Life and Letters of Robert Browning [44]
sense, poetry with thought; which looks too ambitious,
thus expressed, so the symbol was preferred. It is little to the purpose,
that such is actually one of the most familiar of the many Rabbinical
(and Patristic) acceptations of the phrase; because I confess that,
letting authority alone, I supposed the bare words, in such juxtaposition,
would sufficiently convey the desired meaning. "Faith and good works"
is another fancy, for instance, and perhaps no easier to arrive at:
yet Giotto placed a pomegranate fruit in the hand of Dante,
and Raffaelle crowned his Theology (in the `Camera della Segnatura')
with blossoms of the same; as if the Bellari and Vasari would be sure
to come after, and explain that it was merely "simbolo delle buone opere --
il qual Pomogranato fu pero\ usato nelle vesti del Pontefice
appresso gli Ebrei."'
==
The Dramas and Poems contained in the eight numbers
of `Bells and Pomegranates' were:
I. Pippa Passes. 1841.
II. King Victor and King Charles. 1842.
III. Dramatic Lyrics. 1842.
Cavalier Tunes; I. Marching Along; II. Give a Rouse;
III. My Wife Gertrude. [`Boot and Saddle'.]
Italy and France; I. Italy; II. France.
Camp and Cloister; I. Camp (French); II. Cloister (Spanish).
In a Gondola.
Artemis Prologuizes.
Waring; I.; II.
Queen Worship; I. Rudel and The Lady of Tripoli; II. Cristina.
Madhouse Cells; I. [Johannes Agricola.]; II. [Porphyria.]
Through the Metidja to Abd-el-Kadr. 1842.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin; a Child's Story.
IV. The Return of the Druses. A Tragedy, in Five Acts. 1843.
V. A Blot in the 'Scutcheon. A Tragedy, in Three Acts. 1843.
[Second Edition, same year.]
VI. Colombe's Birthday. A Play, in Five Acts. 1844.
VII. Dramatic Romances and Lyrics. 1845.
`How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix. (16--.)'
Pictor Ignotus. (Florence, 15--.)
Italy in England.
England in Italy. (Piano di Sorrento.)
The Lost Leader.
The Lost Mistress.
Home Thoughts, from Abroad.
The Tomb at St. Praxed's: (Rome, 15--.)
Garden Fancies; I. The Flower's Name;
II. Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis.
France and Spain; I. The Laboratory (Ancien Regime);
II. Spain -- The Confessional.
The Flight of the Duchess.
Earth's Immortalities.
Song. (`Nay but you, who do not love her.')
The Boy and the Angel.
Night and Morning; I. Night; II. Morning.
Claret and Tokay.
Saul. (Part I.)
Time's Revenges.
The Glove. (Peter Ronsard loquitur.)
VIII. and last. Luria; and A Soul's Tragedy. 1846.
This publication has seemed entitled to a detailed notice,
because it is practically extinct, and because its nature and circumstance
confer on it a biographical interest not possessed by any subsequent issue
of Mr. Browning's works. The dramas and poems of which it is composed
belong to that more mature period of the author's life, in which
the analysis of his work ceases to form a necessary part of his history.
Some few of them, however, are significant to it; and this is notably the case
with `A Blot in the 'Scutcheon'.
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.
`A Blot in the 'Scutcheon' was written for Macready, who meant to perform
the principal part; and we may conclude that the appeal for it was urgent,
since it was composed in the space of four or five days.
Macready's journals must have contained a fuller reference
to both the play and its performance (at Drury Lane, February 1843)
than appears in published form; but considerable irritation
thus expressed, so the symbol was preferred. It is little to the purpose,
that such is actually one of the most familiar of the many Rabbinical
(and Patristic) acceptations of the phrase; because I confess that,
letting authority alone, I supposed the bare words, in such juxtaposition,
would sufficiently convey the desired meaning. "Faith and good works"
is another fancy, for instance, and perhaps no easier to arrive at:
yet Giotto placed a pomegranate fruit in the hand of Dante,
and Raffaelle crowned his Theology (in the `Camera della Segnatura')
with blossoms of the same; as if the Bellari and Vasari would be sure
to come after, and explain that it was merely "simbolo delle buone opere --
il qual Pomogranato fu pero\ usato nelle vesti del Pontefice
appresso gli Ebrei."'
==
The Dramas and Poems contained in the eight numbers
of `Bells and Pomegranates' were:
I. Pippa Passes. 1841.
II. King Victor and King Charles. 1842.
III. Dramatic Lyrics. 1842.
Cavalier Tunes; I. Marching Along; II. Give a Rouse;
III. My Wife Gertrude. [`Boot and Saddle'.]
Italy and France; I. Italy; II. France.
Camp and Cloister; I. Camp (French); II. Cloister (Spanish).
In a Gondola.
Artemis Prologuizes.
Waring; I.; II.
Queen Worship; I. Rudel and The Lady of Tripoli; II. Cristina.
Madhouse Cells; I. [Johannes Agricola.]; II. [Porphyria.]
Through the Metidja to Abd-el-Kadr. 1842.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin; a Child's Story.
IV. The Return of the Druses. A Tragedy, in Five Acts. 1843.
V. A Blot in the 'Scutcheon. A Tragedy, in Three Acts. 1843.
[Second Edition, same year.]
VI. Colombe's Birthday. A Play, in Five Acts. 1844.
VII. Dramatic Romances and Lyrics. 1845.
`How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix. (16--.)'
Pictor Ignotus. (Florence, 15--.)
Italy in England.
England in Italy. (Piano di Sorrento.)
The Lost Leader.
The Lost Mistress.
Home Thoughts, from Abroad.
The Tomb at St. Praxed's: (Rome, 15--.)
Garden Fancies; I. The Flower's Name;
II. Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis.
France and Spain; I. The Laboratory (Ancien Regime);
II. Spain -- The Confessional.
The Flight of the Duchess.
Earth's Immortalities.
Song. (`Nay but you, who do not love her.')
The Boy and the Angel.
Night and Morning; I. Night; II. Morning.
Claret and Tokay.
Saul. (Part I.)
Time's Revenges.
The Glove. (Peter Ronsard loquitur.)
VIII. and last. Luria; and A Soul's Tragedy. 1846.
This publication has seemed entitled to a detailed notice,
because it is practically extinct, and because its nature and circumstance
confer on it a biographical interest not possessed by any subsequent issue
of Mr. Browning's works. The dramas and poems of which it is composed
belong to that more mature period of the author's life, in which
the analysis of his work ceases to form a necessary part of his history.
Some few of them, however, are significant to it; and this is notably the case
with `A Blot in the 'Scutcheon'.
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.
`A Blot in the 'Scutcheon' was written for Macready, who meant to perform
the principal part; and we may conclude that the appeal for it was urgent,
since it was composed in the space of four or five days.
Macready's journals must have contained a fuller reference
to both the play and its performance (at Drury Lane, February 1843)
than appears in published form; but considerable irritation