul . Ne r — d B attS. The story is”taken from The Life B . . B m and Death of Mr ad an , by J ohn unyan I t is a tale of the conversion of two bad characters who rush into the Assiz e Court and demand to be r hanged while in a state of g ace , lest they should relapse into the Sins of which they repent , and so lose the heaven they feel sure of winning , if the

And . J udge will grant the favour they as k . he did

I D E D E I E DRAMAT C I Y LS. S CON S R S

— E ch etlos A legend of the battle of Marathon . Wherever the Greeks were hardest pressed in the fight a figure driving a ploughshare was seen mow ’ Ech etlos ing down the enemy s ran”ks . Call him er ai e e the ploughshare wield , s d th ora’cles wh n asked his name , the great deed ne er grows al sm l . C — live . The poet deals with a well known inci in dent the life of Lord Clive , who founded our H Indian Empire . e was a born leader , and held

d L an 1 00 P an an a. complains to God that there is something on earth which interferes with his prerogatives . Death is

- the strongest born of hell , and yet a bad wife is stronger than death . He is commanded to descend to earth in mortal s shape and get married , and the poem relate his matrimonial experiences and those of his medical son . — c Pan and Luna . The legend on whi h this poem is founded was the poetical way of accounting for an eclipse of the moon . The naked goddess flying r th ough the night was grasped by rough red Pan , who made a billowy wrappage of wool tufts to simulate a cloud . The moral of the poem is that the goddess yielded herself to the love of Pan out of compassion . OCOSE R I A J .

Jocoseria — The whole of this Jocoseria volume

is governed by the question of the first poem , WANTI NG I S— WHAT The answer is Love

is wanting to supplement life in its every phase . In every human action there is some imperfection — always something to come . — o d. D nal The story is a true one , an”d is told by Sir Walte”r Scott in the Keepsake for 1 83 2 . Donald met a stag on a narrow path on the

mountain where he had not room to turn himself . The man lay down on the ledge and the anim al S cautiously began to step over him , when the ports man stabbed the creature and they rolled over the precipice together , the stag falling underneath ’ so and breaking the man s fall . He was however seriously inj ured . o o o an — S l m n d B alkis . This is a story from the

Talmud . The Queen of Sheba discussing high matters with Solomon , contrives to j ostle his right hand so that his ring with the truth - compelling Name of J ehovah was turned from the inside n to the outside . Then he bega to tell her the truth in unpleasant phrase , and turning the Name towards her compels her also to tell the truth . She owns that she came to see Solomon the wise man , and rather than talk philosophy would have a kiss 1 01 ’ 1 0 2 Cristina ana Al onaldeseki— [ x ion

r i — C istina and Monaldesch . The circumstances of the poem are historic al and relate to Queen

Cristina of Sweden and the Marquis Monaldeschi.

Cristina abandoned herself to this man , who of proved a traitor and a scoundrel . The scene the tragedy is at Fontainebleau , where the Queen and her Court resided by the hospitality of the French Government after her abdication of the of Swedish throne . Here the revelations her ’ lover s baseness determined her to execute ven eanc g e on her subj ect . As he knelt at her feet the soldiers stabbe d him to death in her presence . h erself u She retired to Rome , giving p to her artis ‘

s - was tic taste , and dying at the age of sixty three ’ buried in St . Peter s . — y o o ecr and e . Mar W llst n aft Fus li Mary Wol’l stonecraft was the foundress of the Women s

1 . Rights movement . She was born i n 759 She made a determined attack on the affections of the im artist Fuseli , a married man , who remained pervious to her efforts to win them . In doing this she showed little respect for the rights of Mrs .

Fuseli .

d an Eve — i A am , Lilith , d The Talmud sts say r that Adam had a wife before he mar ied Eve , who

al . was c led Lilith . She was the mother of demons B r owning , however , merely uses the names in this story of falsehood and fear . x o — al I i n . Ixion , condemned to etern punish Z ment , is in the poem described as defying eus f after the manner O Prometheus . I t is impossible to doubt that B rowning intends to represent the popular idea of God and his own attitude towards the doctrine of eternal punishment . As Caliban

1 P an 04 t 60.

but the loved one is absent , and her place cannot

. B ut be filled love is eternal , and the meeting is to come — t . Pambo . S Pambo was one of the compan ions

-i r n t ia A . . of St . Antony in the N Desert ( D Having heard the first verse of the thirty l ninth Psalm , I said , I wi l take he”ed to my ways , that I sin not with my tongue , he would

not hear the second , but went away saying , This one ve”rse is enough for me if I learn it as I ought to do . He afterwards said that in nineteen years he had hardly learned to fulfil that one line . B rowning fears his critics say that he has been equally unsuccessful ’ FE R I SHTA H S FANCIES . ( 1 844 ) ’ Feri —W e B sh tah s Fancies . have seen rown ing as a Rabbi , and as a Pope , we have him before us in the Ferish tah volume as a Dervish . ’ The book is a criticism of life B rowning s mellow wisdom . There was a celebrated Persian his erishtah torian named F , but he has no connexion w ith the subject matter of this collection of poems . “ ” ’ B Firdausi s - The”Fables of idpai , Shah Nah B meh , and the ook of J ob are the sources of the ’ ” inspiration of Ferish tah s Fancies . I n the Prol ogue the scheme of the poem is sug gested by the mode of eating ortolans in I taly . The birds are stuck on a skewer with a bit of toast

- and a sage leaf between each , and the eater bites

r a . th ough crust , seasoning , and bird ltogether

The poem is dished up on the same principle . We have sense , that is the bread the sight or lesson

- is the sage leaf and the lyric is the bird or Song . — The Eagle Ferish tah in training for a dervish desires to feed hungry souls . Man must not play v i the helpless weakling , but sa e the perish ng by his helpful strength . The lyric teaches that though solitude and medi tation our are good for us , proper place is up and down amid men. — The Melon Seller . This was a beggar who was 1 05 1 0 6 Skak A bbas— A anzel D river C . ’ once the Shah s Prime Minister . He was not such ’ a fool as to repine at God s punishments and re proach Him with the happiness he had once tasted in the past . The lyric suggests that so much undeserved bliss has been imparted that a little inj ustice is needed

' to balance things . Shah Abbas — This teaches that a loving heart is better than a sceptical head . The lyric urges that love is the light of life l with that al obstacles disappear . — The Family . The subject is the Lawfulness of r Prayer . Why p ay men ask . Two best ”“ c us h wills ”annot be . Let be man and not ing i er sh tah . more , says F Man hoping , fearing ,

G od . loving , and bidding help him till he dies The lyric bids us while on earth be content to be even without the wisdom of angels . — The Sun . Poem and lyric deal with the mystery of the assumption by G od of a human shape . The divine element of fire is enshrined in earthly flint c until the spark escapes . God once in arnate in r the form of man is ha dly a greater mystery . Mihrab Shah deals with the mystery of Evil and

Pain . Take away from man thanks to God and ? love of man , what is he worth The lyric ex i plains the compensations o our existence . NO one has everything what one lacks another b e possesses , and this creates a bond of sympathy tween us . A Camel D river ( punishment by man and by ’ ’ — c G od) . Punishment is man s tri k to teach . God s process in teaching or punishment nowise re ’ — ur sembles man s . Ignorance that sins is safe o

1 0 8 A P illar at e z ev r— l S b a Epi ogue.

— A Pillar at Sebz evar. Sage and pupil argue as

c . P to whi h is the better , knowledge or love erish tah says that the only priz e of knowledge is the

r t . process of acqui ing it . B u love is victory There was a pillar with a sun - dial fixed upon it in S bz e ev ar. Suppose nobody had used it till he knew the history of the man who erected it ? “ B etter go to dinner when the dial says Noon and ask no questions . I f we love we know enough . The lyric bids us not ask for recognition for our love the deepest affection is the most silent . — A B ean Stripe Also Apple Eating One of ’ Ferish tah s scholars asked whether on the whole s Life were a good or an evil thing . He is a ked if are beans taken from a bushelful , what colour pre dominates ? The beans are typical mOf our days . Some are blackish , some whitish , in co panionship r g ey prevails . So j oys are embittered by sorrows remembered and troubles anticipated . The B uddha thought the best thing in Life was that it

. B ut did led to Death he not believe it , he lived out his seventy years and liked his dinner to the last . I n the lyric Ferish tah asks no praise for his work on behalf of mankind . He has done his duty . For reward he looks beyond . — Epil ogue This brings into a focus the rays of the fancies which make up the volume . The famous ones of old were ”not mummers , but sol i d ers all to forward face . I t is ours to fight , not L question . That concerns our eaders even “ ” though terror sudden turns the blood to ice . PAR LEY I NGS WITH CERTAIN PEOPLE OF

IMPORTANCE IN THE I R DAY . ( 1 887 )

Parleyings with Certain Pe ople of Importance ’ r — B in thei Day . rowning s love of argument , of analysis of motive is in full force in this volume of questionings with well - nigh forgotten persons

who in their day made some stir . For the most part the discussions are dry and lead to nothing n very definite , but the perso ality of the great

i - ph losopher poet , full of hope and love , of j oy in living and of unvanquished Optimism , is here in all

its grandeur . The Prol ogue introduces us to the abode of the Fates with whom Apollo is pleading for the ex of tension the years of Admetus . Clotho with her f L A dista f , achesis with her spindle , and tropos with a pair of scissors preside over the destinies of

mankind . ’ Atropos is about to cut the thread of Admetus life . The Fates say that life is only illusion — why

lengthen it Apollo replies that man loves life ,

and he ought to know best , he has a compensation , r c and the God p oduces a bowl of wine , of whi h he

invites the ladies to taste . They drink and grow

merry , Atropos declaring that even she could live

at a pinch , and they agree to Spare the life of

A . W l n n dmetus hi e they:. are da ci g an explosion 1 09 ’ “ r a d e Mand v i le — iel B rtoli 0 B e n r a [ e l D an a . ’ from the earth s centre brings them to their senses , c s r and the pa t is di solved , but it is ag eed that Admetus shall live if some one can be found to die in his stead . ’ B alaustion s Adventure should be read after this prologue . — B ernard de Mandeville (lived 1 670 He c was a doctor who studied medi ine at Leyden , and r came to England to lea n the language . He i”s

B . celebrated by his book , The Fable of the ees “ He humorously co”ntended that private vices r are public benefits . F”ools only st ive to make z s a great and honest hive . He satiri ed Engli h r methods , and a great outc y was made about his ’ i doc trines . B rown ng s aim in the poem is to point out the great truths which underlie much of Man ’ c ex deville s philosophy , when this is arefully

amined. c The tea hing of the poem is , that to make the best use of the world as we find it is wiser than torturing our brains to comprehend mysteries which by their nature and our own weakness are insoluble . Daniel B artoli ( lived 1 608 He was a learned J esuit who wrote the hi story of his order Si c r in x volumes , whi h is full of mi aculous stories difficult of digestion . B rowning does not deal with these , but tells the cleric that he has a saint whose history is not

r c . r legendary at all , but ve y plain fa t The sto y ’ r c r is that of Ma ianne Pagot , the apothe a y s rr daughter , who was engaged to ma y Duke r r Charles IV of Lorraine . Hea ing howeve that ’ the price of the King s con sent to the marriage was the surrender to His Maj esty of certain estates

1 1 2 Francis Fnrini— karles A vison C .

B i rown ng paints his character to”the life , and tells him he is fool as well as knave . Francis Purini (lived 1 604—1 649 ) — He was a priest who was a distinguished painter of the Florentine

. e 1 n school He xcelled painting the nude , but on his death bed begged that all his undraped pic c B tures might be colle ted and destroyed . rowning deals severely with those who think that pictures of the nude have a deleterious infl uence on the c public haracter . He reasons that we must under ' stand the bodil y life of man before we can pene r tohis t ate soul , — Ge ra rd de Lairesse ( lived 1 640 A Flemish painter w”hom the Dutch called their

Heemskifk r . second Raphael , being the , fi st Although deformed he was a dandy and led an x r f is e t avagant life . Towards the end O h days h”e a became blind . He wrote The Art of P inting , and The Walk referred to in the poem was the r title of a pa t of this book . Though bli”nd he ll l a s . talked brain , yearning into life Du l c r Holland to him be ame d eamland , and in his treatise on painting he evolved greater things than B we can with all our sight . rowning invites Gerard to walk with him and see what a poet of the s r a d present day discern in the face of Natu e , n then follows a magnificent description of the moods r ut u of Nature from davb eak to night . B we m st

r c . do , and nowise d eam , what on e lives never dies — Charles Aviso n ( lived 1 71 0 He was a s 1 2 musician of Newcastle . He pu”bli hed in 75 An c x r r Essay on Musi al E p ession , which sta tled the world by the boldn ess with which it put the French and Italian school of music above the German . Fast and His Friends I 1 . 3

The poem is a criticism of the province and office i of music n its influence on the mind of man .

There is no t ruer t ruth obt ainabl e man an c mes of mus c By , th o i . B The soul as an unsounded sea rolls , says rowning , underneath mind , and none can tell of or track to so urce the founts of soul . Music essays to solve

n . how we feel , to match feeling with k owledge Music outdoes both poetry and painting ; dredging deeper yet , it drags into day the abysmal growths ’ of soul s deep sea . — Fust and his Ff i e nds . The Prologue to the Par leyings Opens with the descent of Apollo the god of music , poetry and eloquence , the Epilogue intro duces us to the first printers . Thus we have here the inspirer of the arts and the workmen who pro duce the efforts of genius . B rowning accepts the

Fust story of the invention of printing , and here inv en we meet the friends who , looking upon the al c tion as magic , have come to the onclusion that Fust has made a compact with Satan and have visited the house to exorcise the demon , and as L ul they cannot remember the proper atin form a ,

Fust runs to his printing room , and in five minutes o returns with the words printed n slips of paper , one of which he hands to each of the friars . He then exhibits his printing press and explains the use of the types , bursting out into a noble hymn of praise to God for having enabled him to bless man kind with the invention . The monks are satisfied that there is no magic in the business , but are doubtful if the invention will prove an unmixed blessing for the Church . ASOLAN DO : FANCIES AND FACTS .

— o ndo c e and ac s B A’s la Fan i s F t This was rown ing s last volume , published on the day on

c 1 2 1 88 . which he died at Veni e , December , 9 Asolando h as to do with the beautifully situated town of Northern Italy , called Asolo , about nineteen miles from Treviso . The palace towers of Queen Cornaro of Cyprus overlook the “ n is tow . Asolare is defined as to d port in the lf r o ncse . B Open air , amuse at andom rowning 1 c loved he pla e in his youth , as we may see in his Pippa Passes and in Sordello and he was faithful to its attrac tions in his latest years . The poems which comprise the volume were not al l written in his old age , and are of very various dates . The first poems of this volume must have ’ b e , b een written in the po t s youth and were pu lishe’d i after lying in his desk for many years . B rown ng s love never waned to the last . Prologue — W e are apt to think that it is sad is to grow old because in old age we are d illusioned , but in choosing an Optic glass we select one that is achromatic, not one that invests obj ects with al unre rainbow hues . So in age we have parted ’ l o - z with fa seh”od s fancy ha e , and see the naked S d very thing . I t is better so. Fancy then houl be separated from fact

' é 1 16 S ea elatzve l iza rekensir/eness p pp .

earth . I f you utter the right word that evokes ’ for you the love of a girl— you are creation s lord c — Spe ulative . The poet would surrender what some call heaven could he recover the inspirations and pure delights of the past . r — White Witchc aft . Magic is of two kinds divine and evil . Divine is white magic ; black magic is of the Devil . The Canidia referred to is the sorceress of Naples in Horace who tried t o r b ing the moon from heaven . I t is recorded in the Life of B rowning that the poet in his youth made a pet of a toad . — j B ad D reams I . Love has died out of the eyes r of the loved one , but with a b eaking heart the — f r lover can say love is still the same o him . m I I . Is a weird drea of a dance of death and hell r in which the d eamer sees the woman he loves . He tells her his st range dream and she replies

. I I I I S that her own was j ust like it . a dream of a primeval forest and a buried c ity of pure streets r of marble wherein the d eamer walks alone .

Suddenly the city is devoured by the forest . The r forest represents Nature , the city rep esents Art .

Our nature may be good and true , and art be “ ” lovely and pure , but both in one accurst .

I S c . IV . the pathetic dream of a negle ted woman She is dead and sees in Spirit her husband b roken and praying at her grave when repentance has come too late .

- A c Inapprehensiveness . woman ontemplates the weeds growing on an old tower inapprehensive that by her Side stands an incarnation of dormant pas sion needing but a look from her to burst into immediate life . ' Wkick — A rcaaes A o mb . 1 1 7

Whi ch P— I n esteeming the love of a man one lady holds that he must think his lady - love higher all than save God and King . A second values most i the man of fine deeds , wh le the third chooses any ul i wretch who wo d look to her as his sole sav our. The arbiter thinks this last seems terribly like ’ what perhaps gains God s preference . C rdi and Do — al C nz The a nal the g Cardin resce io , L Papal egate at the Council of Trent , one night saw a great black dog spring into his chamber with flaming eyes . His servants found no dog , i but the Card nal died in horror , crying aloud to every one to drive away the animal . Pe — The pe and the Net . This is an invention of the poet , but Pope Sixtus V suits the poem better than any other . — B - The ean Feast . Pope Sixtus V was Pope from 1 8 5 5 to 1 590 . He was born in humble circum stances , but there is no proof that he was the son of a swineherd as described in the poem . Ever x an ious to reform abuses , he made it his business to ex amine into the condition of the people and see with his own eyes their mode of life .

- i - i. B Muckle M outh Meg ( e . g Mouth Meg A B order story of a young laird Wh o was defeated in a foray and taken prisoner . He was to be hanged , but was offered pardon if he would marry

- l Muckle mouth Meg . He declared he wou d

' rather be hanged than marry a monster. After a week passed in the dungeon , where he was waited on by a winsome lass , he reconsidered his decision on discovering that the pretty m ai d was Meg herself .

— - r An n i v i n . A cades Ambo . a t ivisect o poem The 1 1 8 Tke Lad and tko P ainter— y Flute Music. poet was strongly opposed to the scientific torture n c c of a imals , which he alled cowardi e parallel with that of a soldier who in battle runs away to save his skin . n i — The Lady a d the Pa nter. The poem is directed against the savage and wicked c ustom of wear ing the plum age of birds doomed annually to slaughter . ’ o e o V e — P nt Dell Angel , enic This story of the ’ poem explains why the bridge is called the Angel s B ridge , and why the house beside it has the angel in the escutcheon guarding it from harm . The

B overio 1 2 . legend is recorded by in his Annals , 55

' B e atri ce Sign orini was the wife of R omanelh the painter in the time of Pope Urban VII I . Soon after his marriage he fell in love with Artemisia G ntilischi e . , a celebrated lady painter She painted him a picture filled with fruit except a Space in the centre , in which he was to paint her portrait .

This was done , and one day his wife saw it and immediately destroyed the face o f her rival in

. , b the picture Her husband so far from ein’g

r . ang y , loved his wife the more Artemisia s portrait painted by herself is in Hampton Court . s c an cco t — A Flute Mu i , With A mpanimen dialogue between a man and a woman consequent on the misinterpretation of flute sounds heard at a distance . The man thinks that passion must give birth to such wonderful expression . The lady dispels the fancy - spun notions by telling the prosy fact that the music proceeds from a desk drudge whose husky tootlings have no romance about them at all . The distance lent the enchant ment .

1 2 E ilo ue 0 p g .

his o work , to this Epitaph , every h ur of his working life and every note of his poetry testified to his pure Spirit and noble faith . He was

One wh o ne v er t u rn ed h is back b ut march ed breast f rwar o d , Ne er ub e c u s wo brea v do t d lo d uld k , Ne er reame u r were wors e wr n w v d d , tho gh ight t d , o g ould r um t i ph , e we fa r se are b affi ed fi be er H ld ll to i , to ght tt , e e Sl e p to wak .

I n th e Spring - tide of his life writing his first “ “ la poem , when all y in dispute , he believed in G od was and truth and love”, happy , free from or md doubt touch of fear , now , having never

al fift - once f tered in his faith , y six years after this profession he enters the dark valley with head uplifted , with eye undimmed , sword in hand as becom”es the knight Greatheart to fight the Arch

and . Fear . the best the last battle of all He never deigned to listen to the wailing prophets of a decadent age , never asked if life were worth living , nor stayed to wonder why we are here at all . Nothing disturbed the informed serenity of his fi gifted mind . He had suf cient knowledge and science to assign it the proper place in his equip ment and enough sympathy with our mistakes and Sins to recogniz e them as

Fne f s o f r ra e s ns s n n en au w b w c ai w e s r . i lt g o th , v i hi h t h h iv

of le The antidote to the pessimism a sickly , faith ss age is the philosophy of the poet who asked

Wh at h ad I o n earth to do th e s f wi th e mawk s th e nman , With loth ul , th i h , u ly L e th e a m ess e ess e ess r e ik i l , h lpl , hop l , did I d iv lJ — — Being wh o I NDEX

er, ar na and th e Th e 1 r Abt Vogl 59 C di l Dog, , 7 am i and E ve 1 0 2 Ca a r 1 Ad , Lil th , v lie Tunes, 8 f er 2 6 Cencia a 2 A t , ’ j , 9 amemn n of zEsch lus Th e C ar es s n 1 1 2 Ag o y , , h l Avi o , ~ m err es 1 0 f w ”Ch i , 7 Childe Roland to th e D ark wer C ame 0 To , 4 An fe An H s an Ch ris mas - E v y Wi to y u b d , t e, 4 3 2 4 Christmas-E ve and E aster l and The a es A Apol o F t Day. 4 3 , r e 1 0 ris er mar 1 1 1 P ologu , 9 Ch toph S t, aren a re 6 C e n App t F ilu , 3 l o , 54 earances 1 C e 8 App . 9 liv , 9 ’ rca es m 1 1 m e s r a 2 A d A b’o , 7 Colo b Bi thd y, 3 r s anes 6 C nfess na Th e 1 A i toph Apology, 5 o io l , , 9 r em s r zes C nfess ns 62 A t i P ologi , 49 o io , s an ancies and ac s C n Gismond A ol do F F t , ou t , 3 3 1 1 n rancesch ini 4 Cou t Guido F , 74 th e Mermaid 0 r s na 2 0 At , 9 C i ti , ldesch i 1 0 Cristina and Mona , 2 B ad reams 1 1 6 D ’ , B alaustion s en re 6 an e ar 1 1 0 Adv tu , 4 D i l B toli , ean- e as Th e 1 1 eaf and m r B F t , , 7 D Du b A G oup by e an- r e a s e ner 62 B St ip , A ; l o Appl Wool , E a n 1 0 8 ea in th e eser 60 ti g, D th D t , A , ea r ce Si n rin 1 1 8 De Gustib us 2 B t i g o i , 3 e f re 2 6 e e en 1 1 B o , D v lopm t , 9 ernar de an e e 1 1 0 Dis er s m or Le B d M d vill , Alit Vi u , f rca n 1 r n de nos rs 8 Bi u tio , 9 ’ By o Jou , 5 s B lou ram s c r Bi hop g Apology, Do to 9 9 53 Dominus Hyacinthus de Arch s r ers his m an e s 8 Bi hop o d ’ To b g li , 7 Praxed s rc na 1 0 1 ’ Chu h , T Do ld , in th e Sc c e n rama c s rs er es Blot ut h o , A , D ti Idyl Fi t S i , and th e n The 8 0 6 Book Ri g , , 9 e and a e 1 8 rama c s e c n Boot S ddl , D ti Idyll S o d and th e n e Th e er es 8 Boy A g l , , 3 4 S i , 9 r s e rama c r cs 1 8 the e , 2 4 ti Ly i , By Fi id , D t 1 4 q rama c R mances D ti o , 3 3 a an n e te s 61 rama s ers nae 6 C lib upo S bo , D ti P o , 5 - ame r er, , 1 0 6 e , 1 1 5 C l D iv A Dubi ty 5 1 22 I ndex

Ea e Th e 1 0 r ss Da 8 gl ,’ , 5 Holy C o y, 3 ar s mm r a es 20 me - s fr m r a E th I o t liti , Ho Thought , o Ab o d, E as r- Da 6 te y, 4 2 3 E ch etlos 8 me - s fr m th e , 9 Ho Thought , o n is man in a Th e Sea 2 E gl h It ly, , 3 5 , 3 E e s an 1 1 use 0 pilogu to A ol do , Ho , 9 Epilogue to Dramatis 9er Ho w it Strikes a Contem s nae 6 0 1' 3 1' o , 4 ’ P Y, 4 9 Epilogue to Ferish tah s Fan How th ey B rought th e Good ci es 1 0 8 ews fr m en Aix , N o Gh t to , E ilo P hiaro tto p e to acc , 9 3 1 8 s e c n a n n th e ran e m 1 1 Epi t o t i i g St g Hu ility, 5 M edi cal E xperience o f “ KarShiSh th e ra m eran e us a s , A b Phy I p ”t Aug to N tu sician An , , 4 9 E st, 1 1 9 r ce Or eus I n a a c n Eu ydi to ph A B l o y, 55 c re e i n 62 I n a n a 6 Pi tu by L ghto , Go dol , 3 e n e 2 1 I na re hensiv eness 1 1 6 Ev ly Hop , pp ,

I n a Y ear, 2 6 nc en o f the renc am ace 62 I id t F h C p , F , A . am Th 1 0 6 3 3 F ily, e, I nn l m Th e 8 6 ears and cru es 0 A bu , , F S pl , 9 ’ I n ree a s 2 6 Ferish tah s an es 1 0 Th D y , F ci , 5 I nstans rann s Fifine h 8 Ty u , 3 4 at t e Fair, 2 I al an in n an The t i gl d , , 3 5 Filippo B aldinucci on th e E I an an c r e e o f r a 2 v Iv ovit h , 9 7 P ivil g u i l , 9 B x n 1 0 2 of th e c ess Th e I io , Flight ’ Du h , , 37 wer s ame Th e 1 Flo N , , 9 ’ James Lee s fe , 56 e - s c w an ec m Wi Flut Mu i , ith A o - s 0 Joch anan Hak k ado h , 1 3

ocoseria, 1 0 1 ‘ o h annes r c a in Me a 1 Ag i ol dit i , 5 n, 50 n s ur n 1 1 tio Fra c i P i i , 2 J ris oc tor Joh annes B ap Fus t and His Friends : An u D - s a B o ttinius, 78 ue 1 1 ti t Epilog , 3

n r n K n ar es Ki g Vic to a d i g Ch l , ar n an es 1 G de F ci , 9 1 6 e r e in n 1 1 1 G o g Bubb Dod gto ,

erar de Lairesse , 1 1 2 a ra r Th e 1 G d L bo to y, , 9 se e Ca onsacchi, n n r Th e Giu pp p 75 Lady a d th e Pai te , , e a R se 1 8 Giv ou , 1 1 8 e Th e Glov , , 3 4 La Saisiaz , 9 4 a r r of rnic as R e e er The 6 Gold H i A Sto y Po , L t id Tog th , , 3 58 fe in a o e 2 6 ’ Li L v , rammar an s nera G i F l , , 3 7 man, , 6 u A , Light Wo A 3 ar an - n e Th e 2 k ness 6 Gu di A g l , , 7 Li e , 2

, 7 s e a er h e 1 8 Guido 9 Lo t L d , T , s r ss Th e 2 0 Lost Mi t e , , a er and e Am n th e ns 2 1 4 H lb t Hob , 9 7 Lov o g Rui , H a f me 1 e in a fe 2 6 l R’o , 7 Lov ’ Li , H ere c s ra e Th e 8 ers arre 2 1 ti T g dy, , 3 Lov Q u l . A , er e R e 1 ur a 0 H v i l , 9 L i , 4

1 2 4

er m U at a a— o wn in the T tiu Quid, 74 p Vill D T r the Me tid a Ab d C 2 1 h ough j to ity, e l- a r 1 8 ’K d , me s n in is— a 1 0 1 Ti Re ve 34’ Wa t g Wh t cca a o f G a u i s 2 2 arin 6 To t pp , A W g , 3 a e ic ? 1 1 Too L t . 59 Wh h 7 ranscen en a sm 8 e c craf 1 1 6 T d t li , 4 Whit W’it h t , Tw ns Th e 6 man s as r 20 i . , 3 Wo L t Wo d , A , Two C ame s 1 0 men and ses 2 6 l , 7 Wo Ro , Two in the am a na 2 rs o f The 8 C p g , 5 Wo t I t, , 5 w s isie T o Poe t o f Cro , Th e, Y and Art 62 9 5 outh ,

W l f o m and Lo don Bu l 8: Ta e The Selwood P i ing o d . . t er nn r, r nt r r n