[Footnote 1: I stated in my first edition that Mr. Browning was
descended from the "Captain Micaiah Browning" who raised the siege of
Derry in 1689 by springing the boom across Lough Foyle, and perished in
the act (the incident being related in Macaulay's "History of England,"
vol. iv., pp. 244 and 245 of the edition of 1858). I am now told that
there is no evidence of this lineal descent, though there are
circumstances which point to some kind of relationship. Another probable
ancestor is Captain ---- Browning, who commanded the ship "Holy Ghost,"
which conveyed Henry V. to France before he fought the battle of
Agincourt; and in return for whose services two waves, said to represent
waves of the sea, were added to his coat of arms. The same arms were
worn by Captain Micaiah Browning, and are so by the present family.]
[Footnote 2: Wiedemann is the second baptismal name of Mr. Browning's
son; and, in his infantine mouth, it became (we do not exactly guess
how), the "Penini," shortened into "Pen," which some ingenious
interpreters have derived from the word "Apennine."]
[Footnote 3: And--we are bound to admit--the singular literary
obtuseness of the England of fifty years ago.]
[Footnote 4: A distinguished American philologist, the late George P.
Marsh, has declared that he exceeds all other modern English writers in
his employment of them.]
[Footnote 5: In "In Memoriam" we have such rhymes as:--
{now {curse {mourn {good {light {report
{low {horse {turn {blood {delight {port
In the blank verse of "The Princess," and of "Enoch Arden" such
assonances as:--
{sun {lost {whom {wand
{noon {burst {seem {hand.
{known {clipt {word
{down {kept {wood, etc.
I take these instances from the works of so acknowledged a master of
verse as Mr. Tennyson, rather than from those of a smaller poet who
would be no authority on the subject, because they thus serve to show
that the poetic ear may have different kinds as well as degrees of
sensibility, and must, in every case, be accepted as, to some extent, a
law to itself.]
[Footnote 6: "La Saisiaz," for instance, is written in the same measure
as "Locksley Hall," fifteen syllables, divided by a pause, into groups
of four trochees, and of three and a half--the last syllable forming the
rhyme. It is admirably suited to the sustained and incisive manner in
which the argument is carried on. "Ixion" in "Jocoseria," is in
alternate hexameter and pentameter, which the author also employs here
for the only time; it imitates the turning of the wheel on which Ixion
is bound. "Pheidippides" is in a measure of Mr. Browning's own, composed
of dactyls and spondees, each line ending with a half foot or pause. It
gives the impression of firm, continuous, and rhythmic motion, and is
generally fitted to convey the exalted sentiment and heroic character of
the poem.
In his translation of the "Agamemnon," Mr. Browning has used the double
ending continuously, so as to reproduce the extended measure of the
Greek iambic trimeter.]
[Footnote 7: As objection has been taken to the opinions conveyed in
this paragraph, and Mr. Browning's authority has been even, in a manner,
invoked against them, I subjoin by his desire the accompanying note. The
question of what is, or is not, a vicious locution is not essential to
the purposes of the book; but it is essential that I should not be
supposed to have misstated Mr. Browning's views on any point on which I
could so easily ascertain them.
"I make use of 'wast' for the second person of the perfect-indicative,
and 'wert' for the present-potential, simply to be understood; as I
should hardly be if I substituted the latter for the former, and
therewith ended my phrase. 'Where wert thou, brother, those three days,
had He not raised thee?' means one thing, and 'Where wast thou when He
did so?' means another. That there is precedent in plenty for this and
many similar locutions ambiguous, or archaic, or vicious, I am well
aware, and that, on their authority, I _be_ wrong, the illustrious poet
_be_ right, and you, our critic, _was_ and shall continue to be my
instructor as to 'every thing that pretty _bin_.' As regards my
objection to the slovenly 'I had' for 'I'd,' instead of the proper 'I
would,' I shall not venture to supplement what Landor has magisterially
spoken on the subject. An adverb adds to, and does not, by its omission,
alter into nonsense the verb it qualifies. 'I would rather speak than be
silent, better criticize than learn' are forms structurally regular:
what meaning is in 'I had speak, had criticize'? Then, I am blamed for
preferring the indicative to what I suppose may be the potential mood in
the case of 'need' and 'dare'--just that unlucky couple: by all means go
on and say 'He need help, he dare me to fight,' and so pair off with 'He
need not beg, he dare not reply,' forms which may be expected to
pullulate in this morning's newspaper.
"VENICE, Oct. 25, 1885."
"R. B."
]