Life and Letters of Robert Browning [32]
be
one of the first Latin scholars of the day. It was Mr. Reuben Browning.
Another favourite uncle was William Shergold Browning,
though less intimate with his nephew and niece than he would have become
if he had not married while they were still children, and settled in Paris,
where his father's interest had placed him in the Rothschild house.
He is known by his `History of the Huguenots', a work, we are told,
`full of research, with a reference to contemporary literature
for almost every occurrence mentioned or referred to.'
He also wrote the `Provost of Paris', and `Hoel Morven',
historical novels, and `Leisure Hours', a collection of miscellanies;
and was a contributor for some years to the `Gentleman's Magazine'.
It was chiefly from this uncle that Miss Browning and her brother
heard the now often-repeated stories of their probable ancestors,
Micaiah Browning, who distinguished himself at the siege of Derry,
and that commander of the ship `Holy Ghost' who conveyed Henry V. to France
before the battle of Agincourt, and received the coat-of-arms,
with its emblematic waves, in reward for his service. Robert Browning
was also indebted to him for the acquaintance of M. de Ripert-Monclar;
for he was on friendly terms with the uncle of the young count,
the Marquis de Fortia, a learned man and member of the Institut,
and gave a letter of introduction -- actually, I believe,
to his brother Reuben -- at the Marquis's request.*
--
* A grandson of William Shergold, Robert Jardine Browning,
graduated at Lincoln College, was called to the Bar,
and is now Crown Prosecutor in New South Wales; where his name
first gave rise to a report that he was Mr. Browning's son,
while the announcement of his marriage was, for a moment,
connected with Mr. Browning himself. He was also intimate
with the poet and his sister, who liked him very much.
--
The friendly relations with Carlyle, which resulted in
his high estimate of the poet's mother, also began at Hatcham.
On one occasion he took his brother, the doctor, with him to dine there.
An earlier and much attached friend of the family was Captain Pritchard,
cousin to the noted physician Dr. Blundell. He enabled
the young Robert, whom he knew from the age of sixteen,
to attend some of Dr. Blundell's lectures; and this aroused in him
a considerable interest in the sciences connected with medicine,
though, as I shall have occasion to show, no knowledge of either disease
or its treatment ever seems to have penetrated into his life.
A Captain Lloyd is indirectly associated with `The Flight of the Duchess'.
That poem was not completed according to its original plan;
and it was the always welcome occurrence of a visit from this gentleman
which arrested its completion. Mr. Browning vividly remembered
how the click of the garden gate, and the sight of the familiar figure
advancing towards the house, had broken in upon his work
and dispelled its first inspiration.
The appearance of `Paracelsus' did not give the young poet
his just place in popular judgment and public esteem.
A generation was to pass before this was conceded to him.
But it compelled his recognition by the leading or rising literary men
of the day; and a fuller and more varied social life now opened before him.
The names of Serjeant Talfourd, Horne, Leigh Hunt, Barry Cornwall (Procter),
Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton), Eliot Warburton, Dickens, Wordsworth,
and Walter Savage Landor, represent, with that of Forster,
some of the acquaintances made, or the friendships begun, at this period.
Prominent among the friends that were to be, was also Archer Gurney,
well known in later life as the Rev. Archer Gurney,
and chaplain to the British embassy in Paris. His sympathies were at present
largely absorbed by politics. He was contesting the representation
of some county, on the Conservative side; but he took a very vivid interest
in Mr. Browning's poems; and this perhaps fixes the beginning of the intimacy
at a somewhat later date; since a pretty story by which
one of the first Latin scholars of the day. It was Mr. Reuben Browning.
Another favourite uncle was William Shergold Browning,
though less intimate with his nephew and niece than he would have become
if he had not married while they were still children, and settled in Paris,
where his father's interest had placed him in the Rothschild house.
He is known by his `History of the Huguenots', a work, we are told,
`full of research, with a reference to contemporary literature
for almost every occurrence mentioned or referred to.'
He also wrote the `Provost of Paris', and `Hoel Morven',
historical novels, and `Leisure Hours', a collection of miscellanies;
and was a contributor for some years to the `Gentleman's Magazine'.
It was chiefly from this uncle that Miss Browning and her brother
heard the now often-repeated stories of their probable ancestors,
Micaiah Browning, who distinguished himself at the siege of Derry,
and that commander of the ship `Holy Ghost' who conveyed Henry V. to France
before the battle of Agincourt, and received the coat-of-arms,
with its emblematic waves, in reward for his service. Robert Browning
was also indebted to him for the acquaintance of M. de Ripert-Monclar;
for he was on friendly terms with the uncle of the young count,
the Marquis de Fortia, a learned man and member of the Institut,
and gave a letter of introduction -- actually, I believe,
to his brother Reuben -- at the Marquis's request.*
--
* A grandson of William Shergold, Robert Jardine Browning,
graduated at Lincoln College, was called to the Bar,
and is now Crown Prosecutor in New South Wales; where his name
first gave rise to a report that he was Mr. Browning's son,
while the announcement of his marriage was, for a moment,
connected with Mr. Browning himself. He was also intimate
with the poet and his sister, who liked him very much.
--
The friendly relations with Carlyle, which resulted in
his high estimate of the poet's mother, also began at Hatcham.
On one occasion he took his brother, the doctor, with him to dine there.
An earlier and much attached friend of the family was Captain Pritchard,
cousin to the noted physician Dr. Blundell. He enabled
the young Robert, whom he knew from the age of sixteen,
to attend some of Dr. Blundell's lectures; and this aroused in him
a considerable interest in the sciences connected with medicine,
though, as I shall have occasion to show, no knowledge of either disease
or its treatment ever seems to have penetrated into his life.
A Captain Lloyd is indirectly associated with `The Flight of the Duchess'.
That poem was not completed according to its original plan;
and it was the always welcome occurrence of a visit from this gentleman
which arrested its completion. Mr. Browning vividly remembered
how the click of the garden gate, and the sight of the familiar figure
advancing towards the house, had broken in upon his work
and dispelled its first inspiration.
The appearance of `Paracelsus' did not give the young poet
his just place in popular judgment and public esteem.
A generation was to pass before this was conceded to him.
But it compelled his recognition by the leading or rising literary men
of the day; and a fuller and more varied social life now opened before him.
The names of Serjeant Talfourd, Horne, Leigh Hunt, Barry Cornwall (Procter),
Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton), Eliot Warburton, Dickens, Wordsworth,
and Walter Savage Landor, represent, with that of Forster,
some of the acquaintances made, or the friendships begun, at this period.
Prominent among the friends that were to be, was also Archer Gurney,
well known in later life as the Rev. Archer Gurney,
and chaplain to the British embassy in Paris. His sympathies were at present
largely absorbed by politics. He was contesting the representation
of some county, on the Conservative side; but he took a very vivid interest
in Mr. Browning's poems; and this perhaps fixes the beginning of the intimacy
at a somewhat later date; since a pretty story by which