The sun., 1899-03-12

laughing wine mark into stain In
that perfectly beautiful trirlet--nor am
TO be Indifferent to his good word for myself
Though not very happily connected with the
criticism on tho epithet in that 'Yo rkshire
TraRedy'-which has better things, by the why
seeing that white boy. in old language, meant
Just GOOD boy n general eplthet. as johnson
notices in the life OF Dryden. whom the school,
master Busby was used to class with his
white boys'-thls is shypercrticism. however,"
Browning went on to express the opinion that
these American books should not be re-
printed here. One asks. What and where
is the class to which they address
themselves2 for. No doubt we have
our congregations OF iRnoramuses that en-
Joy the profoundest ignorance IMAGINABLE on
the subjects treated OF. but these are evidently.
not the audiences Mr.. Lowell reckons on |;
rather. II one may trust the manner Of his
setting TO work. no would propound his doc
trine to the class. always to be found. OF spirits
instructed up to a certain height and there
resting-vInes that run up prop and there
tangle and grow to knot-which want supply
ing with fresh poles; so the provldent man
brings his bundle into the grounds. and
sticks them IN lateraly or atop OF the
others. as the case requires. and all the
old stocks 60 on growing again-but
here, with u.s. whoever wanted Ohaucer. or
Chapman. or Ford got him long ago-what
else have Lamb. and ColeridSe. and Hazlitt
and Hunt and 80 on to the end OF their genera
tions what else been doing this many
year2 What one passage of all these cited
withthe very air OF Columbus. but has been
known to all who know anything Of poetry this
many. many yearp The others. who don't
know anything. are the stocks that have got to
shoot. not climb higher-compost they want In
the t1rst placel Ford's and Crashaw's rival
NiRhtingales-why they have been dissertated
on by Wordsworth and ColeridGe. then by Lamb
and Hazlitt then worked to death by Hunt
who printed them entire and quoted them to
pieces again in every periodical he was ever
engaged upon: and yet, after all. here Philip
- must read tout OF a roll OF dropping pa
pers with yellow ink tracings. so oldl some-
thing at which John claps his hands and
says 'Really-that these ancients should own
so much wit. 6c.'l The passage no longer looks
its fresh self after this veritable passage from
hand to hand: as when In old dances, the belle
began the figure with her own partner. and by
him was transferred to the next. and so to the
next-ttev ever beginning with all the old
alacrty and spirit but she bearing still
accumulating weight OF tokens OF gallantry.
and none the better for every fresh pushing
and showing and pulling and hauling-till. at
the bottom OF the room To which Mr
Lowell might say that-No. win say the true
thing against myself-and it is that. when
turn from what is in my mind. and determine
to write about anybodys book to avoid writing
that love, and love. and love again my own
dearest love-because OF the cuckoo song OF
it-then 1 shall be in no better humor with
that book than with Mr. Lowell's!"
Strange to say. Miss Barrett. who had pre-
viously been inclined to like Mr.. Lowells
book. now inclined to accept Mr.. Browning's
estimate. Not without'a qualm OF conscience,
though. How right you are about Mr.
Lowell He has refined fancy and is grace
fu! for an American critic. but the truth is
otherwise. that he knows nothing OF English
poetry or the next thing to nothing. and has
merely had dream OF the early dramatists
The amount Of his reading in that direction is
an article in the Retrospective Rerie,o which
contains extracts: and he re-extracts the ex-
tracts. reQuotes the quotations. and. a pede
Hercnlem.' from the foot infers the man. or.
rather. from the sandal string OF the foot
infers and judges the soul of the man
1t Is comparative anatomy under the most
speculative conditions. How writer Of his
talents and pretensions could make up his
mind to make up a book on such slight sub
stratum is curious proof OF the state of litera-
ture in America Do you not think so? Why
a lecturer on the English Dramatists for a
Young Ladies' academy here in England
might take 1t to be necessary to have better in
formation than he could gather from an odd
volume OF an old review! And then Mr.
lowels ndirefe in showing his authority-as
II the Elizabethan poets lay mouldering in
inaccessible manuscript somewhere below
the lowest depth OF Shakespeare's grave
is curious beyond the rest Altogether. the
fact is an epgram on the surface literature
of America. AS you say. their books do not
suit us-Mrs Markham might as we'll send her
compendium Of the History OF France to NJ
Thiers. III they knetu more they could not give
parsley crowns to their native poets when there
Is greater merit among the rabbits. Mrs ST.
Courtney has Just sent me-just this morning
her Scenes in My Native Land and. peep
ing between the uncut leaves. l read OF
the poet Hillhouse. of sublime spirit and
Mitonic energy standing In the Temple
OF Fame as II 1t were built on purpose
for him. I suppose he is like most of
the American poets, who are shadows OF the
true. as fiat as a shadow. as coloress as a
shadow. as lfeless and as transitory Mr.
Lowell himself is. in his verse; books. poetical,
II not a poet-and certainly this little book we
are talking OF is grateful enough in some ways
you would call 1t pretty book-would you
not? Two or three letters l have had from
him all very kind land that reminds
me. alas! OF some ineffable ingratitude on my
own part! When ones conscience grows too
heavy. there is nothing for 1t but to throw it
away"
VII.
Many months were yet to elapse before
Browning and Miss Barrett were united. We
turn to some OF the letters that passed between
them. after they had reached the determ inaton
TO marry in spite OF Mr.. Barrett's opposition.
On Aug. 81. 1916, Browning wrote: IF the
cold plunge must be taken all this shivering
delay on the bank is hurtful as we'll as fruit
less. do understand your anxiety. dearest.
take your fears and make them mine. while
put my own natural feeling OF quite an
other kind away from us both. succeeding
in that beyond all expectation. There
Is no amount OF patience or suffering
would not undergo to relieve you
from these apprehensions. But II. on the
whole. you really determined to act as you
propose in spite OF them. why. a new leaf is
turned over in our journal. an old path OF our