Life and Letters of Robert Browning [34]
kindly, as well as gifted woman, and much appreciated
by those of the poet's friends who knew her as a resident in London
during her last years. A portrait which she took of him in 1874
is considered by some persons very good.
At about this time also, and probably through Miss Haworth,
he became acquainted with Miss Martineau.
Soon after his introduction to Macready, if not before,
Mr. Browning became busy with the thought of writing for the stage.
The diary has this entry for February 16, 1836:
==
`Forster and Browning called, and talked over the plot of a tragedy,
which Browning had begun to think of: the subject, Narses.
He said that I had BIT him by my performance of Othello,
and I told him I hoped I should make the blood come.
It would indeed be some recompense for the miseries, the humiliations,
the heart-sickening disgusts which I have endured in my profession,
if, by its exercise, I had awakened a spirit of poetry
whose influence would elevate, ennoble, and adorn our degraded drama.
May it be!'
==
But Narses was abandoned, and the more serious inspiration
and more definite motive were to come later. They connect themselves
with one of the pleasant social occurrences which must have lived
in the young poet's memory. On May 26 `Ion' had been performed
for the first time and with great success, Mr. Macready sustaining
the principal part; and the great actor and a number of their common friends
had met at supper at Serjeant Talfourd's house to celebrate the occasion.
The party included Wordsworth and Landor, both of whom Mr. Browning then met
for the first time. Toasts flew right and left. Mr. Browning's health
was proposed by Serjeant Talfourd as that of the youngest poet of England,
and Wordsworth responded to the appeal with very kindly courtesy.
The conversation afterwards turned upon plays, and Macready, who had ignored
a half-joking question of Miss Mitford, whether, if she wrote one,
he would act in it, overtook Browning as they were leaving the house,
and said, `Write a play, Browning, and keep me from going to America.'
The reply was, `Shall it be historical and English; what do you say
to a drama on Strafford?'
This ready response on the poet's part showed that Strafford,
as a dramatic subject, had been occupying his thoughts.
The subject was in the air, because Forster was then bringing out
a life of that statesman, with others belonging to the same period.
It was more than in the air, so far as Browning was concerned,
because his friend had been disabled, either through sickness or sorrow,
from finishing this volume by the appointed time, and he, as well he might,
had largely helped him in its completion. It was, however,
not till August 3 that Macready wrote in his diary:
==
`Forster told me that Browning had fixed on Strafford
for the subject of a tragedy; he could not have hit upon one
that I could have more readily concurred in.'
==
A previous entry of May 30, the occasion of which is only implied,
shows with how high an estimate of Mr. Browning's intellectual importance
Macready's professional relations to him began.
==
`Arriving at chambers, I found a note from Browning. What can I say upon it?
It was a tribute which remunerated me for the annoyances and cares of years:
it was one of the very highest, may I not say the highest, honour
I have through life received.'
==
The estimate maintained itself in reference to the value
of Mr. Browning's work, since he wrote on March 13, 1837:
==
`Read before dinner a few pages of `Paracelsus', which raises my wonder
the more I read it. . . . Looked over two plays, which it was not possible
to read, hardly as I tried. . . . Read some scenes in `Strafford',
which restore one to the world of sense and feeling once again.'
==
But as the day of the performance drew near, he became at once
more anxious and more critical. An entry of April 28
comments somewhat sharply on the dramatic faults of `Strafford',
besides declaring the writer's belief that the only chance for
by those of the poet's friends who knew her as a resident in London
during her last years. A portrait which she took of him in 1874
is considered by some persons very good.
At about this time also, and probably through Miss Haworth,
he became acquainted with Miss Martineau.
Soon after his introduction to Macready, if not before,
Mr. Browning became busy with the thought of writing for the stage.
The diary has this entry for February 16, 1836:
==
`Forster and Browning called, and talked over the plot of a tragedy,
which Browning had begun to think of: the subject, Narses.
He said that I had BIT him by my performance of Othello,
and I told him I hoped I should make the blood come.
It would indeed be some recompense for the miseries, the humiliations,
the heart-sickening disgusts which I have endured in my profession,
if, by its exercise, I had awakened a spirit of poetry
whose influence would elevate, ennoble, and adorn our degraded drama.
May it be!'
==
But Narses was abandoned, and the more serious inspiration
and more definite motive were to come later. They connect themselves
with one of the pleasant social occurrences which must have lived
in the young poet's memory. On May 26 `Ion' had been performed
for the first time and with great success, Mr. Macready sustaining
the principal part; and the great actor and a number of their common friends
had met at supper at Serjeant Talfourd's house to celebrate the occasion.
The party included Wordsworth and Landor, both of whom Mr. Browning then met
for the first time. Toasts flew right and left. Mr. Browning's health
was proposed by Serjeant Talfourd as that of the youngest poet of England,
and Wordsworth responded to the appeal with very kindly courtesy.
The conversation afterwards turned upon plays, and Macready, who had ignored
a half-joking question of Miss Mitford, whether, if she wrote one,
he would act in it, overtook Browning as they were leaving the house,
and said, `Write a play, Browning, and keep me from going to America.'
The reply was, `Shall it be historical and English; what do you say
to a drama on Strafford?'
This ready response on the poet's part showed that Strafford,
as a dramatic subject, had been occupying his thoughts.
The subject was in the air, because Forster was then bringing out
a life of that statesman, with others belonging to the same period.
It was more than in the air, so far as Browning was concerned,
because his friend had been disabled, either through sickness or sorrow,
from finishing this volume by the appointed time, and he, as well he might,
had largely helped him in its completion. It was, however,
not till August 3 that Macready wrote in his diary:
==
`Forster told me that Browning had fixed on Strafford
for the subject of a tragedy; he could not have hit upon one
that I could have more readily concurred in.'
==
A previous entry of May 30, the occasion of which is only implied,
shows with how high an estimate of Mr. Browning's intellectual importance
Macready's professional relations to him began.
==
`Arriving at chambers, I found a note from Browning. What can I say upon it?
It was a tribute which remunerated me for the annoyances and cares of years:
it was one of the very highest, may I not say the highest, honour
I have through life received.'
==
The estimate maintained itself in reference to the value
of Mr. Browning's work, since he wrote on March 13, 1837:
==
`Read before dinner a few pages of `Paracelsus', which raises my wonder
the more I read it. . . . Looked over two plays, which it was not possible
to read, hardly as I tried. . . . Read some scenes in `Strafford',
which restore one to the world of sense and feeling once again.'
==
But as the day of the performance drew near, he became at once
more anxious and more critical. An entry of April 28
comments somewhat sharply on the dramatic faults of `Strafford',
besides declaring the writer's belief that the only chance for