CHAPTER VII
"THE RING AND THE BOOK" 160

CHAPTER VIII
THE PHILOSOPHY OF BROWNING 177

INDEX 203





ROBERT BROWNING




CHAPTER I

BROWNING IN EARLY LIFE


On the subject of Browning's work innumerable things have been said
and remain to be said; of his life, considered as a narrative of
facts, there is little or nothing to say. It was a lucid and public
and yet quiet life, which culminated in one great dramatic test of
character, and then fell back again into this union of quietude and
publicity. And yet, in spite of this, it is a great deal more
difficult to speak finally about his life than about his work. His
work has the mystery which belongs to the complex; his life the much