Robert Browning(1812–1889)

“I shall, probably, be able to send them, as well as the notice of Browning and of the Purgatory of Suicides, by the time they are wanted.”

“Please thank Mr Mathews for the loan of Brownings 'Luria' is new and I hope a pleasure from reading it.”

“Such are Festus, Paracelsus, Coleridge's Remorse, Shelley's Cenci”

“we are desirous to diffuse the knowledge that there is such a person, thinking and writing [...] we would turn rather to the consideration of a series of sketches, dramatic and lyric, which he has been publishing for several years, under the title of "Bells and Pomegranates.”

“Our first acquaintance with this subtle and radiant mind was through his "Paracelsus," of which we cannot now obtain a copy, and must write from a distant memory.”

“Sordello" we have never seen, and have been much disappointed at not being able to obtain the loan of a copy now existent in New England.”

“The tendency to variety and delicacy, rather than to a grasp of the subject and concentration of interest, are not so obvious in Browning's minor works as in Paracelsus, and in his tragedy of 'Strafford.”

“The girl in the "Return of the Druses" is the sort of nature Byron tried to paint in Myrrha. But Byron could only paint women as they were to him.”

“Robert Browning is scarcely known in this country, as, indeed, in his own, his fame can spread but slowly, from the nature of his works.”

“Paracelsus (sings)—“Over the sea our galleys went, With cleaving prows in order brave, To a speeding wind and a bounding wave, A gallant armament:”

“Pippa Passes” is the title of the first of these little two shilling volumes, which seem to contain just about as much as a man, who lives wisely, might, after a good summer of mingled work, business and pleasure, have to offer to the world, as the honey he could spare from his hive.”

“Thou by me And I by thee—this is thy hand in mine— And side by side we sit—all’s true. Thank God! I have spoken—speak thou!”

“A king lived long ago, In the morning of the world, When Earth was nigher Heaven than now: And the King’s locks curled Disparting o’er a forehead full As the milk-white space ’twixt horn and horn Of some sacrificial bull.”

“Next came a set of Dramatic Lyrics, all more or less good, from which we select. ITALY AND FRANCE.”

“That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands.”

“SHE should never have looked at me, If she meant I should not love her: There are plenty.. men, you call such, I suppose..”

“To this volume succeeded “King Victor and King Charles,” “The Return of the Druses,”—“A Blot in the ’Scutcheon,” and “Colombe’s Birth Day.”

“But we must hasten to conclude with some extracts from another number of “Dramatic Lyrics” lately received.”

“In the former number was a poem called “The Cloister,” and in this are two, “The Confessional” and the “Tomb at St.”

“The “Flight of the Duchess,” in its entrancing revelations of the human heart, is a boon to think of but too long to copy, and must not be taken apart.”

“Italy in England,” we shall publish by itself and for the present must content ourselves with: GARDEN FANCIES.”

“HERE’S the garden she walked across, Arm in my arm, such a short while since: Hark, now I push its wicket, the moss Hinders the hinges and makes them wince!”

“Plague take all your pedants, say I! He who wrote what I hold in my hand, Centuries back was so good as to die, Leaving this rubbish to cumber the land;”

“Just for a handful of silver he left us, Just for a riband to stick in his coat— Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us, Lost all the others she lets us devote;”

“I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he; I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;”

“Good speed!’’ cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew; ‘Speed!’ echoed the wall to us galloping through; Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest, And into the midnight we galloped abreast.”

“we wish that the “Bells and Pomegranates,” at least, may be brought within the reach of those American readers who have time and soul to wait and listen for such.”

“Next came a set of Dramatic Lyrics, all more or lfcss good, from which we select”

“That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive; I call That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf 's hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands.”

“But believing that our poet has not reached that epoch of mastery, when he can do himself full justice in a great work, we would turn rather to the consideration of a series of sketches, dramatic and lyric, which he has been publishing for several years, under the title of " Bells and Pomegranates.”

“CRISTINA.”

“To this volume succeeded "King Victor and King Charles,' "The Return of the Druses," "A Blot in the 'Scutcheon," and "Colombe's Birthday.”

“In "A Blot in the 'Scutcheon" we see a lily, storm-struck, half broken, but still a lily. In "Colombe's Birthday" a queenly rosebud, which expands into the full glowing rose before our eyes.”

“The "Flight of the Duchess," in its entrancing revelations ot the human heart, is a boon to think of.”

“We were, however, obliged to forbear further extracts, with the exception of two from the "Garden Fancies.”