The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-12
READING TO BROWNING.

Mrs. LIE Moyne Tells of Reciting Some
of EIis Own Works to the Poet.
| Sarah Cowell LIE Moyne had the quite
remarkable experience of reeiting some
of his own works before the poet
Browning. In 1884 Mrs. lie Moyne, then
Miss Sarah Cowell, visited England and
made marked impression. She did
not read in the public halls, but confined
her performances to the more congenial
atmosphere of London drawing-rooms.
She had the honor of reading before the
| Prince and Princess of Wales. but Mrs.
lie Moynes greatest delight was meet
| ing Robert Browning, Of which she
gives the following account:
THE Duchess of st. Adams invited
me to luncheon, and there + met Mr..
| Browning and Mr.. Bret Harte. After
| luncheon we talked of many things
say we, but ! only listened in delight
and spoke when spoken to, till asked
about my readings in London and the
poems that met with most favor there.
English audiences, I assured them,
would listen to Bret Harte, Constance
Fenimore woolson and poetry dealing
with rough western life One great fa-
NOiltc WdS an dlOiiy POCliiy IhS
Engineers Story, and many thought it
was by Bret Harte. That afternoon I
reeited it, and Mr.. Harte said he wished
he had written that line,
II heard the surge Of the engine
as the old engineer slackens the speed
of the engine and reaches for the child
on the track. | also mentioned that /
was obliged to put Her Letter upon
every programme OF course they
then begged me to give it to them, and
/ did so. AT the line.
"'Of the few baby peaks that were
peeping from under the bedclothes
of snow
Browning was heard to murmur, Fine,
fine, fine!'
Later. I turned to Mr.. Browning,
saying: In New York my audiences
delight to have me read from your
verse What do they care to hear?'
he asked The short, dramatic pieces,
like Count Gismond," Times Re-
venges," and "Herve Re"' I replied;
but for my own pleasure / delight most
in the poems, over the Sea Our Galley
Went Meeting at Night" and Love
Among the Ruins He asked to hear
Meeting at Night. I attempted it, and
realized how valuable to him was every
word and how well he remembered his
early poems. My nervousness caused
me to stumble at the third line and ruin
It by saying.
And the little startled waves
The poet smilingly corrected me with
mo, no. my dear
+" The startled little waves that leap"
Among other poems read that day
was 'Herve Riel' This, you remember,
was Browning's gift to the fund for the
benefit of the widows and orphans of
the Franco-Prussian war. His publish
er paid one hundred pounds for the
poem, and the amount was presented to
the fund AS finished the recitation
he reached out and pressed my hand
and his eyes were full of tears. The
whole afternoon was full of such mo-
ments.
Browning told us that his. custom
was to learn all about the heroes and
legends of the town that he stopped in
and it was while going over the records
Of the town Of Saint Malo that he found
the account of 'Herve Rel saving the
squadron in 1892 He said: T have
told the story exactly as set forth in the
records Of st. Malo--with this excep- |
ton. l put the story into rhyme and
gave the hero "a good whole holiday
when in reality he had a life holiday
Again, after this, l met Mr.. Brown
Ing and again some years later he was
kind enough to remember me and send !
4 message from Venice. boston Tran
script