The Melon-seller. 3. Shah Abbas. 4. The Family. 5. The Sun.
6. Mihrab Shah. 7. A Camel-Driver. 8. Two Camels 9. Cherries.
10. Plot-Culture, 11. A Pillar at Sebzevah. 12. A Bean
Stripe: also Apple-Eating. Epilogue.
55. Why I am a Liberal: Sonnet.--_Why I am a Liberal_, edited by Andrew
Reid. London: Cassell and Co. 1885. Reprinted in the Browning Society's
Papers, Part VII., p. 92.*
54. Spring Song.--_The New Amphion_; being the book of the Edinburgh
University Union Fancy Fair. Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable, University
Press. 1886. The poem is on p. 1. Reprinted in _Parleyings_, p. 189.
55. Prefatory Note to _Poems_ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. London:
Smith, Elder and Co. 1887. Three pages, unnumbered.
56. Memorial Lines, for Memorial of the Queen's Jubilee, in St.
Margaret's Church, Westminster. 1887. Reprinted in the Browning
Society's Papers, Part X., p. 234.*
57. PARLEYINGS WITH CERTAIN PEOPLE OF IMPORTANCE IN THEIR DAY: to wit,
Bernard de Mandeville, Daniel Bartoli, Christopher Smart, George Bubb
Dodington, Francis Furini, Gerard de Lairesse, and Charles Avison.
Introduced by a Dialogue between Apollo and the Fates, concluded by
another between John Fust and his Friends. By Robert Browning. London:
Smith, Elder and Co., 15 Waterloo Place. 1887, pp. viii., 268.
(_Poetical Works_, 1889, Vol. XVI., pp. 93-275.)
Contents:--Apollo and the Fates--a Prologue. Parleyings: 1.
With Bernard de Mandeville. 2. With Daniel Bartoli. 3. With
Christopher Avison. 4. With George Bubb Dodington. 5. With
Francis Furini. 6. With Gerard de Lairesse. 7. With Charles
Avison. Fust and his Friends--an Epilogue.
58. An Essay on Percy Bysshe Shelley. By Robert Browning. Being a
Reprint of the Introductory Essay prefixed to the volume of [25
spurious] Letters of Shelley, published by Edward Moxon in 1852. Edited
by W. Tyas Harden. London: Published for the Shelley Society by Reeves
and Turner, 196 Strand, 1888, pp. 27. See No. 17 above.
59. To Edward Fitzgerald. (Dated July 8, 1889).--_The Athenæum_, No.
3,220, July 13, 1889, p. 64. Reprinted in the Browning Society's Papers,
Part XI., p. 347.*
60. Lines addressed to Levi Lincoln Thaxter. (Written in 1885).--_Poet
Lore_, Vol. I., August 1889, p. 398.
61. THE POETICAL WORKS OF ROBERT BROWNING. London: Smith, Elder & Co.,
15 Waterloo Place. 17 volumes. Vol. I.-XVI., 1889; Vol. XVII., 1894.
Vol. I. pp. viii., 289. Pauline--Sordello. Vol. II., pp. vi.,
307. Paracelsus--Strafford. Vol. III., pp. vi., 255. Pippa
Passes, King Victor and King Charles, The Return of the
Druses, A Soul's Tragedy. Vol. IV., pp. vi., 305. A Blot in
the 'Scutcheon, Colombe's Birthday, Men and Women. Vol. V.,
pp. vi., 307. Dramatic Romances, Christmas-Eve and
Easter-Day. Vol. VI., pp. vii., 289. Dramatic Lyrics, Luria.
Vol. VII., pp. vi., 255. In a Balcony, Dramatis Personæ. Vol.
VIII., pp. 253. The Ring and the Book, Vol. I. Vol. IX., pp.
313. The Ring and the Book, Vol. II. Vol. X., pp. 279. The
Ring and the Book, Vol. III. Vol. XI., pp. 343. Balaustion's
Adventure, Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Fifine at the Fair.
Vol. XII., pp. 311. Red Cotton Night-Cap Country, The Inn
Album, Vol. XIII., pp. 357. Aristophanes' Apology, The
Agamemnon of Æschylus. Vol. XIV., pp. vi., 279. Pacchiarotto
and how he worked in Distemper, with other Poems. [La
Saisiaz, the Two Poets of Croisic.] Vol. XV., pp. vi., 260.
Dramatic Idyls, Jocoseria. Vol. XVI., pp. vi., 275.
Ferishtah's Fancies. Parleyings with Certain People. General
Index, pp. 277-85; Index to First Lines of Shorter Poems, pp.
287-92. Vol. XVII., pp. viii., 288. Asolando, Biographical
and Historical Notes to the Poems. General Index, pp. 289-99;
Index to First Lines of Shorter Poems, pp. 301-307. This
edition contains Browning's final text of his poems.
62. ASOLANDO: FANCIES AND FACTS. By Robert Browning. London: Smith,
Elder & Co., 15 Waterloo Place. 1890, pp. viii., 157. (_Poetical Works_,
1894, Vol. XVII., pp. 1-131.)
Contents:--Prologue. 1. Rosny. 2. Dubiety. 3. Now. 4.
Humility. 5. Poetics. 6. Summum Bonum. 7. A Pearl, a Girl. 8.
Speculative. 9. White Witchcraft. 10. Bad Dreams (i.-iv.).
11. Inapprehensiveness. 12. Which? 13. The Cardinal and the
Dog. 14. The Pope and the Net. 15. The Bean-Feast. 16.
Muckle-mouth Meg. 17. Arcades Ambo. 18. The Lady and the
Painter. 19. Ponte dell' Angelo, Venice. 20. Beatrice
Signorini. 21. Flute-Music, with an Accompaniment. 22.
"Imperante Augusto natus est--." 23. Development. 24. Rephan.
25. Reverie. Prologue.
63. THE POETICAL WORKS OF ROBERT BROWNING. With Portraits. In two
volumes. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, 1896. Vol. I.,
pp. viii., 784; Vol. II., pp. vii., 786.
The Editor's note, after p. viii., signed "Augustine Birrell," says:
"All that has been done is to prefix (within square brackets) to some of
the plays and poems a few lines explanatory of the characters and events
depicted and described, and to explain in the margin of the volumes the
meaning of such words as might, if left unexplained, momentarily arrest
the understanding of the reader ... Mr. F.G. Kenyon has been kind enough
to make the notes for 'The Ring and the Book,' but for the rest the
editor alone is responsible." The text is that of the edition of 1889,
1894, but the arrangement is more strictly chronological. The notes are
throughout unnecessary and to be regretted.
II.
REPRINT OF DISCARDED PREFACES TO THE FIRST EDITIONS OF SOME OF
BROWNING'S WORKS
1. Preface to _Paracelsus_ (1835).
"I am anxious that the reader should not, at the very outset,--mistaking
my performance for one of a class with which it has nothing in
common,--judge it by principles on which it has never been moulded, and
subject it to a standard to which it was never meant to conform. I
therefore anticipate his discovery, that it is an attempt, probably more
novel than happy, to reverse the method usually adopted by writers,
whose aim it is to set forth any phenomenon of the mind or the passions,
by the operation of persons or events; and that, instead of having
recourse to an external machinery of incidents to create and evolve the
crisis I desire to produce, I have ventured to display somewhat minutely
the mood itself in its rise and progress, and have suffered the agency
by which it is influenced and determined, to be generally discernible in
its effects alone, and subordinate throughout, if not altogether
excluded; and this for a reason. I have endeavoured to write a poem, not
a drama: the canons of the drama are well known, and I cannot but think
that, inasmuch as they have immediate regard to stage representation,
the peculiar advantages they hold out are really such, only so long as
the purpose for which they were at first instituted is kept in view. I
do not very well understand what is called a Dramatic Poem, wherein all
those restrictions only submitted to on account of compensating good in
the original scheme are scrupulously retained, as though for some
special fitness in themselves,--and all new facilities placed at an
author's disposal by the vehicle he selects, as pertinaciously
rejected. It is certain, however, that a work like mine depends more
immediately on the intelligence and sympathy of the reader for its
success;--indeed, were my scenes stars, it must be his co-operating
fancy which, supplying all chasms, shall connect the scattered lights
into one constellation--a Lyre or a Crown. I trust for his indulgence
towards a poem which had not been imagined six months ago, and that even
should he think slightingly of the present (an experiment I am in no
case likely to repeat) he will not be prejudiced against other
productions which may follow in a more popular, and perhaps less
difficult form.
15th March 1835."
2. Preface to _Strafford_ (1837).
"I had for some time been engaged in a poem of a very different nature
[_Sordello_] when induced to make the present attempt; and am not
without apprehension that my eagerness to freshen a jaded mind by
diverting it to the healthy natures of a grand epoch, may have operated
unfavourably on the represented play, which is one of Action in
Character, rather than Character in Action. To remedy this, in some
degree, considerable curtailment will be necessary, and, in a few
instances, the supplying details not required, I suppose, by the mere
reader. While a trifling success would much gratify, failure will not
wholly discourage me from another effort: experience is to come, and
earnest endeavour may yet remove many disadvantages.
The portraits are, I think, faithful; and I am exceedingly fortunate in
being able, in proof of this, to refer to the subtle and eloquent
exposition of the characters of Eliot and Strafford, in the Lives of
Eminent British Statesmen now in the course of publication in Lardner's
Cyclopædia, by a writer [John Forster] whom I am proud to call my
friend; and whose biographies of Hampden, Pym, and Vane, will, I am
sure, fitly illustrate the present year--the Second Centenary of the
Trial concerning Ship-money. My Carlisle, however, is purely imaginary:
I at first sketched her singular likeness roughly in, as suggested by
Matthew and the memoir-writers--but it was too artificial, and the
substituted outline is exclusively from Voiture and Waller.
The Italian boat-song in the last scene is from Redi's _Bacco_, long
since naturalised in the joyous and delicate version of Leigh Hunt."
3. Preface to _Sordello_ (not in first edition, but added in 1863). I
reprint it, though still retained by the author, on account of its great
importance as a piece of self-criticism or self-interpretation.
"To J. MILSAND, OF DIJON.
Dear Friend,--Let the next poem be introduced by your name, and so repay
all trouble it ever cost me. I wrote it twenty-five years ago for only a
few, counting even in these on somewhat more care about its subject than
they really had. My own faults of expression were many; but with care
for a man or book, such would be surmounted, and without it what avails
the faultlessness of either? I blame nobody, least of all myself, who
did my best then and since; for I lately gave time and pains to turn my
work into what the many might,--instead of what the few must,--like: but
after all, I imagined another thing at first, and therefore leave as I
find it. The historical decoration was purposely of no more importance
than a background requires; and my stress lay on the incidents in the
development of a soul: little else is worth study. I, at least, always
thought so--you, with many known and unknown to me, think so--others may
one day think so: and whether my attempt remain for them or not, I
trust, though away and past it, to continue ever yours, R. B.
London, June 9, 1863."
4. Preface to _Bells and Pomegranates_.--I. _Pippa Passes_ (1841).
"ADVERTISEMENT.
Two or three years ago I wrote a Play, about which the chief matter I
much care to recollect at present is, that a Pit-full of good-natured
people applauded it: ever since, I have been desirous of doing something
in the same way that should better reward their attention. What follows,
I mean for the first of a series of Dramatical Pieces, to come out at
intervals; and I amuse myself by fancying that the cheap mode in which
they appear, will for once help me to a sort of Pit-audience again. Of
course such a work must go on no longer than it is liked; and to provide
against a certain and but too possible contingency, let me hasten to say
now--what, if I were sure of success, I would try to say
circumstantially enough at the close--that I dedicate my best intentions
most admiringly to the author of 'Ion'--most affectionately to Serjeant
Talfourd.
ROBERT BROWNING."
5. Preface to _Bells and Pomegranates_.--VIII. _Luria_ and _A Soul's
Tragedy_.
"Here ends my first series of 'Bells and Pomegranates:' and I take the
opportunity of explaining, in reply to inquiries, that I only meant by
that title to indicate an endeavour towards something like an
alteration, or mixture, of music with discoursing, sound with sense,
poetry with thought; which looks too ambitious, thus expressed, so the
symbol was preferred. It is little to the purpose, that such is actually
one of the most familiar of the many Rabbinical (and Patristic)
acceptations of the phrase; because I confess that, letting authority
alone, I supposed the bare words, in such juxtaposition, would
sufficiently convey the desired meaning. 'Faith and good works' is
another fancy, for instance, and perhaps no easier to arrive at: yet
Giotto placed a pomegranate-fruit in the hand of Dante, and Raffaelle
crowned his Theology (in the _Camera della Segnatura_) with blossoms of
the same; as if the Bellari and Vasari would be sure to come after, and
explain that it was merely '_simbolo delle buone opere--il qual
Pomogranato fu però usato nelle vesti del Pontefice appresso gli
Ebrei_.' R. B."
It may be worth while to append the interesting concluding paragraph of
the preface to the first series of _Selections_, issued by Messrs.
Smith, Elder and Co. in 1872:
"A few years ago, had such an opportunity presented itself, I might have
been tempted to say a word in reply to the objections my poetry was used
to encounter. Time has kindly co-operated with my disinclination to
write the poetry and the criticism besides. The readers I am at last
privileged to expect, meet me fully half-way; and if, from their fitting
standpoint, they must still 'censure me in their wisdom,' they have
previously 'awakened their senses that they may the better judge.' Nor
do I apprehend any more charges of being wilfully obscure,
unconscientiously careless, or perversely harsh. Having hitherto done my
utmost in the art to which my life is a devotion, I cannot engage to
increase the effort; but I conceive that there may be helpful light, as
well as reassuring warmth, in the attention and sympathy I gratefully
acknowledge R. B.
London, May 14, 1872."
INDEX TO POEMS
Abt Vogler, 23, 145, 146, 147
Adam, Lilith, and Eve, 220, 221
After, 128, 129
"Agamemnon (The), of Æschylus," 17, 202, 203
Andrea del Sarto, 23, 59, 82, 104, 107, 109, 113, 135, 179
Another Way of Love, 130
Any Wife to Any Husband, 124
Apparent Failure, 145
Appearances, 197
Arcades Ambo, 236
"Aristophanes' Apology," 17, 185, 190
Artemis Prologuizes, 63, 64, 85
"Asolando: Fancies and Facts," 231-239
At the Mermaid, 194, 196, 197
Bad Dreams, 232, 234, 236
"Balaustion's Adventure," 169, 173, 186
Bean-Feast, The, 236
Bean-Stripe (A): also Apple-Eating, 225
Beatrice Signorini, 234
Before, 128
Bifurcation, 198
Bishop Blougram's Apology, 27, 105, 111-113, 144
Bishop (The) Orders his Tomb at St. Praxed's Church, 83-85, 115
"Blot in the 'Scutcheon, A," 17, 69-72, 74, 91, 95
Boy and the Angel, The, 89
By the Fireside, 126, 139
Caliban upon Setebos, 27, 141-144
Camel-Driver, A, 224
Cardinal and the Dog, The, 236, 237
Cavalier Tunes, 62
Cenciaja, 201
Cherries, 224
'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower, came,' 118-120
"Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day," 98-103
Cleon, 105, 109, 111, 143
Clive, 214, 215
"Colombe's Birthday," 73-76, 91
Confessional, The, 86
Confessions, 27, 139-141
Count Gismond, 62-63
Cristina, 63
Cristina and Monaldeschi, 221-222
Deaf and Dumb, 145
Death in the Desert, A, 141, 142
'De Gustibus,' 26, 130
Development, 232
Dîs aliter Visum, 27, 138
Doctor ----, 193, 217
Donald, 222
"Dramatic Idyls," 208-213
"Dramatic Idyls" (Second Series), 213-218
"Dramatic Lyrics," 58-65
"Dramatic Romances and Lyrics," 56, 77-90
"Dramatis Personæ," 135-150, 194
Dubiety, 233
Eagle, The, 224
Earth's Immortalities, 80
Echetlos, 213, 214
Englishman in Italy, The, 25, 87
Epilogue to "Dramatic Idyls" (Second Series), 218
Epilogue to "Dramatis Personæ," 194
Epilogue to Pacchiarotto, 194, 195-196
Epilogue to The Two Poets of Croisic, 208
Epistle of Karshish, 104, 105, 109-111, 234
Eurydice and Orpheus, 145
Evelyn Hope, 63, 122
Face, A, 145
Family, The, 224
Fears and Scruples, 197
"Ferishtah's Fancies," 98, 223, 226
"Fifine at the Fair," 17, 111, 130, 177-182, 184
Filippo Baldinucci on the Privilege of Burial, 201
Flight of the Duchess, The, 88
Flower's Name, The, 80
Flute Music, with an Accompaniment, 233
Forgiveness, A, 199
Fra Lippo Lippi, 23, 27, 105, 107, 113
Garden Fancies, 80
Girl, A, 232
Glove, The, 87
Gold Hair: a Story of Pornic, 145
Grammarian's Funeral, A, 115
Guardian Angel, The, 23, 113
Halbert and Hob, 210
Heretic's Tragedy, The, 27, 115, 116-117, 143
Hervé Riel, 194, 200
Holy-Cross Day, 27, 115, 117
Home-Thoughts from Abroad, 77, 78
Home-Thoughts from the Sea, 78
House, 194, 197
How it strikes a Contemporary, 128
How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, 77
Humility, 233, 236
"In A Balcony," 105, 132, 135
In a Gondola, 64
Inapprehensiveness, 233
In a Year, 130
Incident of the French Camp, 62
"Inn Album, The," 7, 22, 190, 193
Instans Tyrannus, 129
In Three Days, 130
Italian in England, The, 87
Ivàn Ivànovitch, 26, 210, 211-212
Ixion, 219-220
James Lee's Wife, 118, 136, 137
Jochanan Hakkadosh, 219
"Jocoseria," 218, 223
Johannes Agricola, 59
"King Victor and King Charles," 56-58, 66
Laboratory, The, 86
"La Saisiaz," 98, 204, 208
Last Ride Together, The, 81, 125, 130
Life in a Love, 130
Light Woman, A, 130
Likeness, A, 141
Lost Leader, The, 77, 78
Lost Mistress, The, 79, 130
Love among the Ruins, 120, 121
Love in a Life, 130
Lovers' Quarrel, A, 27, 121, 122
"Luria," 4, 91, 95-98, 211, 212
Magical Nature, 175, 197-198
Martin Relph, 209, 210, 211
Mary Wollstonecraft and Fuseli, 222
Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha, 23, 24, 113, 114
May and Death, 145
Meeting at Night, 81, 82
Melon-Seller, The, 224
Memorabilia, 131
"Men and Women," 15, 58, 77, 85, 89, 91, 104, 132, 135, 141, 199, 232
Mesmerism, 129
Mihrab Shah, 224
Misconceptions, 130, 197
Mr Sludge, "The Medium," 27, 141, 144
Muckle-mouth Meg, 236
Muléykeh, 191, 215, 217
My Last Duchess, 59, 60, 61, 199, 233
My Star, 130
Nationality in Drinks, 78
Natural Magic, 197
Ned Bratts, 26, 27, 210, 212
Never the Time and the Place 222, 223
Now, 233
Numpholeptos, 198, 199
Old Pictures in Florence, 24, 113, 114
One Way of Love, 130, 131, 132
One Word More, 126
Pacchiarotto, 27, 88, 194, 195
"Pacchiarotto and Other Poems," 194, 201
Pambo, 222
Pan and Luna, 214
"Paracelsus," 6, 37, 41, 49, 59, 74, 118, 218, 229
"Parleyings with certain People," 226-230
Parting at Morning, 82
Patriot, The: an Old Story, 129
"Pauline," 33-36, 37, 49, 59, 118
Pearl, A, 232
Pheidippides, 212, 213
Pictor Ignotus, 23, 82, 83, 85
Pied Piper of Hamelin, The, 27, 65, 77
Pietro of Abano, 217
Pillar at Sebzevah, A, 225
"Pippa Passes," 52-56, 94, 132, 151
Pisgah-Sights, 197
Plot-Culture, 225
Poetics, 232
Pope and the Net, The, 236
Popularity, 131
Porphyria's Lover, 25, 59
Pretty Woman, A, 130
"Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau," 17, 111, 173, 177, 184, 192
Prospice, 145, 148-150
Protus, 117
Rabbi Ben Ezra, 145, 147, 148
"Red-Cotton Night-Cap Country," 7, 182, 185, 190, 192
Rephan, 231
Respectability, 129
"Return of the Druses, The," 65, 69, 74
Reverie, 231
"Ring and the Book, The," 17, 20, 136, 150, 169, 173, 233
Rosny, 232
Rudel to the Lady of Tripoli, 63
St. Martin's Summer, 195
Saul, 89, 90
Serenade at the Villa, A, 25, 26, 124
Shah Abbas, 224
Shop, 194, 197
Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis, 27, 80
Solomon and Balkis, 220
Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, 27, 62, 129
"Sordello," 7, 17, 37, 42, 44, 52, 55, 59, 145, 229
"Soul's Tragedy, A," 27, 91, 95, 132
Speculative, 233, 235
Statue and the Bust, The, 127
"Strafford," 41, 44, 57, 132
Summum Bonum, 232, 235, 236
Sun, The, 224
Through the Metidja to Abd-el-Kadr, 62
Time's Revenges, 86
Toccata of Galuppi's, A, 23, 113, 114
Too Late, 136, 137, 138
'Transcendentalism,' 128
Tray, 222
Twins, The, 130
Two Camels, 224
Two in the Campagna, 125
"Two Poets of Croisic, The," 206-208
Up at a Villa--Down in the City, 27, 130
Wanting Is--What? 222
Waring, 61, 62
Which, 234
White Witchcraft, 236
Woman's Last Word, A, 122, 124
Women and Roses, 130
Worst of It, The, 136, 137
Youth and Art, 139
BY THE SAME WRITER
POEMS (COLLECTED EDITION IN TWO VOLUMES) 1902.
AUBREY BEARDSLEY, 1897.
THE SYMBOLIST MOVEMENT IN LITERATURE, 1899.
PLAYS, ACTING AND MUSIC, 1903.
CITIES, 1903.
STUDIES IN PROSE AND VERSE, 1904.
A BOOK OF TWENTY SONGS, 1905.
SPIRITUAL ADVENTURES, 1905.
STUDIES IN SEVEN ARTS, 1906.
THE FOOL OF THE WORLD, AND OTHER POEMS, 1906.
The Temple Press Letchworth England