Life of Robert Browning [28]
a great poet, philosophical as well as dramatic."
The author of this enthusiastic and important critique was John Forster.
When the `Examiner' review appeared the two young men had not met:
but the encounter, which was to be the seed of so fine a flower of friendship,
occurred before the publication of the `New Monthly' article. Before this,
however, Browning had already made one of the most momentous acquaintanceships
of his life.
His good friend and early critic, Mr. Fox, asked him to his house
one evening in November, a few months after the publication of "Paracelsus".
The chief guest of the occasion was Macready, then at the height
of his great reputation. Mr. Fox had paved the way for the young poet,
but the moment he entered he carried with him his best recommendation.
Every one who met Browning in those early years of his buoyant manhood
seems to have been struck by his comeliness and simple grace of manner.
Macready stated that he looked more like a poet than any man he had ever met.
As a young man he appears to have had a certain ivory delicacy of colouring,
what an old friend perhaps somewhat exaggeratedly described to me
as an almost flower-like beauty, which passed ere long
into a less girlish and more robust complexion. He appeared
taller than he was, for he was not above medium height,
partly because of his rare grace of movement, and partly from
a characteristic high poise of the head when listening intently
to music or conversation. Even then he had that expressive wave o' the hand,
which in later years was as full of various meanings
as the `Ecco' of an Italian. A swift alertness pervaded him,
noticeable as much in the rapid change of expression,
in the deepening and illuming colours of his singularly expressive eyes,
and in his sensitive mouth, with the upper lip ever so swift
to curve or droop in response to the most fluctuant emotion,
as in his greyhound-like apprehension, which so often grasped the subject
in its entirety before its propounder himself realised its significance.
A lady, who remembers Browning at that time, has told me that his hair --
then of a brown so dark as to appear black -- was so beautiful
in its heavy sculpturesque waves as to attract frequent notice.
Another, and more subtle, personal charm was his voice,
then with a rare flute-like tone, clear, sweet, and resonant.
Afterwards, though always with precise clarity, it became
merely strong and hearty, a little too loud sometimes,
and not infrequently as that of one simulating keen immediate interest
while the attention was almost wholly detached.
Macready, in his Journal,* about a week later than the date
of his first meeting with the poet, wrote -- "Read `Paracelsus',
a work of great daring, starred with poetry of thought, feeling, and diction,
but occasionally obscure: the writer can scarcely fail
to be a leading spirit of his time." The tragedian's house,
whither he went at week-ends and on holidays, was at Elstree,
a short distance to the northward of Hampstead: and there
he invited Browning, among other friends, to come on the last day of December
and spend New Year's Day (1836).** When alluding, in after years,
to this visit, Browning always spoke of it as one of the red-letter days
of his life. It was here he first met Forster, with whom he at once formed
what proved to be an enduring friendship; and on this occasion, also,
that he was urged by his host to write a poetic play.
--
* For many interesting particulars concerning Macready and Browning,
and the production of "Strafford", etc., see the `Reminiscences', vol. 1.
** It was for Macready's eldest boy, William Charles, that Browning wrote
one of the most widely popular of his poems, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin".
It is said to have been an impromptu performance, and to have been
so little valued by the author that he hesitated about its inclusion
in "Bells and Pomegranates". It was inserted at the last moment,
in the third number, which was short of "copy". Some one (anonymous,
The author of this enthusiastic and important critique was John Forster.
When the `Examiner' review appeared the two young men had not met:
but the encounter, which was to be the seed of so fine a flower of friendship,
occurred before the publication of the `New Monthly' article. Before this,
however, Browning had already made one of the most momentous acquaintanceships
of his life.
His good friend and early critic, Mr. Fox, asked him to his house
one evening in November, a few months after the publication of "Paracelsus".
The chief guest of the occasion was Macready, then at the height
of his great reputation. Mr. Fox had paved the way for the young poet,
but the moment he entered he carried with him his best recommendation.
Every one who met Browning in those early years of his buoyant manhood
seems to have been struck by his comeliness and simple grace of manner.
Macready stated that he looked more like a poet than any man he had ever met.
As a young man he appears to have had a certain ivory delicacy of colouring,
what an old friend perhaps somewhat exaggeratedly described to me
as an almost flower-like beauty, which passed ere long
into a less girlish and more robust complexion. He appeared
taller than he was, for he was not above medium height,
partly because of his rare grace of movement, and partly from
a characteristic high poise of the head when listening intently
to music or conversation. Even then he had that expressive wave o' the hand,
which in later years was as full of various meanings
as the `Ecco' of an Italian. A swift alertness pervaded him,
noticeable as much in the rapid change of expression,
in the deepening and illuming colours of his singularly expressive eyes,
and in his sensitive mouth, with the upper lip ever so swift
to curve or droop in response to the most fluctuant emotion,
as in his greyhound-like apprehension, which so often grasped the subject
in its entirety before its propounder himself realised its significance.
A lady, who remembers Browning at that time, has told me that his hair --
then of a brown so dark as to appear black -- was so beautiful
in its heavy sculpturesque waves as to attract frequent notice.
Another, and more subtle, personal charm was his voice,
then with a rare flute-like tone, clear, sweet, and resonant.
Afterwards, though always with precise clarity, it became
merely strong and hearty, a little too loud sometimes,
and not infrequently as that of one simulating keen immediate interest
while the attention was almost wholly detached.
Macready, in his Journal,* about a week later than the date
of his first meeting with the poet, wrote -- "Read `Paracelsus',
a work of great daring, starred with poetry of thought, feeling, and diction,
but occasionally obscure: the writer can scarcely fail
to be a leading spirit of his time." The tragedian's house,
whither he went at week-ends and on holidays, was at Elstree,
a short distance to the northward of Hampstead: and there
he invited Browning, among other friends, to come on the last day of December
and spend New Year's Day (1836).** When alluding, in after years,
to this visit, Browning always spoke of it as one of the red-letter days
of his life. It was here he first met Forster, with whom he at once formed
what proved to be an enduring friendship; and on this occasion, also,
that he was urged by his host to write a poetic play.
--
* For many interesting particulars concerning Macready and Browning,
and the production of "Strafford", etc., see the `Reminiscences', vol. 1.
** It was for Macready's eldest boy, William Charles, that Browning wrote
one of the most widely popular of his poems, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin".
It is said to have been an impromptu performance, and to have been
so little valued by the author that he hesitated about its inclusion
in "Bells and Pomegranates". It was inserted at the last moment,
in the third number, which was short of "copy". Some one (anonymous,