第2章

March1849，birthofRobertWiedemannBarrettBrowning；

Browningwriteshis“ChristmasEveandEasterDay“；

“CasaGuidiWindows“commenced；1850，theygotoRome；

“TwointheCampagna“；proposaltoconferpoet-laureateshiponMrs。Browning；

returntoLondon；winterinParis；summerinLondon；Kenyon’sfriendship；

returninautumntoCasaGuidi；Browning’sEssayonShelleyforthetwenty-fivespuriousShelleyletters；midsummeratBathsofLucca，where“InaBalcony“wasinpartwritten；winterof1853-4inRome；

recordofwork；“Pen’s“illness；“BenKarshook’sWisdom“；returntoFlorence；

(1856)“MenandWomen“published；theBrowningsgotoLondon；

insummer“AuroraLeigh“issued；1858，Mrs。Browning’swaninghealth；

1855-64comparativelyunproductiveperiodwithR。Browning；

recordofwork；July1855，theytraveltoNormandy；“LegendofPornic“；

Mrs。Browning’sardentinterestintheItalianstruggleof1859；

winterinRome；“PoemsbeforeCongress“；herlastpoem，“NorthandSouth“；

deathofMrs。BrowningatCasaGuidi，28thJune1861。

Browning’sallusionstodeathofhiswife；MissBrowningresideswithherbrotherfrom1866；1868，collectedworkspublished；

firstpartof“TheRingandtheBook“publishedinNovember1866；

“HerveRiel“written；Browning’sgrowingpopularity；

Tauchnitzeditionsofhispoemsin1872；alsofirstbookofselections；

dedicationtoLordTennyson；1877，hegoestoLaSaisiaz，nearGeneva；

“LaSaisiaz“and“TheTwoPoetsofCroisic“published1878；

Browning’slaterpoems；BrowningSocietyestablished1881；

Browning’sletterthereupontoMr。Yates；tripsabroad；hisLondonresidences；

hislastlettertoTennyson；revisitsAsolo；PalazzoRezzonico；

hisbeliefinimmortality；hisdeath，Thursday，Dec。12th，1889；

funeralinWestminsterAbbey；SonnetbyGeorgeMeredith；newstarinOrion；

R。Browning’splaceinliterature；Summary，etc。

Note。

InallimportantrespectsIleavethisvolumetospeakforitself。

Forobviousreasonsitdoesnotpretendtobemorethana`Memoirepourservir’：inthenatureofthings，thedefinitivebiographycannotappearformanyyearstocome。

NonethelessgratefullymayItakethepresentopportunitytoexpressmyindebtednesstoMr。R。BarrettBrowning，andtootherrelativesandintimatefriendsofRobertBrowning，whohavegivenmeserviceableinformation，andotherwiserenderedkindlyaid。

Forsomeofthehithertounpublisheddetailsmythanksare，inparticular，duetoMrs。FraserCorkranandMissAliceCorkran，andtootheroldfriendsofthepoetandhisfamily，here，inItaly，andinAmerica；thoughinoneortwoinstances，Imayadd，IhadthemfromRobertBrowninghimself。ItiswithpleasurethatIfurtheracknowledgemyindebtednesstoDr。Furnivall，fortheloanoftheadvance-proofsofhisprivately-printedpamphleton“Browning’sAncestors“；andtotheBrowningSociety’sPublications

particularlytoMrs。SutherlandOrr’sandDr。Furnivall’sbiographicalandbibliographicalcontributionsthereto；toMr。Gosse’sbiographicalarticleinthe`CenturyMagazine’for1881；toMr。Ingram’s`LifeofE。B。Browning’；

andtothe`MemoirsofAnnaJameson’，the`ItalianNote-Books’

ofNathanielHawthorne，Mr。G。S。Hillard’s`SixMonthsinItaly’(1853)，andtheLivesandCorrespondenceofMacready，MissMitford，LeighHunt，andWalterSavageLandor。Iregretthattheimperativeneedofconcisionhaspreventedtheinsertionofmanyoftheletters，anecdotes，andreminiscences，sogenerouslyplacedatmydisposal；

butpossiblyImayhavesucceededineducingfromthemsomeessentialpartofthatlightwhichtheyundoubtedlycastuponthepersonalityandgeniusofthepoet。

Itmust，toadmirersofBrowning’swritings，appearsingularlyappropriatethatsocosmopolitanapoetwasborninLondon。Itwouldseemasthoughsomethingofthatmightycomplexlife，soconfusedlypettytothenarrowvision，sograndioseandevenmajestictothelargerken，hadblentwithhisbeingfromthefirst。Whatfitterbirthplaceforthepoetwhomacomradehascalledthe“SubtlestAssertoroftheSoulinSong“，thepoetwhosewritingsareindeedamirroroftheage？

AmanmaybeinallthingsaLondonerandyetbeaprovincial。

Theaccidentofbirthplacedoesnotnecessarilyinvolveparochialismofthesoul。ItisnotthevillagewhichproducestheHampden，buttheHampdenwhoimmortalisesthevillage。ItisafavouritejestofRusticusthathisurbanbrotherhasthemannerofOmniscienceandtheknowledgeofaparishbeadle。Nevertheless，thoughthestrongestbloodinsurgentinthemetropolitanheartisnotthatwhichisnativetoit，onemightwellbeproudtohavehadone’satom-pulseatunefromthefirstwiththelargerhythmofthenationallifeatitsturbulent，congested，buteverebullientcentre。

CertainlyBrowningwasnotthemantobeashamedofhisbeingaLondoner，muchlesstodenyhisnatalplace。Hewasproudofit：throughgoodsense，nodoubt，butpossiblyalsothroughsomeinstinctiveapprehensionofthefactthatthegreatcitywasindeedthefitmotherofsuchason。

“Ashamedofhavingbeenborninthegreatestcityoftheworld!“

heexclaimedononeoccasion；“whatanextraordinarythingtosay!

Itsuggestsawaveletinamuddyshallowgrimilycontortingitselfbecauseithaditsbirthoutinthegreatocean。“

Onthedayofthepoet’sfuneralinWestminsterAbbey，oneofthemosteminentofhispeersremarkedtomethatBrowningcametousasonecomingintohisown。Thisisprofoundlytrue。

Therewasingoodsoothamansionpreparedagainsthisadvent。

Longago，weshouldhavesurrenderedastoaconqueror：now，however，weknowthatprincesofthemind，thoughtheymustbevalorousandpotentasofyore，canenteruponnoheritancesavethatwhichnaturallyawaitsthem，andhasbeenmadetheirsbylongandintricateprocesses。

ThelustrumwhichsawthebirthofRobertBrowning，thatisthethirdinthenineteenthcentury，wasaremarkableoneindeed。

Thackeraycameintotheworldsomemonthsearlierthanthegreatpoet，CharlesDickenswithinthesametwelvemonth，andTennysonthreeyearssooner，whenalsoElizabethBarrettwasborn，andtheforemostnaturalistofmoderntimesfirstsawthelight。Itisamatterofsignificancethatthegreatwaveofscientificthoughtwhichultimatelyboreforwardonitscrestsomanyfamousmen，fromBrewsterandFaradaytoCharlesDarwin，hadjustbeguntorisewithirresistibleimpulsion。Lepsius’sbirthwasin1813，andthatofthegreatFlemishnovelist，HenriConscience，in1812：aboutthesameperiodwerethebirthsofFreiligrath，Gutzkow，andAuerbach，respectivelyoneofthemostlyricalpoets，themostpotentdramatist，themostcharmingromancerofGermany：

and，also，inFrance，ofTheophileGautierandAlfreddeMusset。

AmongrepresentativesoftheotherartswithtwoofwhichBrowningmusteverbecloselyassociatedMendelssohnandChopinwerebornin1809，andSchumann，Liszt，andWagnerwithinthefoursucceedingyears：

withinwhichspacealsocameDiazandMeissonierandthegreatMillet。

Otherhighnamesthereareuponthefrontofthecentury。

Macaulay，CardinalNewman，JohnStuartMill(oneoftheearliest，bytheway，torecognisethegeniusofBrowning)，AlexandreDumas，GeorgeSand，VictorHugo，Ampere，Quinet，ProsperMerimee，Sainte-Beuve，Strauss，Montalambert，areamongthelaurel-bearerswhocameintoexistencebetwixt1800and1812。

WhenRobertBrowningwasborninLondonin1812，Sheridanhadstillfouryearstolive；JeremyBenthamwasattheheightofhiscontemporaryreputation，andGodwinwaswritinggliblyofthevirtuesofhumanityandpractisingtheoppositequalities，whileCrabbewaslookeduponasoneoftheforemostoflivingpoets。

Wordsworthwasthenforty，SirWalterScottforty-one，Coleridgeforty-two，WalterSavageLandorandCharlesLambeachinhisforty-fifthyear。

Byronwasfour-and-twenty，Shelleynotyetquiteofage，tworadicallydifferentmen，KeatsandCarlyle，bothyouthsofseventeen。

Abroad，Laplacewasinhismaturity，withfifteenyearsmoreyettolive；

Joubertwithtwelve；Goethe，withtwenty；Lamarck，theSchlegels，Cuvier，Chateaubriand，Hegel，Niebuehr(tospecifysomeleadingnamesonly)，hadmanyyearsofworkbeforethem。Schopenhauerwasonlyfour-and-twenty，whileBerangerwasthirty-two。ThePolishpoetMickiewiczwasaboyoffourteen，andPoushkinwasbutatwelvemontholder；