Orr, Mrs., on Hohenstiel-Schwangau, | Stoddard, R. H., on the Brownings,
p. 163.

1 This Jewish Philosopher and Theologian is calld 'Abenezra' in the short article
on him in the last edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

sim, Josip Nærenda lecture on Brewing! At Charitate, Birmingham: Jestine Grove, Aberler,

oking Men's College, Great Orc

my 7th birthday, and to the * Hart St.. BloomsCury, en F A's new Tanchnitz volte,

but I have not seen the volca 4. p. 4. Article-going fur Astate and Browning."Place Fr # NOTE, AND you will see two suns, of WL 20% of the one diders from the de

ettature of Anglo-Saxon culture in le 2 & Tomtar poet is this-that he is SPOJ Neism, then lets them $2 Adhat of earthly ambitions, but fr Is that they invoke a lifetime soal, his characters not so declare more exquisite, and makes a dept Bwing, there could be n ass be the poet of the next

dad šest Vrs. Browning's sister, NZ ANLIY Girls" which she set going Nad, was one of the first, and

ch man at thưt the word Poet does not mean merely Pasmo per the Farly Frish name for a poet, Muz en adgger, —a "Maker," Creator, of Men HC DELAY por is the first thing; thought Areraders were in equal excellence. Men In men of the first rank-Dante, Led by the greatness of their possession of the highest A Fet is not to be degraded into a Melodist, or a

ORE NOTES ON BROWNING'S POEMS.

Duchess. Fra Pandolf and his Picture, 1. 3, &c., Claus of Innsbruck, and the ze Neptune taming a sea-horse, 1. 54-6, are all-persons, names and things— ly imaginary.

ictures in Florence, st. viii, ix, xxviii. Dello and Stéfano (called Scimmia della ura, Nature's Ape') are primæval Florentine Painters, of whom the lives or ices are to be found in Vasari: he it is who gives the portrait of Margheritone. owning possesses the Crucifixion' by M. to which he alludes, as also the tures of Alesso Baldovinetti, Taddeo Gaddi and Pollaiuolo described in the

em.

Gondola: 1. 186, Schidone's eager Duke'; 1. 192, 'Castelfranco's Magdalen'; ad 1. 195, the Tizian: These are all imaginary pictures, suggestive of each laster's style: nothing more. 1. 190,"Haste-thee-Luke" is "Luca-fa-presto," s Luca Giordano (1629-1705) was styled-somewhat disparagingly-from his Expeditious way of working.

a Lippo, 1. 32-3: 'the slave that holds John Baptist's head a-dangle by the hair.' This picture is also imaginary.

ndrea del Sarto, 1. 157-164. No picture of Francis and Andrea was known to Browning.

The Florentine Dello, says Vasari,-englisht in Bohn's Standard Library, i. 327-332,-died in Spain at the age of 47. His name is probably the diminutive of Leonardello, and he was registerd in the Guild of the Apothecaries in 1417 as Dello di Nicolo Delli.-Ed. Flor. 1846-9, in Bohn. He workt in terra cotta, then painted scenes from stories, on coffers, elbow-chairs, couches and other furniture; then painted in fresco; went to Spain, where he earnd much money and honour, and was knighted; came back to Florence for a while, and then settled in Spain.

Stéfano's date is 1301-1350, according to Vasari, or 1260 ?-1339?,--Vasari, i. 133139. "The Florentine painter and disciple of Giotto, Stefano, was an artist of such excellence, that he not only surpassed all those who had preceded him in the art, but left even his master Giotto himself, far behind." p. 133.-From the excellence of his fore-shortening (bad tho' it was) he was called by his brother artists, of nature," p. 135. The note says:

the ape

Cristofano Landino, in the " Apology" preceding his Commentary on Dante, says:-"Stefano is called the Ape of Nature' by every one, so accurately does he express whatever he designs to represent."

The portrait of Margheritone of Arezzo was in the Duomo Vecchio, outside the city of Arezzo, "in a picture of the Adoration of the Magi, by Spinello, and was copied by myself before the church was destroyed" [in 1561, thirteen years before Vasari's death].-ib. i. 93. Margaritone, Painter, Sculptor, and Architect of Arezzo [1236-1313]," and his works, are described in the Englisht Vasari, i. 88-93. 2 Bartolomeo Schidone was born at Modena in 1560, was said to be a pupil of the Caracci, but afterwards workt successfully in the manner of Correggio. Burckhardt suggests that he painted the portrait of Leonardo da Vinci in the Pitti Gallery at Florence, which is sometimes considerd an original. He ruind himself by gaming, and died 1616.'-Cooper.

168

LAST FRESH CRITICAL NOTICES AND NOTES.

1868. North British Review,' Dec. 1868, p. 353-408. On Br.'s Poetical Works, by Dr. J. Hutchinson Stirling, the Hegelian. It is very hard on B.'s style and obscurity, but praises warmly Luria, Artemis prologizes, The Soul's Tragedy, &c. &c., and above all-evidently from early association-The Flight of the Duchess, which the writer had read a long extract from in the 'Examiner' 30 years before.

1877. Bayard Taylor. Diversions of the Echo Club' (new edition), p. 27-35: remarks on Br.'s style, and four imitations of him.-An Oxford reader. 1881. In the autumn of 1881, our member, the Rev. Fr. E. Millson of Brackenbed Grange, near Halifax, gave ten lectures for the Halifax Ladies' Educational Association, on Poems of Tennyson and Browning. In the course of these he gave analyses and explanations of Paracelsus, some of the Men and Women, and Dramatis Persona, two of Browning's Dramas, and several of the Dramatic Idylls. The demands on the Halifax Library showd that the study of Browning was helpt by these Lectures.

In November 1881, the Hon. Roden Noel deliverd a lecture on Browning, with readings from his works, at the Midland Institute, Birmingham; and on Jan. 31, 1882, he repeated the Lecture at the Hall, Jasmine Grove, Anerley, at 8 p.m. 1882. I lectured on Browning at the Working Men's College, Great Ormond Street, on Saturday evening, Feb. 4, 1882 (my 57th birthday), and to the Sunday Evening Association at the Neumeyer Hall, Hart St., Bloomsbury, on Feb. 19. Br. must be notist in Prof. H. Morley's new Tauchnitz volume, 'English Literature during the reign of Victoria'; but I have not seen the volume. 1882. 'Boston Evening Transcript,' Feb. 4, p. 4. Article-going further than most of us Englishmen do-on "Shakspeare and Browning.' "Place Brown

ing beside Shakspeare, look well at both, and you will see two suns, of which you can scarcely tell how much the glory of the one differs from the glory of the other... Br. is the great representative of Anglo-Saxon culture in the 19th century. . . . His great power as a dramatic poet is this-that he imbues his best characters with the loftiest moral idealism, then lets them sin and suffer-not, as in Shakspeare, from a defeat of earthly ambitions, but from a loss of self-respect, a humiliation so intense, that they invoke a lifetime of penance. His situations are not so sensational, his characters not so declamatory, as Shakspeare's, but their suffering is more exquisite, and makes a deeper tragedy. As a representative work of Browning, there could be nothing better than the Inn Album. . . Br. will doubtless be the poet of the next century rather than of the present. . . .”

66

...

NOTES.

p. 24. Browning's subjects. Compare Juvenal, Satire I. 85:Quicquid agunt homines, votum, timor, ira, voluptas, Gaudia, discursus, nostri est farrago libelli.

p. 55. No. 95. The Twins. This, says Mr. F. G. Stephens, appeard before Men and Women, 1855, namely in 1854, in "Two Poems by E. B. B. and R. B." Chapman and Hall. 1854. pp. 1-16. Containing "A Plea for the Ragged Schools of London," by E. B. B., and "The Twins," by R. B.

These Two Poems were printed by Miss Arabella Barrett, Mrs. Browning's sister, for a Bazaar to benefit the "Refuge for young destitute Girls" which she set going in or about 1854. This Refuge, if not the first of its kind, was one of the first, and

is still in existence.

In judging Browning as a poet, recollect that the word Poet does not mean merely or mainly a writer of musical verse, but,- -to use the Early English name for a poet, that which succeeded the Anglo-Saxon scop or shaper,- -a "Maker," Creator, of Men and Women, in verse. This creative, imaginative power is the first thing; thought stands beside it; music of line below both. In men of the first rank-Dante, Shakspere-all three qualities (with many others) combine in equal excellence. Men of the second rank are to be judgd by the greatness of their possession of the highest qualities, not only the lower. A Poet is not to be degraded into a Melodist, or a Painter into a Colourist.

MORE NOTES ON BROWNING'S POEMS.

My last Duchess. Fra Pandolf and his Picture, 1. 3, &c., Claus of Innsbruck, and the bronze Neptune taming a sea-horse, 1. 54-6, are all-persons, names and things— purely imaginary.

Old Pictures in Florence, st. viii, ix, xxviii. Dello and Stéfano (called Scimmia della Natura, 'Nature's Ape') are primæval Florentine Painters, of whom the lives or notices are to be found in Vasari: he it is who gives the portrait of Margheritone. Browning possesses the Crucifixion' by M. to which he alludes, as also the pictures of Alesso Baldovinetti, Taddeo Gaddi and Pollaiuolo described in the poem.

In a Gondola: 1. 186, Schidone's 'eager Duke'; 1. 192, 'Castelfranco's Magdalen'; and 1. 195, the Tizian: These are all imaginary pictures, suggestive of each master's style: nothing more. 1. 190,"Haste-thee-Luke" is "Luca-fa-presto,' as Luca Giordano (1629-1705) was styled-somewhat disparagingly-from his expeditious way of working.

Fra Lippo, 1. 32-3: the slave that holds John Baptist's head a-dangle by the hair.' This picture is also imaginary.

Andrea del Sarto, 1. 157-164. No picture of Francis and Andrea was known to Browning.

The Florentine Dello, says Vasari,-englisht in Bohn's Standard Library, i. 327-332,-died in Spain at the age of 47. His name is probably the diminutive of Leonardello, and he was registerd in the Guild of the Apothecaries in 1417 as Dello di Nicolo Delli.-Ed. Flor. 1846-9, in Bohn. He workt in terra cotta, then painted scenes from stories, on coffers, elbow-chairs, couches and other furniture; then painted in fresco; went to Spain, where he earnd much money and honour, and was knighted; came back to Florence for a while, and then settled in Spain.

Stéfano's date is 1301-1350, according to Vasari, or 1260 ?-1339,--Vasari, i. 133139. "The Florentine painter and disciple of Giotto, Stefano, was an artist of such excellence, that he not only surpassed all those who had preceded him in the art, but left even his master Giotto himself, far behind." p. 133.-From the excellence of his fore-shortening (bad tho' it was) he was called by his brother artists, "the ape of nature," p. 135. The note says:

Cristofano Landino, in the ". Apology" preceding his Commentary on Dante, says:-"Stefano is called the 'Ape of Nature' by every one, so accurately does he express whatever he designs to represent."

The portrait of Margheritone of Arezzo was in the Duomo Vecchio, outside the city of Arezzo, "in a picture of the Adoration of the Magi, by Spinello, and was copied by myself before the church was destroyed" [in 1561, thirteen years before Vasari's death].-ib. i. 93. "Margaritone, Painter, Sculptor, and Architect of Arezzo [1236-1313]," and his works, are described in the Englisht Vasari, i. 88-93. 2 Bartolomeo Schidone was born at Modena in 1560, was said to be a pupil of the Caracci, but afterwards workt successfully in the manner of Correggio. Burckhardt suggests that he painted the portrait of Leonardo da Vinci in the Pitti Gallery at Florence, which is sometimes considerd an original. He ruind himself by gaming, and died 1616.'-Cooper.