in words which I keep for their significance to-day, because time has
already brought in its revenges, and Browning has conquered. That
Browning, I said then, could ever become a popular poet, in the sense in
which Tennyson is popular, must be seen by everyone to be an
impossibility. His poetry is obviously written for his own pleasure,
without reference to the tastes of the bulk of readers. The very titles
of his poems, the barest outline of their prevailing subjects, can but
terrify or bewilder an easy-going public, which prefers to take its
verse somnolently, at the season of the day when the newspaper is too
substantial, too exciting. To appreciate Browning you must read with
your eyes wide open. His poetry is rarely obscure, but it is often hard.
It deals by preference with hard matter, with "men and the ideas of
men," with life and thought. Other poets before him have written with
equally independent aims; but had Milton, had Wordsworth, a larger and
more admiring audience in his own day? If the audience of Milton and of
Wordsworth has widened, it would be the merest paradox to speak of
either Milton or Wordsworth as a popular poet. By this time, every one
at least knows them by name, though it would be a little unkind to
consider too curiously how large a proportion of the people who know
them by name have read many consecutive lines of _Paradise Lost_ or _The
Excursion_. But to be so generally known by name is something, and it
has not yet fallen to the lot of Browning. "Browning is dead," said a
friend of mine, a hunting man, to another hunting man, a friend of his.
"Dear me, is he?" said the other doubtfully; "did he 'come out' your
way?" By the time Browning has been dead as long as Wordsworth, I do not
think anyone will be found to make these remarks. Death, not only from
the Christian standpoint, is the necessary pathway to immortality. As it
is, Browning's fame has been steadily increasing, at first slowly
enough, latterly with even a certain rapidity. From the first he has had
the exceptional admiration of those whose admiration is alone really
significant, whose applause can alone be really grateful to a
self-respecting writer. No poet of our day, no poet, perhaps, of any
day, has been more secure in the admiring fellowship of his comrades in
letters. And of all the poets of our day, it is he whose influence seems
to be most vital at the moment, most pregnant for the future. For the
time, he has also an actual sort of church of his own. The churches
pass, with the passing away of the worshippers; but the spirit remains,
and must remain if it has once been so vivid to men, if it has once been
a refuge, a promise of strength, a gift of consolation. And there has
been all this, over and above its supreme poetic quality, in the vast
and various work, Shakesperean in breadth, Shakesperean in penetration,
of the poet whose last words, the appropriate epilogue of a lifetime,
were these:
"At the midnight, in the silence of the sleep-time,
When you set your fancies free,
Will they pass to where--by death, fools think, imprisoned--
Low he lies who once so loved you, whom you loved so,
--Pity me?
Oh to love so, be so loved, yet so mistaken!
What had I on earth to do
With the slothful, with the mawkish, the unmanly?
Like the aimless, helpless, hopeless, did I drivel
--Being--who?
One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
Sleep to wake.
No, at noonday in the bustle of man's work-time
Greet the unseen with a cheer!
Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be,
'Strive and thrive!' cry 'Speed,--fight on, fare ever
There as here!'"
APPENDIX
I
A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BROWNING
The following list of the published writings of Robert Browning, in the
order of their publication, has been compiled mainly from Dr.
Furnivall's very complete and serviceable Browning Bibliography,
contained in the first part of the Browning Society's Papers (pp.
21-71). Volumes of "Selections" are not noticed in this list: there have
been many in England, some in Germany, and in the Tauchnitz Collection,
and a large number in America, where an edition of the complete works
was first published, in seven volumes, by Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin &
Co., Boston.
1. PAULINE: a Fragment of a Confession. London: Saunders and Otley,
Conduit Street. 1833, pp. 71.
2. PARACELSUS. By Robert Browning. London. Published by Effingham
Wilson, Royal Exchange. MDCCCXXXV., pp. xi., 216.
3. Five Poems contributed to _The Monthly Repository_ (edited by W.J.
Fox), 1834-6; all signed "Z."--I. Sonnet ("Eyes, calm beside thee, Lady,
couldst thou know!"), Vol. VIII., New Series, 1834, p. 712. Not
reprinted. II. The King--(Vol. IX., New Series, pp. 707-8). Reprinted,
with six fresh lines, and revised throughout, in _Pippa Passes_ (1841),
where it is Pippa's song in Part III.-III., IV. Porphyria and Johannes
Agricola. (Vol. X., pp. 43-6.) Reprinted in _Dramatic Lyrics_ (1842)
under the title of _Madhouse Cells_.--V. Lines. (Vol. X., pp. 270-1.)
Reprinted, revised, in _Dramatis Personæ_ (1864) as the first six
stanzas of § VI. of _James Lee_.
4. STRAFFORD: an Historical Tragedy. By Robert Browning, Author of
"Paracelsus." London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and
Longman, Paternoster Row. 1837, pp. vi., 131.
5. SORDELLO. By Robert Browning. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street.
MDCCCXL., pp. iv., 253.
6. BELLS AND POMEGRANATES: No. I.--PIPPA PASSES. By Robert Browning,
Author of "Paracelsus." London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. MDCCCXLI.,
pp. 16. (Price 6_d_., sewed.)
7. BELLS AND POMEGRANATES: No. II.--KING VICTOR AND KING CHARLES. By
Robert Browning, Author of "Paracelsus." London: Edward Moxon, Dover
Street. MDCCCXLII., pp. 20. (Price 1_s_., sewed).
8. BELLS AND POMEGRANATES: No. III.--DRAMATIC LYRICS. By Robert
Browning, Author of "Paracelsus." London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street.
MDCCCXLII., pp. 16, (Price 1_s_., sewed.)
Contents:--1. Cavalier Tunes: I. Marching Along; II. Give a
Rouse; III. My Wife Gertrude [Boot and Saddle, 1863]. 2.
Italy and France: I. Italy [My Last Duchess.--Ferrara, 1863];
II. France [Count Gismond.--Aix in Provence, 1863]. 3. Camp
and Cloister: I. Camp (French) [Incident of the French Camp,
1863]; II. Cloister (Spanish) [Soliloquy of the Spanish
Cloister, 1863]. 4. In a Gondola. 5. Artemis Prologuizes. 6.
Waring. 7. Queen Worship: I. Rudel to the Lady of Tripoli;
II. Cristina. 8. Madhouse Cells: I. [Johannes Agricola,
1863]; II. [Porphyria's Lover, 1863]. 9. Through the Metidja
to Abd-el-Kadr. 10. The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
9. BELLS AND POMEGRANATES: No. IV--THE RETURN OF THE DRUSES. A Tragedy
in Five Acts. By Robert Browning, Author of "Paracelsus." London: Edward
Moxon, Dover Street. MDCCCXLIII., pp. 19. (Price 1_s_., sewed.)
10. BELLS AND POMEGRANATES: No. V.--A BLOT IN THE 'SCUTCHEON. A Tragedy
in Three Acts. By Robert Browning, Author of "Paracelsus." London:
Edward Moxon, Dover Street. MDCCCXLIII., pp. 16. (Price 1_s_., sewed.)
11. BELLS AND POMEGRANATES: No. VI.--COLOMBE'S BIRTHDAY. A Play in Five
Acts. By Robert Browning, Author of "Paracelsus." London: Edward Moxon,
Dover Street. MDCCCXLIV., pp. 20. (Price 1_s_., sewed.)
12. Eight Poems contributed to _Hood's Magazine_, June 1844 to April
1845:--I. The Laboratory (Ancien Régime). (June 1844, Vol. I., No. vi.,
pp. 513-14). Reprinted in _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_ (1845), as the
first of two poems called "France and Spain."--II., III. Claret and
Tokay (_id._ p. 525). Reprinted in _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_
(1845).--IV., V. Garden Fancies: 1. The Flower's Name; 2. Sibrandus
Schafnaburgensis. (July 1844, Vol. II., No. vii., pp. 45-48.) Reprinted
in _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_ (1845).--VI. The Boy and the Angel.
(August 1844, Vol. II., No. viii., pp. 140-2.) Reprinted, revised, and
with five fresh couplets, in _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_
(1845).--VII. The Tomb at St. Praxed's (Rome, 15--) (March 1845, Vol.
III., No. iii., pp. 237-39). Reprinted in _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_
(1845)--VIII. The Flight of the Duchess. (April 1845, Vol. III., No.
iv., pp. 313-18.) Part first only, § 1-9; reprinted, with the remainder
added, in _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_ (1845).
13. BELLS AND POMEGRANATES: No. VII.--DRAMATIC ROMANCES AND LYRICS. By
Robert Browning, Author of "Paracelsus." London: Edward Moxon, Dover
Street. MDCCCXLV., pp. 24. (Price 2_s_., sewed.)
Contents:--1. How they brought the Good News from Ghent to
Aix. 2. Pictor Ignotus [Florence, 15--]. 3. Italy in England
[The Italian in England, 1849]. 4. England in Italy, _Piano
di Sorrento_ [The Englishman in Italy, 1849]. 5. The Lost
Leader. 6. The Lost Mistress. 7. Home Thoughts from Abroad.
8. The Tomb at St. Praxed's [The Bishop orders his Tomb in
St. Praxed's Church, 1863]. 9. Garden Fancies: I. The
Flower's Name; II Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis. 10. France and
Spain: I. The Laboratory (_Ancien Régime_); II. The
Confessional, 11. The Flight of the Duchess. 12. Earth's
Immortalities. 13. Song. 14. The Boy and the Angel. 15. Night
and Morning: I. Night [Meeting at Night, 1863], II. Morning
[Parting at Morning, 1863], 16. Claret and Tokay [Nationality
in Drinks, 1863]. 17. Saul. 18. Time's Revenges. 19. The
Glove (Peter Ronsard _loquitur_).
14. BELLS AND POMEGRANATES: No. VIII. and last.--LURIA; and A SOUL'S
TRAGEDY. By Robert Browning, Author of "Paracelsus." London: Edward
Moxon, Dover Street. MDCCCXLVI., pp. 32. (Price 2_s_. 6_d_., sewed.)
15. POEMS. By Robert Browning. In two volumes. A new edition. London:
Chapman and Hall, 186 Strand. 1849, pp. vii., 386; viii., 416. These two
volumes contain _Paracelsus_ and _Bells and Pomegranates_.
16. CHRISTMAS-EVE AND EASTER-DAY. A Poem. By Robert Browning. London:
Chapman and Hall, 186 Strand. 1850, pp. iv., 142.
17. Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley. With an INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, by
Robert Browning. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street, 1852, pp. vi., 165.
(Introductory Essay, pp., 1-44.)
These so-called Letters of Shelley proved to be forgeries, and the
volume was suppressed. Browning's essay has been reprinted by the
Browning Society, and, later, by the Shelley Society. See No. 58 below.
Its value to students of Shelley is in no way impaired by its chance
connection with the forged letters, to which it barely alludes.
18. TWO POEMS. By Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. London: Chapman
and Hall. 1854, pp. 16.
This pamphlet contains "A Plea for the Ragged Schools of London," by
E. B. B., and "The Twins," by R. B. The two poems were printed by Miss
Arabella Barrett, Mrs. Browning's sister, for a bazaar in aid of a
"Refuge for Young Destitute Girls," one of the earliest of its kind,
founded by her in 1854.
19. CLEON. By Robert Browning. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street.
1855, pp. 23.
20. THE STATUE AND THE BUST. By Robert Browning. London: Edward Moxon,
Dover Street. 1855, pp. 22.
21. MEN AND WOMEN. By Robert Browning. In two volumes. London: Chapman
and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1855. Vol. I., pp. iv., 260; Vol. II., pp.
iv., 241.
Vol. I. Contents:--1. Love among the Ruins. 2. A Lovers'
Quarrel. 3. Evelyn Hope. 4. Up at a Villa--Down in the City
(as distinguished by an Italian person of Quality). 5. A
Woman's Last Word. 6. Fra Lippo Lippi. 7. A Toccata of
Galuppi's. 8. By the Fire-side. 9. Any Wife to Any Husband.
10. An Epistle containing the Strange Medical Experience of
Karshish, the Arab Physician. 11. Mesmerism. 12. A Serenade
at the Villa. 13. My Star. 14. Instans Tyrannus. 15. A Pretty
Woman. 16. "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." 17.
Respectability. 18. A Light Woman. 19. The Statue and the
Bust. 20. Love in a Life. 21. Life in a Love. 22. How it
Strikes a Contemporary. 23. The Last Ride Together. 24. The
Patriot--_An Old Story_. 25. Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha. 26.
Bishop Blougram's Apology. 27. Memorabilia.
Vol. II. Contents:--1. Andrea del Sarto (Called the Faultless
Painter). 2. Before. 3. After. 4. In Three Days. 5. In a Year.
6. Old Pictures in Florence. 7. In a Balcony. 8. Saul. 9. "De
Gustibus." 10. Women and Roses. 11. Protus. 12. Holy-Cross
Day. 13. The Guardian Angel: a Picture at Fano. 14. Cleon. 15.
The Twins. 16. Popularity. 17. The Heretic's Tragedy: A Middle
Age Interlude. 18. Two in the Campagna. 19. A Grammarian's
Funeral. 20. One Way of Love. 21. Another Way of Love. 22.
"Transcendentalism": a Poem in Twelve Books. 23.
Misconceptions. 24. One Word More: To E. B. B.
22. Ben Karshook's Wisdom. (Five stanzas of four lines each, signed
"Robert Browning," and dated "Rome, April 27, 1854")--_The Keepsake_.
1856. (Edited by Miss Power, and published by David Bogue, London.) P.
16.
This poem has never been reprinted by the author in any of his collected
volumes, but is to be found in Furnivall's _Browning Bibliography_.
23. May and Death.--_The Keepsake_, 1857, p. 164. Reprinted, with some
new readings, in _Dramatis Personæ_ (1864).
24. THE POETICAL WORKS of Robert Browning. Third edition. Vol. I., pp.
x., 432. Lyrics, Romances, Men and Women. Vol. II., pp. 605. Tragedies
and other Plays. Vol. III., pp. 465. Paracelsus, Christmas Eve and
Easter Day, Sordello. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1863.
There are no new poems in this edition, but the pieces originally
published under the titles of _Dramatic Lyrics, Dramatic Lyrics and
Romances_, and _Men and Women_, are redistributed. This arrangement has
been preserved in all subsequent editions. The table of contents below
will thus show the present position of the poems.
Vol. I, Contents--LYRICS:--1. Cavalier Tunes. 2. The Lost
Leader. 3. "How they brought the Good News from Ghent to
Aix." 4. Through the Metidja to Abd-el-Kadr. 5. Nationality
in Drinks. 6. Garden Fancies.[62] 7. The Laboratory. 8. The
Confessional. 9. Cristina. 10. The Lost Mistress. 11. Earth's
Immortalities. 12. Meeting at Night. 13. Parting at Morning.
14. Song. 15. A Woman's Last Word. 16. Evelyn Hope. 17, Love
among the Ruins. 18. A Lovers' Quarrel. 19. Up at a
Villa--Down in the City. 20. A Toccata of Galuppi's. 21. Old
Pictures in Florence, 22. "De Gustibus ----." 23.
Home-Thoughts from Abroad. 24. Home-Thoughts from the Sea.
25. Saul. 26. My Star. 27. By the Fire-side. 28. Any Wife to
Any Husband. 29. Two in the Campagna. 30. Misconceptions. 31.
A Serenade at the Villa. 32. One Way of Love. 33. Another Way
of Love. 34. A Pretty Woman. 35. Respectability. 36. Love in
a Life. 37. Life in a Love. 38. In Three Days. 39. In a Year.
40. Women and Roses. 41. Before. 42. After. 43. The Guardian
Angel. 44. Memorabilia. 45. Popularity. 46. Master Hugues of
Saxe-Gotha.
ROMANCES:--1. Incident of the French Camp. 2. The Patriot. 3.
My Last Duchess. 4. Count Gismond. 5. The Boy and the Angel.
6. Instans Tyrannus. 7. Mesmerism. 8. The Glove. 9. Time's
Revenges. 10. The Italian in England. 11. The Englishman in
Italy. 12. In a Gondola. 13. Waring. 14. The Twins. 15. A
Light Woman. 16. The Last Ride Together. 17. The Pied Piper of
Hamelin. 18. The Flight of the Duchess. 19. A Grammarian's
Funeral. 20. Johannes Agricola in Meditation. 21. The
Heretic's Tragedy. 22. Holy-Cross Day. 23. Protus. 24. The
Statue and the Bust. 25. Porphyria's Lover. 26. "Childe Roland
to the Dark Tower Came."
MEN AND WOMEN:--1. "Transcendentalism." 2. How it strikes a
Contemporary. 3. Artemis Prologuizes. 4. An Epistle containing
the strange Medical Experience of Karshish, the Arab
Physician. 5. Pictor Ignotus. 6. Fra Lippo Lippi. 7. Andrea
del Sarto. 8. The Bishop orders his Tomb in St. Praxed's
Church. 9. Bishop Blougram's Apology. 10. Cleon. 11. Rudel to
the Lady of Tripoli. 12. One Word More.
Vol. II. Contents--TRAGEDIES AND OTHER PLAYS:--1. Pippa
Passes. 2. King Victor and King Charles. 3. The Return of the
Druses. 4. A Blot in the 'Scutcheon. 5. Colombe's Birthday. 6.
Luria. 7. A Soul's Tragedy. 8. In a Balcony. 9. Strafford.
Vol. III. Contents:--1. Paracelsus, 2. Christmas Eve and
Easter Day. 3. Sordello.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 62: The _Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister_ is here included
as No. III. In the edition of 1868 it follows under a separate heading.
This is the only point of difference between the two editions.]
25. GOLD HAIR: A Legend of Pornic. By Robert Browning. (With
imprint--London: Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street and
Charing Cross) 1864, pp. 15.
26. Prospice.--_Atlantic Monthly_, Vol. XIII., June 1864, p. 694.
27. DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. By Robert Browning. London: Chapman and Hall, 193
Piccadilly. 1864, pp. vi., 250.
Contents:--1. James Lee [James Lee's Wife, 1868]. 2. Gold
Hair: a Legend of Pornic. 3. The Worst of it. 4. Dîs aliter
visum; or, Le Byron de nos jours. 5. Too Late. 6. Abt Vogler.
7. Rabbi ben Ezra. 8. A Death in the Desert. 9. Caliban upon
Setebos; or, Natural Theology in the Island. 10. Confessions.
11. May and Death. 12. Prospice. 13. Youth and Art. 14. A
Face. 15. A Likeness. 16. Mr Sludge "The Medium." 17.
Apparent Failure. 18. Epilogue.
28. Orpheus and Eurydice.--_Catalogue of the Royal Academy_, 1864, p.
13. No. 217. A picture by F. Leighton.
Printed as prose. It is reprinted in _Poetical Works_, 1868, where it
is included in _Dramatis Personæ_. The same volume contains a new stanza
of eight lines, entitled "Deaf and Dumb: a Group by Woolner." This was
written in 1862 for Woolner's partly-draped group of Constance and
Arthur, the deaf and dumb children of Sir Thomas Fairbairn, which was
exhibited in the International Exhibition of 1862.
29. THE POETICAL WORKS of Robert Browning, M.A., Honorary Fellow of
Balliol College, Oxford. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 15 Waterloo
Place. 1868. Vol. I., pp. viii., 310. Pauline--Paracelsus--Strafford.
Vol. II., pp. iv., 287. Sordello--Pippa Passes. Vol. III., pp. iv., 305.
King Victor and King Charles--Dramatic Lyrics--The Return of the Druses.
Vol. IV., pp. iv., 321. A Blot in the 'Scutcheon--Colombe's
Birthday--Dramatic Romances. Vol. V., pp. iv., 321. A Soul's
Tragedy--Luria--Christmas Eve and Easter Day--Men and Women. Vol. VI.,
pp. iv., 233. In a Balcony--Dramatis Personæ. This edition retains the
redistribution of the minor poems in the edition of 1863, already
mentioned.
30. THE RING AND THE BOOK. By Robert Browning, M.A., Honorary Fellow of
Balliol College, Oxford. In four volumes. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
1868-9. Vol. I., pp. iv., 245; Vol. II., pp. iv., 251; Vol. III., pp.
iv., 250; Vol. IV., pp. iv., 235.
31. Hervé Riel--_Cornhill Magazine_, March 1871, pp. 257-60. Reprinted
in _Pacchiarotto, and other Poems_ (1876).
32. BALAUSTION'S ADVENTURE: Including a Transcript from Euripides. By
Robert Browning. London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1871, pp. iv., 170.
33. PRINCE HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU: SAVIOUR OF SOCIETY. By Robert Browning.
London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1871, pp. iv., 148.
34. FIFINE AT THE FAIR. By Robert Browning. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
1872, pp. xii., 171.
35. RED COTTON NIGHT-CAP COUNTRY: OR, TURF AND TOWERS. By Robert
Browning. London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1873, pp. iv., 282.
36. ARISTOPHANES' APOLOGY: Including a Transcript from Euripides: Being
the LAST ADVENTURE OF BALAUSTION. By Robert Browning. London: Smith,
Elder and Co. 1875, pp. viii., 366.
37. THE INN ALBUM. By Robert Browning. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
1875, pp. iv., 211.
38. PACCHIAROTTO, and how he worked in Distemper: with other Poems. By
Robert Browning. London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1876, pp. viii., 241.
Contents:--1. Prologue. 2. Of Pacchiarotto, and how he worked
in Distemper. 3. At the "Mermaid." 4. House. 5. Shop. 6.
Pisgah-Sights (1, 2). 7. Fears and Scruples. 8. Natural
Magic. 9. Magical Nature. 10. Bifurcation. 11. Numpholeptos.
12. Appearances. 13. St. Martin's Summer. 14. Hervé Riel. 15.
A Forgiveness. 16. Cenciaja. 17. Filippo Baldinucci on the
Privilege of Burial (a Reminiscence of A.D. 1676). 18.
Epilogue.
39. THE AGAMEMNON OF ÆSCHYLUS. Transcribed by Robert Browning. London:
Smith, Elder and Co. 1877, pp. xi. (Preface, v.-xi.), 148.
40. LA SAISIAZ: THE TWO POETS OF CROISIC. By Robert Browning. London:
Smith, Elder and Co. 1878, pp. viii., 201.
Contents:--1. Prologue, 2. La Saisiaz (pp. 5-82). The Two
Poets of Croisic (pp. 87-191). Epilogue.
41. Song. ("The Blind Man to the Maiden said")--_The Hour will come_. By
Wilhelmine von Hillern. Translated from the German by Clara Bell.
London, 1879, Vol. II., p. 174. Not reprinted.
42. "Oh, Love, Love": Translation from the _Hippolytus_ of Euripides.
(Eighteen lines, dated "Dec. 18, 1878"). Contributed to Prof. J.P.
Mahaffy's _Euripides_ ("Classical Writers." Macmillan, 1879). P. 116.
43. DRAMATIC IDYLS. By Robert Browning. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
1879, pp. vi., 143.
Contents:--1. Martin Relph. 2. Pheidippides. 3. Halbert and
Hob. 4. Ivàn Ivànovitch. 5. Tray. 6. Ned Bratts.
44. DRAMATIC IDYLS. Second Series. By Robert Browning. London: Smith,
Elder and Co. 1880, pp. viii., 149.
Contents:--Prologue. 1. Echetlos. 2. Clive. 3. Muléykeh. 4.
Pietro of Abano. 5. Doctor ----. 6. Pan and Luna. Epilogue.
45. Ten New Lines to "Epilogue."--_Scribner's Century Magazine_,
November 1882, pp. 159-60. Lines written in an autograph album, October
14, 1880. Printed in the _Century_ without Browning's consent. Reprinted
in the first issue of the Browning Society's Papers, Part III., p. 48,
but withdrawn from the second issue.
46. JOCOSERIA. By Robert Browning. London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1883,
pp. viii., 143.
Contents:--1. Wanting is--What? 2. Donald. 3. Solomon and
Balkis. 4. Cristina and Monaldeschi. 5. Mary Wollstonecraft
and Fuseli. 6. Adam, Lilith, and Eve. 7. Ixion. 8. Jochanan
Hakkadosh. 9. Never the Time and the Place. 10. Pambo.
47. Sonnet on Goldoni (dated "Venice, Nov. 27, 1883").--_Pall Mall
Gazette_, December 8, 1883, p. 2. Written for the Album of the Committee
of the Goldoni Monument at Venice, and inserted on the first page.
Reprinted in the Browning Society's Papers, Part V. p. 98.*
48. Paraphrase from Horace.--_Pall Mall Gazette_, December 13, 1883, p.
6. Four lines, written impromptu for Mr. Felix Moscheles. Reprinted in
the Browning Society's Papers, Part V., p. 99.*
49. Helen's Tower: Sonnet (Dated "April 26, 1870").--_Pall Mall
Gazette_, December 28, 1883, p. 2. Reprinted in Browning Society's
Papers, Part V., p. 97.* Written for the Earl of Dufferin, who built a
tower in memory of his mother, Helen, Countess of Gifford, on a rock on
his estate, at Clandeboye, Ireland, and originally printed in the later
copies of a privately printed pamphlet called _Helen's Tower_. Lord
Tennyson's lines, written on the same occasion, appeared a little
previously in _The Leisure Hour_.
50. The Divine Order, and other Sermons and Addresses. By the late
Thomas Jones. Edited by Brynmor Jones, LL.B. With INTRODUCTION by Robert
Browning. London: W. Isbister. 1884. The introduction is on pp.
xi.-xiii.
51. Sonnet on Rawdon Brown. (Dated "November 28, 1883").--_Century
Magazine_, "Bric-à-brac" column, February 1884. Reprinted in the
Browning Society's Papers, Part V., p. 132.* Written at Venice, on an
apocryphal story relating to the late Mr Rawdon Brown, who "went to
Venice for a short visit, with a definite object in view, and ended by
staying forty years."
52. The Founder of the Feast: Sonnet. (Dated "April 5, 1884").--_The
World_, April 16, 1884. Inscribed by Browning in the Album presented to
Mr Arthur Chappell, director of the St. James's Hall Saturday and Monday
Popular Concerts. Reprinted in the Browning Society's Papers, Part VII.,
p. 18.*
53. The Names: Sonnet on Shakespeare. (Dated "March 12,
1884").--_Shakespere Show Book_, May 29, 1884, p. 1. Reprinted in the
Browning Society's Papers, Part V., p. 105.*
54. FERISHTAH'S FANCIES. By Robert Browning. London: Smith, Elder and
Co. 1884, pp. viii., 143. Each blank verse "Fancy" is followed by a
short lyric.