Life and Letters of Robert Browning

Chapter 2 Robert Browning's Father--His Position in Life--Comparison

between him and his Son--Tenderness towards his Son--Outline of his Habits and Character--His Death--Significant Newspaper Paragraph--Letter of Mr. Locker--Lampson--Robert Browning's Mother--Her Character and Antecedents--Their Influence upon her Son--Nervous Delicacy imparted to both her Children--Its special Evidences in her Son.

Chapter 3 1812-1826 Birth of Robert Browning--His Childhood

and Schooldays--Restless Temperament--Brilliant Mental Endowments--Incidental Peculiarities--Strong Religious Feeling--Passionate Attachment to his Mother; Grief at first Separation--Fondness for Animals--Experiences of School Life--Extensive Reading--Early Attempts in Verse--Letter from his Father concerning them--Spurious Poems in Circulation--'Incondita'--Mr. Fox--Miss Flower.

Chapter 4 1826-1833 First Impressions of Keats and Shelley--Prolonged

Influence of Shelley--Details of Home Education--Its Effects--Youthful Restlessness--Counteracting Love of Home--Early Friendships: Alfred Domett, Joseph Arnould, the Silverthornes--Choice of Poetry as a Profession--Alternative Suggestions; mistaken Rumours concerning them--Interest in Art--Love of good Theatrical Performances--Talent for Acting--Final Preparation for Literary Life.

Chapter 5 1833-1835 'pauline'--Letters to Mr. Fox--Publication of the

Poem; chief Biographical and Literary Characteristics--Mr. Fox's Review in the 'Monthly Repository'; other Notices--Russian Journey--Desired diplomatic Appointment--Minor Poems; first Sonnet; their Mode of Appearance--'The Trifler'--M. de Ripert-Monclar--'Paracelsus'--Letters to Mr. Fox concerning it; its Publication--Incidental Origin of 'Paracelsus'; its inspiring Motive; its Relation to 'Pauline'--Mr. Fox's Review of it in the 'Monthly Repository'--Article in the 'Examiner' by John Forster.

Chapter 6 1835-1838 Removal to Hatcham; Some Particulars--Renewed

Intercourse with the second Family of Robert Browning's Grandfather--Reuben Browning--William Shergold Browning--Visitors at Hatcham--Thomas Carlyle--Social Life--New Friends and Acquaintance--Introduction to Macready--New Year's Eve at Elm Place--Introduction to John Forster--Miss Fanny Haworth--Miss Martineau--Serjeant Talfourd--The 'Ion' Supper--'Strafford'--Relations with Macready--Performance of 'Strafford'--Letters concerning it from Mr. Browning and Miss Flower--Personal Glimpses of Robert Browning--Rival Forms of Dramatic Inspiration--Relation of 'Strafford' to 'Sordello'--Mr. Robertson and the 'Westminster Review'.

Chapter 7 1838-1841 First Italian Journey--Letters to Miss Haworth--Mr.

John Kenyon--'Sordello'--Letter to Miss Flower--'Pippa Passes'--'Bells and Pomegranates'.

Chapter 8 1841-1844 'a Blot in the 'scutcheon'--Letters to Mr.

Frank Hill; Lady Martin--Charles Dickens--Other Dramas and Minor Poems--Letters to Miss Lee; Miss Haworth; Miss Flower--Second Italian Journey; Naples--E. J. Trelawney--Stendhal.

Chapter 9 1844-1849 Introduction to Miss Barrett--Engagement--Motives

for Secrecy--Marriage--Journey to Italy--Extract of Letter from Mr. Fox--Mrs. Browning's Letters to Miss Mitford--Life at Pisa--Vallombrosa--Florence; Mr. Powers; Miss Boyle--Proposed British Mission to the Vatican--Father Prout--Palazzo Guidi--Fano; Ancona--'A Blot in the 'Scutcheon' at Sadler's Wells.

Chapter 10 1849-1852 Death of Mr. Browning's Mother--Birth of His

Son--Mrs. Browning's Letters continued--Baths of Lucca--Florence again--Venice--Margaret Fuller Ossoli--Visit to England--Winter in Paris--Carlyle--George Sand--Alfred de Musset.

Chapter 11 1852-1855 M. Joseph Milsand--His Close Friendship With

Mr. Browning; Mrs. Browning's Impression of him--New Edition of Mr. Browning's Poems--'Christmas Eve and Easter Day'--'Essay' on Shelley--Summer in London--Dante Gabriel Rossetti--Florence; secluded Life--Letters from Mr. and Mrs. Browning--'Colombe's Birthday'--Baths of Lucca--Mrs. Browning's Letters--Winter in Rome--Mr. and Mrs. Story--Mrs. Sartoris--Mrs. Fanny Kemble--Summer in London--Tennyson--Ruskin.

Chapter 12 1855-1858 'men and Women'--'karshook'--'two in the

Campagna'--Winter in Paris; Lady Elgin--'Aurora Leigh'--Death of Mr. Kenyon and Mr. Barrett--Penini--Mrs. Browning's Letters to Miss Browning--The Florentine Carnival--Baths of Lucca--Spiritualism--Mr. Kirkup; Count Ginnasi--Letter from Mr. Browning to Mr. Fox--Havre.

Chapter 13 1858-1861 Mrs. Browning's Illness--Siena--Letter From Mr.

Browning to Mr. Leighton--Mrs. Browning's Letters continued--Walter Savage Landor--Winter in Rome--Mr. Val Prinsep--Friends in Rome: Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright--Multiplying Social Relations--Massimo d'Azeglio--Siena again--Illness and Death of Mrs. Browning's Sister--Mr. Browning's Occupations--Madame du Quaire--Mrs. Browning's last Illness and Death.

Chapter 14 1861-1863 Miss Blagden--Letters From Mr. Browning to

Miss Haworth and Mr. Leighton--His Feeling in regard to Funeral Ceremonies--Establishment in London--Plan of Life--Letter to Madame du Quaire--Miss Arabel Barrett--Biarritz--Letters to Miss Blagden--Conception of 'The Ring and the Book'--Biographical Indiscretion--New Edition of his Works--Mr. and Mrs. Procter.

Chapter 15 1863-1869 Pornic--'james Lee's Wife'--Meeting At Mr. F.

Palgrave's--Letters to Miss Blagden--His own Estimate of his Work--His Father's Illness and Death; Miss Browning--Le Croisic--Academic Honours; Letter to the Master of Balliol--Death of Miss Barrett--Audierne--Uniform Edition of his Works--His rising Fame--'Dramatis Personae'--'The Ring and the Book'; Character of Pompilia.

Chapter 16 1869-1873 Lord Dufferin; Helen's Tower--Scotland; Visit to

Lady Ashburton--Letters to Miss Blagden--St.-Aubin; The Franco-Prussian War--'Herve Riel'--Letter to Mr. G. M. Smith--'Balaustion's Adventure'; 'Prince Hohenstiel--Schwangau'--'Fifine at the Fair'--Mistaken Theories of Mr. Browning's Work--St.-Aubin; 'Red Cotton Nightcap Country'.

Chapter 17 1873-1878 London Life--Love of Music--Miss

Egerton-Smith--Periodical Nervous Exhaustion--Mers; 'Aristophanes' Apology'--'Agamemnon'--'The Inn Album'--'Pacchiarotto and other Poems'--Visits to Oxford and Cambridge--Letters to Mrs. Fitz-Gerald--St. Andrews; Letter from Professor Knight--In the Savoyard Mountains--Death of Miss Egerton-Smith--'La Saisiaz'; 'The Two Poets of Croisic'--Selections from his Works.

Chapter 18 1878-1884 He Revisits Italy; Asolo; Letters to Mrs.

Fitz-Gerald--Venice--Favourite Alpine Retreats--Mrs. Arthur Bronson--Life in Venice--A Tragedy at Saint-Pierre--Mr. Cholmondeley--Mr. Browning's Patriotic Feeling; Extract from Letter to Mrs. Charles Skirrow--'Dramatic Idyls'--'Jocoseria'--'Ferishtah's Fancies'.

Chapter 19 1881-1887 the Browning Society; Mr. Furnivall; Miss E.

H. Hickey--His Attitude towards the Society; Letter to Mrs. Fitz-Gerald--Mr. Thaxter, Mrs. Celia Thaxter--Letter to Miss Hickey; 'Strafford'--Shakspere and Wordsworth Societies--Letters to Professor Knight--Appreciation in Italy; Professor Nencioni--The Goldoni Sonnet--Mr. Barrett Browning; Palazzo Manzoni--Letters to Mrs. Charles Skirrow--Mrs. Bloomfield Moore--Llangollen; Sir Theodore and Lady Martin--Loss of old Friends--Foreign Correspondent of the Royal Academy--'Parleyings with certain People of Importance in their Day'.

Chapter 20 Constancy to Habit--Optimism--Belief in Providence--Political

Opinions--His Friendships--Reverence for Genius--Attitude towards his Public--Attitude towards his Work--Habits of Work--His Reading--Conversational Powers--Impulsiveness and Reserve--Nervous Peculiarities--His Benevolence--His Attitude towards Women.

Chapter 21 1887-1889 Marriage of Mr. Barrett Browning--Removal to De

Vere Gardens--Symptoms of failing Strength--New Poems; New Edition of his Works--Letters to Mr. George Bainton, Mr. Smith, and Lady Martin--Primiero and Venice--Letters to Miss Keep--The last Year in London--Asolo--Letters to Mrs. Fitz-Gerald, Mrs. Skirrow, and Mr. G. M. Smith.

Chapter 22 1889 Proposed Purchase of Land At Asolo--Venice--Letter

to Mr. G. Moulton-Barrett--Lines in the 'Athenaeum'--Letter to Miss Keep--Illness--Death--Funeral Ceremonial at Venice--Publication of 'Asolando'--Interment in Poets' Corner.

Conclusion

Index

Portrait of Robert Browning (1889) Mr. Browning's Study in De Vere Gardens

LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROBERT BROWNING

Chapter 1. Origin of the Browning Family--Robert Browning's Grandfather--His

Origin of the Browning Family--Robert Browning's Grandfather--His position and Character--His first and second Marriage--Unkindness towards his eldest Son, Robert Browning's Father--Alleged Infusion of West Indian Blood through Robert Browning's Grandmother--Existing Evidence against it--The Grandmother's Portrait.

A belief was current in Mr. Browning's lifetime that he had Jewish blood in his veins. It received outward support from certain accidents of his life, from his known interest in the Hebrew language and literature, from his friendship for various members of the Jewish community in London. It might well have yielded to the fact of his never claiming the kinship, which could not have existed without his knowledge, and which, if he had known it, he would, by reason of these very sympathies, have been the last person to disavow. The results of more recent and more systematic inquiry have shown the belief to be unfounded.

Our poet sprang, on the father's side, from an obscure or, as family tradition asserts, a decayed branch, of an Anglo-Saxon stock settled, at an early period of our history, in the south, and probably also south-west, of England. A line of Brownings owned the manors of Melbury-Sampford and Melbury-Osmond, in north-west Dorsetshire; their last representative disappeared--or was believed to do so--in the time of Henry VII., their manors passing into the hands of the Earls of Ilchester, who still hold them.* The name occurs after 1542 in different parts of the country: in two cases with the affix of 'esquire', in two also, though not in both coincidently, within twenty miles of Pentridge, where the first distinct traces of the poet's family appear. Its cradle, as he called it, was Woodyates, in the parish of Pentridge, on the Wiltshire confines of Dorsetshire; and there his ancestors, of the third and fourth generations, held, as we understand, a modest but independent social position.

* I am indebted for these facts, as well as for some others referring to, or supplied by, Mr. Browning's uncles, to some notes made for the Browning Society by Dr. Furnivall.

This fragment of history, if we may so call it, accords better with our impression of Mr. Browning's genius than could any pedigree which more palpably connected him with the 'knightly' and 'squirely' families whose name he bore. It supplies the strong roots of English national life to which we instinctively refer it. Both the vivid originality of that genius and its healthy assimilative power stamp it as, in some sense, the product of virgin soil; and although the varied elements which entered into its growth were racial as well as cultural, and inherited as well as absorbed, the evidence of its strong natural or physical basis remains undisturbed.

Mr. Browning, for his own part, maintained a neutral attitude in the matter. He neither claimed nor disclaimed the more remote genealogical past which had presented itself as a certainty to some older members of his family. He preserved the old framed coat-of-arms handed down to him from his grandfather; and used, without misgiving as to his right to do so, a signet-ring engraved from it, the gift of a favourite uncle, in years gone by. But, so long as he was young, he had no reason to think about his ancestors; and, when he was old, he had no reason to care about them; he knew himself to be, in every possible case, the most important fact in his family history.

Roi ne suis, ni Prince aussi, Suis le seigneur de Conti,

he wrote, a few years back, to a friend who had incidentally questioned him about it.

Our immediate knowledge of the family begins with Mr. Browning's grandfather, also a Robert Browning, who obtained through Lord Shaftesbury's influence a clerkship in the Bank of England, and entered on it when barely twenty, in 1769. He served fifty years, and rose to the position of Principal of the Bank Stock Office, then an important one, and which brought him into contact with the leading financiers of the day. He became also a lieutenant in the Honourable Artillery Company, and took part in the defence of the Bank in the Gordon Riots of 1789. He was an able, energetic, and worldly man: an Englishman, very much of the provincial type; his literary tastes being limited to the Bible and 'Tom Jones', both of which he is said to have read through once a year. He possessed a handsome person and, probably, a vigorous constitution, since he lived to the age of eighty-four, though frequently tormented by gout; a circumstance which may help to account for his not having seen much of his grandchildren, the poet and his sister; we are indeed told that he particularly dreaded the lively boy's vicinity to his afflicted foot. He married, in 1778, Margaret, daughter of a Mr. Tittle by his marriage with Miss Seymour; and who was born in the West Indies and had inherited property there. They had three children: Robert, the poet's father; a daughter, who lived an uneventful life and plays no part in the family history; and another son who died an infant. The Creole mother died also when her eldest boy was only seven years old, and passed out of his memory in all but an indistinct impression of having seen her lying in her coffin. Five years later the widower married a Miss Smith, who gave him a large family.

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