| LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROBERT BROWNING | |
| Chapter 1 | Origin of the Browning Family |
| Chapter 2 | Robert Browning's Father |
| Chapter 3 | 1812-1826 |
| Chapter 4 | 1826-1833 |
| Chapter 5 | 1833-1835 |
| Chapter 6 | 1835-1838 |
| Chapter 7 | 1838-1841 |
| Chapter 8 | 1841-1844 |
| Chapter 9 | 1844-1849 |
| Chapter 10 | 1849-1852 |
| Chapter 11 | 1852-1855 |
| Chapter 12 | 1855-1858 |
| Chapter 13 | 1858-1861 |
| Chapter 14 | 1861-1863 |
| Chapter 15 | 1863-1869 |
| Chapter 16 | 1869-1873 |
| Chapter 17 | 1873-1878 |
| Chapter 18 | 1878-1884 |
| Chapter 19 | 1881-1887 |
| Chapter 20 | Constancy to Habit |
| Chapter 21 | Marriage |
| Chapter 22 | Illness and Death |
| Conclusion | |
| Index |
| Transcriber's comments |
| INTRODUCTORY NOTE |
| A BLOT IN THE 'SCUTCHEON |
| ACT I |
| ACT II |
| ACT III |
| Introduction— | PAGE |
| I. The Life of Browning | 7 |
| II. The Poetry of Browning | 31 |
| Bibliography | 57 |
| Chronological Table | 60 |
| Selections from Browning— | |
| (The figures in parentheses refer to the pages of the Notes.) | |
| Songs from Paracelsus (389) | 65 |
| Cavalier Tunes (391) | 69 |
| The Lost Leader (391) | 72 |
| "How They Brought the Good News" (392) | 73 |
| The Flower's Name (393) | 76 |
| Meeting at Night (393) | 78 |
| Parting at Morning (393) | 78 |
| Evelyn Hope (393) | 78 |
| Love Among the Ruins (394) | 81 |
| Up at a Villa—Down in the City (394) | 84 |
| A Toccata of Galuppi's (395) | 88 |
| Old Pictures in Florence (396) | 91 |
| "De Gustibus—" (399) | 101 |
| Home-Thoughts, from Abroad (399) | 103 |
| Home-Thoughts, from the Sea (400) | 104 |
| Saul (400) | 105 |
| My Star (402) | 126 |
| Two in the Campagna (403) | 126 |
| In Three Days (403) | 129 |
| The Guardian-Angel (403) | 130 |
| Memorabilia (404) | 132 |
| Incident of the French Camp (404) | 133 |
| My Last Duchess (404) | 135 |
| The Boy and the Angel (404) | 137 |
| The Pied Piper of Hamelin (404) | 141 |
| The Flight of the Duchess (405) | 152 |
| A Grammarian's Funeral (406) | 183 |
| "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" (407) | 189 |
| How It Strikes a Contemporary (409) | 196 |
| Fra Lippo Lippi (409) | 200 |
| Andrea Del Sarto (413) | 213 |
| The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church (414) | 222 |
| Cleon (416) | 227 |
| One Word More (417) | 239 |
| Abt Vogler (419) | 247 |
| Rabbi Ben Ezra (422) | 253 |
| Caliban Upon Setebos (423) | 260 |
| May and Death (425) | 271 |
| Prospice (425) | 272 |
| A Face (425) | 273 |
| O Lyric Love (425) | 274 |
| Prologue to Pacchiarotto (425) | 275 |
| House (426) | 276 |
| Shop (426) | 278 |
| Hervé Riel (426) | 282 |
| Good to Forgive (427) | 289 |
| "Such a Starved Bank of Moss" (427) | 290 |
| Epilogue to the Two Poets of Croisic (427) | 290 |
| Pheidippides (427) | 295 |
| Muléykeh (428) | 302 |
| Wanting Is—What? (428) | 309 |
| Never the Time and the Place (428) | 310 |
| The Patriot (429) | 311 |
| Instans Tyrannus (429) | 312 |
| The Italian in England (430) | 315 |
| "Round Us the Wild Creatures" (431) | 321 |
| Prologue to Asolando (431) | 321 |
| Summum Bonum (431) | 323 |
| Epilogue to Asolando (431) | 324 |
| Pippa Passes (431) | 325 |
| Notes | 389 |
| PAGE | |
| The Pied Piper of Hamelin | 11 |
| Hervé Riel | 24 |
| Cavalier Tunes | 31 |
| “How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix” | 34 |
| Through the Metidja to Abd-el-kadr | 37 |
| Incident of the French Camp | 39 |
| Clive | 41 |
| Muléykeh | 59 |
| Tray | 68 |
| A Tale | 70 |
| Gold Hair | 75 |
| Donald | 82 |
| The Glove | 90 |
| PAGE | |
| The Pied Piper of Hamelin | Frontispiece |
| “‘Leave to go and see my wife, whom I call the Belle Aurore’” | 30 |
| “I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three” | 34 |
| “A rider bound on bound full galloping, nor bridle drew until he reached the mound” | 39 |
| “Hair, such a wonder of flix and floss” | 75 |
| “And full in the face of its owner flung the glove” | 95 |
| PAGE | |
| BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH | ix |
| PAULINE: A FRAGMENT OF A CONFESSION | 1 |
| Sonnet: "Eyes, calm beside thee, (Lady, couldst thou know!)" | 11 |
| PARACELSUS. | |
| I. Paracelsus aspires | 12 |
| II. Paracelsus attains | 19 |
| III. Paracelsus | 25 |
| IV. Paracelsus aspires | 34 |
| V. Paracelsus attains | 40 |
| STRAFFORD: A TRAGEDY | 49 |
| SORDELLO | 74 |
| PIPPA PASSES: A DRAMA | 128 |
| KING VICTOR AND KING CHARLES: A TRAGEDY | 145 |
| DRAMATIC LYRICS. | |
| Cavalier Tunes. | |
| I. Marching Along | 163 |
| II. Give a Rouse | 163 |
| III. Boot and Saddle | 163 |
| The Lost Leader | 164 |
| "How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix" | 164 |
| Through the Metidja to Abd-el-Kadr | 165 |
| Nationality in Drinks | 166 |
| Garden Fancies. | |
| I. The Flower's Name | 166 |
| II. Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis | 167 |
| Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister | 167 |
| The Laboratory | 168 |
| The Confessional | 169 |
| Cristina | 169 |
| The Lost Mistress | 170 |
| Earth's Immortalities | 170 |
| Meeting at Night | 170 |
| Parting at Morning | 170 |
| Song: "Nay but you, who do not love her" | 170 |
| A Woman's Last Word | 171 |
| Evelyn Hope | 171 |
| Love among the Ruins | 171 |
| A Lovers' Quarrel | 172 |
| Up at a Villa—Down in the City | 174 |
| A Toccata of Galuppi's | 175 |
| Old Pictures in Florence | 176 |
| "De Gustibus—" | 178 |
| Home-Thoughts, from Abroad | 179 |
| Home-Thoughts, from the Sea | 179 |
| Saul | 179 |
| My Star | 184 |
| By the Fireside | 185 |
| Any Wife to Any Husband | 187 |
| Two in the Campagna | 189 |
| Misconceptions | 189 |
| A Serenade at the Villa | 189 |
| One Way of Love | 190 |
| Another Way of Love | 190 |
| A Pretty Woman | 190 |
| Respectability | 191 |
| Love in a Life | 191 |
| Life in a Love | 191 |
| In Three Days | 192 |
| In a Year | 192 |
| Women and Roses | 193 |
| Before | 193 |
| After | 194 |
| The Guardian-Angel | 194 |
| Memorabilia | 195 |
| Popularity | 195 |
| Master Hughes of Saxe-Gotha | 195 |
| THE RETURN OF THE DRUSES | 197 |
| A BLOT IN THE 'SCUTCHEON | 216 |
| COLOMBE'S BIRTHDAY | 230 |
| DRAMATIC ROMANCES. | |
| Incident of the French Camp | 251 |
| The Patriot | 251 |
| My Last Duchess | 252 |
| Count Gismond | 252 |
| The Boy and the Angel | 253 |
| Instans Tyrannus | 254 |
| Mesmerism | 255 |
| The Glove | 256 |
| Time's Revenges | 258 |
| The Italian in England | 258 |
| The Englishman in Italy | 260[vi] |
| In a Gondola | 262 |
| Waring | 264 |
| The Twins | 266 |
| A Light Woman | 267 |
| The Last Ride Together | 267 |
| The Pied Piper of Hamelin | 268 |
| The Flight of the Duchess | 271 |
| A Grammarian's Funeral | 279 |
| The Heretic's Tragedy | 280 |
| Holy-Cross Day | 281 |
| Protus | 283 |
| The Statue and the Bust | 283 |
| Porphyria's Lover | 286 |
| "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" | 287 |
| A SOUL'S TRAGEDY | 289 |
| LURIA | 299 |
| CHRISTMAS-EVE AND EASTER-DAY. | |
| Christmas-Eve | 316 |
| Easter-Day | 327 |
| MEN AND WOMEN. | |
| "Transcendentalism: A Poem in Twelve Books" | 335 |
| How It Strikes a Contemporary | 336 |
| Artemis Prologizes | 337 |
|
An Epistle, containing the Strange Medical
Experience of Karshish, the Arab Physician |
338 |
| Johannes Agricola in Meditation | 341 |
| Pictor Ignotus | 341 |
| Fra Lippo Lippi | 342 |
| Andrea del Sarto | 346 |
| The Bishop orders his Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church | 348 |
| Bishop Blougram's Apology | 349 |
| Cleon | 358 |
| Rudel To the Lady of Tripoli | 361 |
| One Word More | 361 |
| IN A BALCONY | 364 |
| Ben Karshook's Wisdom | 372 |
| DRAMATIS PERSONÃ?. | |
| James Lee's Wife. | |
| I. James Lee's Wife speaks at the Window | 373 |
| II. By the Fireside | 373 |
| III. In the Doorway | 373 |
| IV. Along the Beach | 374 |
| V. On the Cliff | 374 |
| VI. Reading a Book, under the Cliff | 374 |
| VII. Among the Rocks | 375 |
| VIII. Beside the Drawing-Board | 375 |
| IX. On Deck | 376 |
| Gold Hair: a Story of Pornic | 376 |
| The Worst of It | 378 |
| Dîs Aliter Visum; or, Le Byron de Nos Jours | 379 |
| Too Late | 380 |
|
Abt Vogler, after he has been extemporizing upon
the Musical Instrument of his Invention |
382 |
| Rabbi Ben Ezra | 383 |
| A Death in the Desert | 385 |
| Caliban upon Setebos; or, Natural Theology in the Island | 392 |
| Confessions | 394 |
| May and Death | 395 |
| Deaf and Dumb: a Group by Woolner | 395 |
| Prospice | 395 |
| Eurydice to Orpheus: a Picture by Leighton | 395 |
| Youth and Art | 396 |
| A Face | 396 |
| A Likeness | 396 |
| Mr. Sludge, "the Medium" | 397 |
| Apparent Failure | 412 |
| Epilogue | 413 |
| THE RING AND THE BOOK. | |
| I. The Ring and the Book | 414 |
| II. Half-Rome | 427 |
| III. The Other Half-Rome | 441 |
| IV. Tertium Quid | 456 |
| V. Count Guido Franceschini | 471 |
| VI. Giuseppe Caponsacchi | 489 |
| VII. Pompilia | 508 |
| VIII. Dominus Hyacinthus de Archangelis, Pauperum Procurator | 525 |
|
IX. Juris Doctor Johannes-Baptista Bottinius,
Fisci et Rev. Cam. Apostol. Advocatus |
540 |
| X. The Pope | 554 |
| XI. Guido | 572 |
| XII. The Book and the Ring | 594 |
| Helen's Tower | 601 |
| BALAUSTION'S ADVENTURE, including a Transcript from Euripides, | 602 |
|
ARISTOPHANES' APOLOGY, including a Transcript from
Euripides, being the Last Adventure of Balaustion |
628 |
| PRINCE HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU, SAVIOUR OF SOCIETY | 681 |
| FIFINE AT THE FAIR. | |
| Prologue | 701 |
| Fifine at the Fair | 702 |
| Epilogue | 735 |
| RED COTTON NIGHT-CAP COUNTRY; OR TURF AND TOWERS | 736[vii] |
| THE INN ALBUM | 773 |
| PACCHIAROTTO, WITH OTHER POEMS. | |
| Prologue | 802 |
| Of Pacchiarotto, and how he worked in Distemper | 802 |
| At the "Mermaid" | 807 |
| House | 808 |
| Shop | 809 |
| Pisgah-Sights | 810 |
| Fears and Scruples | 811 |
| Natural Magic | 811 |
| Magical Nature | 812 |
| Bifurcation | 812 |
| Numpholeptos | 812 |
| Appearances | 814 |
| St. Martin's Summer | 814 |
| Herve Riel | 815 |
| A Forgiveness | 817 |
| Cenciaja | 820 |
| Filippo Baldinucci on the Privilege of Burial | 823 |
| Epilogue | 827 |
| THE AGAMEMNON OF Ã?SCHYLUS | 830 |
| LA SAISIAZ | 849 |
| THE TWO POETS OF CROISIC | 859 |
| Oh Love! Love | 874 |
| DRAMATIC IDYLS: FIRST SERIES. | |
| Martin Relph | 875 |
| Pheidippides | 877 |
| Halbert and Hob | 879 |
| Ivan Ivanovitch | 880 |
| Tray | 887 |
| Ned Bratts | 887 |
| DRAMATIC IDYLS: SECOND SERIES. | |
| Prologue | 892 |
| Echetlos | 892 |
| Clive | 893 |
| Muléykeh | 897 |
| Pietro of Abano | 899 |
| Doctor —— | 906 |
| Pan and Luna | 909 |
| Touch him ne'er so lightly | 910 |
| The Blind Man to the Maiden | 910 |
| Goldoni | 910 |
| JOCOSERIA. | |
| Wanting is—What? | 911 |
| Donald | 911 |
| Solomon and Balkis | 913 |
| Cristina and Monaldeschi | 914 |
| Mary Wollstonecraft and Fuseli | 916 |
| Adam, Lilith, and Eve | 916 |
| Ixion | 916 |
| Jochanan Hakkadosh | 918 |
| Never the Time and the Place | 928 |
| Pambo | 928 |
| FERISHTAH'S FANCIES. | |
| Prologue | 929 |
| I. The Eagle | 929 |
| II. The Melon-Seller | 930 |
| III. Shah Abbas | 930 |
| IV. The Family | 932 |
| V. The Sun | 933 |
| VI. Mihrab Shah | 934 |
| VII. A Camel-Driver | 936 |
| VIII. Two Camels | 937 |
| IX. Cherries | 938 |
| X. Plot-Culture | 939 |
| XI. A Pillar at Sebzevar | 940 |
| XII. A Bean-Stripe: also Apple-Eating | 942 |
| Epilogue | 946 |
| Rawdon Brown | 947 |
| The Founder of the Feast | 947 |
| The Names | 947 |
| Epitaph on Levi Lincoln Thaxter | 947 |
| Why I am a Liberal | 948 |
| PARLEYINGS WITH CERTAIN PEOPLE OF IMPORTANCE IN THEIR DAY. | |
| Apollo and the Fates | 948 |
| With Bernard de Mandeville | 952 |
| With Daniel Bartoli | 955 |
| With Christopher Smart | 959 |
| With George Bubb Dodington | 961 |
| With Francis Furini | 964 |
| With Gerard de Lairesse | 970 |
| With Charles Avison | 974 |
| Fust and his Friends: an Epilogue | 979 |
| ASOLANDO: FANCIES AND FACTS. | |
| Prologue | 987 |
| Rosny | 987 |
| Dubiety | 987 |
| Now | 988 |
| Humility | 988 |
| Poetics | 988 |
| Summum Bonum | 988 |
| A Pearl, a Girl | 988 |
| Speculative | 988 |
| White Witchcraft | 989 |
| Bad Dreams. I. | 989 |
| Bad Dreams. II. | 989 |
| Bad Dreams. III. | 990 |
| Bad Dreams. IV. | 990 |
| Inapprehensiveness | 991 |
| Which? | 991 |
| The Cardinal and the Dog | 991 |
| The Pope and the Net | 992 |
| The Bean-Feast | 992 |
| Muckle-Mouth Meg | 993 |
| Arcades Ambo | 993 |
| The Lady and the Painter | 993[viii] |
| Ponte dell' Angelo, Venice | 994 |
| Beatrice Signorini | 996 |
| Flute-Music, with an Accompaniment | 999 |
| "Imperante Augusto natus est—" | 1001 |
| Development | 1002 |
| Rephan | 1003 |
| Reverie | 1005 |
| Epilogue | 1007 |
| APPENDIX. | |
| I. An Essay on Shelley | 1008 |
| II. Notes and Illustrations | 1014 |
| III. A List of Mr. Browning's Poems and Dramas, arranged in the order of | |
| first publication in book form | 1023 |
| INDEX OF FIRST LINES OF POEMS | 1027 |
| GENERAL INDEX OF TITLES | 1031 |