She is so strong that she would be masculine; but so tender that
she is entirely feminine: at once one of the most vigorous of poets and
one of the best of women. She has attained the first rank among the
English poets.
ROBERT BROWNING.--As a poet of decided individuality, which has gained for
him many admirers, Browning claims particular mention. His happy marriage
has for his fame the disadvantage that he gave his name to a greater
poet; and it is never mentioned without an instinctive thought of her
superiority. Many who are familiar with her verses have never read a line
of her husband. This is in part due to a mysticism and an intense
subjectivity, which are not adapted to the popular comprehension. He has
chosen subjects unknown or uninteresting to the multitude of readers, and
treats them with such novelty of construction and such an affectation of
originality, that few persons have patience to read his poems.
Robert Browning was born, in 1812, at Camberwell; and after a careful
education, not at either of the universities, (for he was a dissenter,) he
went at the age of twenty to Italy, where he eagerly studied the history
and antiquity to be found in the monasteries and in the remains of the
mediaeval period.
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