with so easy an interpretative accent, that it is possible to prove him
(as Shakespeare has been proved) a believer in every thing and a
disbeliever in anything.

Such, so far as I can realise my conception of him, is Robert Browning;
and such the tenour of his work as a whole. It is time to pass from
general considerations to particular ones; from characteristics of the
writer to characteristics of the poems. In the pages to follow I shall
endeavour to present a critical chronicle of Browning's works; not
neglecting to give due information about each, but not confining myself
to the mere giving of information. It is hoped that the quotations for
which I may find room will practically illustrate and convincingly
corroborate what I have to say about the poetry from which they are
taken.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: _Luria_, Act iii.]

[Footnote 2: _Aurora Leigh_, Book Fifth.]

[Footnote 3: Walter Pater, _The Renaissance_, p, 226.]

[Footnote 4: _Aurora Leigh_, Book Third.]

[Footnote 5: Preface to _Poems_, 1853.]

[Footnote 6: _George Chapman: A Critical Essay_, 1875.]

[Footnote 7: _Works_, 1847, Preface to Sermons, pp. viii.-ix., where