7 time and pains to turn my work1 into what the many might,- London, June 9, 1863. In the 1863 edition, Sordello has 5981 lines: Book I, 1000 lines; Bk. II, 1016; Bk. III, 1022; Bk. IV, 1031; Bk. V, 1026; Bk. VI, 886 lines. The odd line in Bk. IV is 1. 281, the last in p. 370. Sordello was also reprinted (with Dedication) in Poetical Works, 6 vols, 1868, where it's the 1st piece in vol. ii, p. 1-217. 1841-6. BELLS AND POMEGRANATES.2 (8 nos.: All in yellow paper covers.) 1841. No. I.-PIPPA PASSES. By Robert Browning, Author of "Paracelsus." London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. MDCCCXLI. Royal 8vo, 2 cols, p. 1-16. P. 2 is Advertisement,' and Dedication to Serjeant Talfourd. Price 6d. sewed. Biank verse mainly, with 7 songs, and prose. Proem-couplets, triplets, fours, fives, a 6, 7, and 8; 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-measure,iambic (214 lines). I. Morning (i. 282 lines; ii. prose, 161 lines). II. Noon (i. 327 lines; ii. prose, 83 lines). III. Evening (i. 229 lines; ii. 91 lines). IV. Night (prose and a song, 221 lines). Epilogue-couplets, triplets, fours, fives, sixes, sevens, and an eight; 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-measure, iambs, with trochees, anapæsts, and amphibrachs (114 lines). In all, 1722 lines. 1 See in the Appendix, notes of all the fresh and ryme-changed lines of the poem in the revized edition. But very many other lines were alterd, tho' their old rymes were kept. 2 On this title, see below, p. 51. 3 1. "All service ranks the same with God," 2 stanzas of 6, aa, bb, cc, 4-measure iambics, in Proem, lines 190-201; 2. A 2-measure anapæstic triplet, "Let the watching lids wink ;" and 3. Pippa's 2-measure song, "The Year's at the spring," 8 lines, iambs and anapæsts, abcd, abcd, in Act I, sc. i; 4. (besides Lutwyche's 4-measure letter, "I am a painter who cannot paint," 52 lines, in iambs, anapæsts, and dactyls) Pippa's trochaic song, "Give her but a least excuse to love me," 2 stanzas of 9, ababa, cdcd-trochees, anapæsts, iambs-in Act II, sc. i; 5. Pippa's song, "A King lived long ago," in fours, couplets, triplets, a five and a single, 57 iambic and anapæstic lines, 3- and 4-measure (in scene i), with 6. (in scene ii) the Second Girl's Song, 'You'll love me yet! and I can tarry," 3 verses of 4, abab, a 4-measure, b 3-, 12 iambic lines, in Act III; 7. "Overhead the tree-tops meet," a seven, aa bb cc d, and nine, cee ff gg hh, 4-measure, 3-, and 5-, trochees, iambs, and anapæsts, at the end of Act IV. The Epilogue ends with the 1st, 5th (slightly alterd), and 6th lines of Pippa's first Song, "All service." For Song 5, A King," see 7', p. 39, above. 66 1842. 8 1842. (1842) 9 10 ADVERTISEMENT [not reprinted in any later edition]. "Two or three years ago I wrote a Play, about which the chief matter I much care to recollect at present is, that a Pitfull of good-natured people applauded it: ever since, I have been desirous of doing something in the same way that should better reward their attention. What follows, I mean for the first of a series of Dramatical Pieces, to come out at intervals; and I amuse myself by fancying that the cheap mode in which they appear, will for once help me to a sort of Pit-audience again. Of course such a work must go on no longer than it is liked; and to provide against a too certain and but too possible contingency, let me hasten to say now-what, if I were sure of success, I would try to say circumstantially enough at the close-that (*) I dedicate my best intentions most admiringly to the Author of 'Ion'-most affectionately to Serjeant Talfourd. ROBERT BROWNING." [Reprinted in Poems (2 vols.), 1849, i. 163-230, with Dedication, from (*) above; in Poetical Works (3 vols.), 1863, ii. 1-67; in Poetical Works (6 vols.), 1868, vol. ii, p. 219-287.] BELLS AND POMEGRANATES. No. II.—KING VICTOR AND KING CHARLES. [1730-1.] By Robert Browning, author of "Paracelsus." London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. MDCCCXLII. p. 1-20. 'Advertisement' (as reprinted in 1863, 1868), p. 2 (claiming that the Author's view of Victor is truer than any prior one, and excusing himself from producing his evidence). Price 18. sewed. Blank verse. Time 1730. First year, 1730. King Victor; Part I (542 lines), Part II (313 lines). Second year, 1731. King Charles; Part I (408 lines), Part II (362 lines). In all, 1625 lines. BELLS AND POMEGRANATES. No. III.-DRAMATIC LYRICS. By Robert Browning. Author London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. -MDCCCXLII. p. 1-16. Price 1s. On p. 2 "Advertisement. Such Poems as the following come properly enough, I suppose, under the head of 'Dramatic Pieces'; being, though for the most part Lyric in expression, always Dramatic in principle, and so many utterances of so many imaginary persons, not mine.-R. B." (CONTENTS) Cavalier Tunes. I. Marching Along. "Kentish Sir Byng," &c. 4 stanzas 66 p. 3 11 III. My Wife Gertrude: Boot, saddle, to horse, and away" (4 quatrains 21 22 wards 1989 all lizes Camp and Cloister. I. Camp French. "The F [Afterwards 1855 callllular of Fil II. Cloister Spanish. "Gr--tag, ALBE P 10 Rudel to 36 five P 12 II. Cristina. "She should not have looked at me." 8 stanzas of 8, alch, defe: 64 four-measure lines, dactylie and amplibrachie. P. 14 P. 12 (4) (3) Madhouse Cells. I. [Johannes Agricola' of 1836.] “There's Heaven above.” II. ['Porphyria' of 1886.] "The rain set early in to-night. (II. in 1863 reprinted as “Porphyria's Lover," Fot. Works, i. 310-12)p. 13 Through the Metidja to Abd-el-Kadr, 1842. "As I ride" (5 stanzas of S, all ryming in -ide). 40 lines. Anapestic. The Pied Piper of Hamelin; a Child's Story. (Written for, and inscribed to, W. M. the Younger.) 15 sections. 305 lines, mainly 4-measure, some 3-, one 1-, 'Rats!': a single, couplets, triplets, 4's, 5's, 6's, 8's, and a 9. Mainly iambs, with amphibrachs, dactyls, anapests, skilfully varied. This poem was translated into German prose in 1880, taking up the whole of one number of the Hameln newspaper. The poem has been often reprinted: in 1001 Gems, Archbp. Trench's Household Book of English Poetry, p. 331, Bowen's Simple English Poems, Curious Stories about Fairies, with illustrations (Boston, U. S. A.), 1856, &c. &c. p. 14 BELLS AND POMEGRANATES. 1843. 23 No. IV. THE RETURN OF THE DRUSES. A Tragedy, in Five Acts. By Robert Browning. Author of "Paracelsus." London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. MDCCCXLIII. Time 14—. 1 The original of Waring was Mr. Alfred Domett, the author of Ranolf and Amohia, a South-sea Day-dream, &c., then Prime Minister in New Zealand. He is named too in (93) The Guardian-Angel, 1. 37, 54. 2 This was William Macready, the eldest boy of the great actor, William Charles Macready. He died in Ceylon a few years ago. He had a talent for drawing, and askt Browning to give him something to illustrate; so Browning made a short poem -still unprinted-out of an old account of the death of the Pope's Legate at the Council of Trent. For this, young Macready made such clever drawings, that Browning tried at a more picturesque subject for him, and wrote The Piper: a thing of joy for ever to all with the child's heart, young and old. I needn't say that there is no ground whatever for Mr. H. C. Bowen's conjecture-in his Simple English Poems, where the Piper is reprinted-that the last four lines of it " very probably contain a sly hit at " Macready for some breaches of promise in his transactions with “Robert Browning-writer of plays." 1843. 24 1844. 25 Price 18., p. 1-19. Blank verse. Act I, 367 lines; II, 374 lines; III, 327 lines; IV, 319 lines; V, 393 lines. In all, 1780 lines. (One initiated Druse is Karshook, not he of Nos. 104, 105 see p. 56 below, and note on p. 57.) BELLS AND POMEGRANATES. No. V.-A BLOT IN THE 'SCUTCHEON. A Tragedy, in Three Acts. No. VI.-COLOMBE'S BIRTHDAY. A Play, in five Acts. By 1844. The Laboratory (Ancien Régime). By Robert Browning, in 26 Hood's Magazine, June, No. VI, vol. i, p. 513-14. "Now I have tied thy glass mask on tightly3:" 12 verses of 4; double couplets, aabb. 4-measure, dactyls and anapæsts: 48 lines. 1 See the notice of the performance in The Athenæum of Feb. 18, 1843.-E. J. 2 In Blackwood's Mag. for March 1881, p. 326, col. 1, Lady Martin (once Helen Faucit) says of Mr. Elton, her "cruel father" as she used to call him-he acted Brabantio to her Desdemona: "It seems but yesterday that I sat by his side in the green-room at the reading of Robert Browning's beautiful drama "The Blot in the Scutcheon." As a rule, Mr. Macready always read the new plays. But owing, I suppose, to some press of business, the task was intrusted on this occasion to the head prompter,—a clever man in his way, but wholly unfitted to bring out, or even to understand, Mr. Browning's meaning. Consequently, the delicate subtle lines were twisted, perverted, and sometimes even made ridiculous in his hands. My "cruel father" was a warm admirer of the poet. He sat writhing and indignant, and tried by gentle asides to make me see the real meaning of the verse. But somehow the mischief proved irreparable, for a few of the actors during the rehearsals chose to continue to misunderstand the text, and never took the interest in the play which they would have done had Mr. Macready read it,- for he had great power as a reader. I always thought it was chiefly because of this contretemps that a play, so thoroughly dramatic, failed, despite its painful story, to make the great success which was justly its due." 3 See first line alterd on p. 50. 27 28 Claret and Tokay. By Robert Browning, ib. p. 525. Claret: My heart sunk with our claret-flask." 2 stanzas of 6, ubabee, 4-measure. 12 iambic lines. Tokay: "Up jumped Tokay on our table." 17 lines: ababce, dedee, fff, ggg. Two 3-measure lines, the rest 4-: mixt iambs, trochees, and anapæsts. [The appearance of these three and the following poems in a Magazine, against Browning's way, was due to Hood's illness, thus described at p. 615, vol. i: "A severe attack of the disorder to which he has long been subject-hemorrhage from the lungs, occasioned by the enlargement of the heart (itself brought on by the wearing excitement of ceaseless and excessive literary toil)—has, in the course of a few weeks, reduced Mr. Hood to a state of such extreme debility and exhaustion, that during several days fears were entertained for his life." Mr. Monckton Milnes, now Lord Houghton, askt Browning to help in making up some numbers of the Magazine for poor Hood, and he did so.] 1844. Garden-Fancies. By Robert Browning. 29 30 1. The Flower's Name. "Here's the Garden she walked across." 6 stanzas of 8 (double alternates, abab, cdcd), 4-measure, anapæstic and iambic. 2. Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis. "Plague take all pedants, say I!" [in 1863, "all your pedants"]. 9 stanzas of 8 (double alternates, abab, cdcd), 4-measure, anapæstic and iambic. In Hood's Magazine, July, 1844, No. VII, vol. ii, p. 45-8. 1844. The Boy and the Angel. By Robert Browning. "Morning, 31 noon, eve, and night:" 33 separate ryme-couplets. In Hood's Magazine, August, 1844, No. VIII, vol. ii, p. 140-2. Besides minor changes,1 five fresh couplets were put into this poem, and one was substituted for an old one, in 1845,2 Bells and 1 As if (1844) [As well as if (1868)] | 1868 And morning, evening, noon, and thy voice to-day 1844 In Heaven, God said 1868 God said in heaven 1844 Entered [Entered in flesh (-68)] the empty cell 1844 [Lived there (-68)] And play'd the craftsman well 1844 And morn, noon, eve, and night 1845, Bells and Pom. VII, p. 1844. 2 And all his past career night 1844 Yet ever o'er 1868 And ever o'er 1844 And ever lived [on earth (-68)] 1844 The flesh [disguise (-68)], remain'd 1868 St. Peter's dome 20; Works, 1868, iv. 160. [The same.] [1, new.] Since when, a boy, he plied his trade, [2, new.] And in his cell, when death drew near, |