ABSTRACT
With only a fourth part of the complete work before us, there is as yet no adequate material for criticism. We see the subject, and have a glimpse of the manner in which it is to be treated. The theme is an Italian tragedy, and lies in that department to which English taste, narrow and rigid, usually expresses its repugnance by labelling it as morbid anatomy; persons with a less popular theory of art will find no objection in this, holding no subject morbid, but only treatment. That in his mode of handling a theme, at any rate, Mr. Browning is never morbid, needs not be said. Of all contemporary poets he is the most healthy, life-like, and human in his style and colour. In this, its first instalment, his new work abounds in ripe qualities, in variety of presentation, and in strength of fibre. Of course, it ‘is not meant for little people or for fools’. Those who mark the construction of the poem will see a reason for its appearance in instalments, provided people read it as it is published; for it ensures that slow and prolonged absorption of the story which is essential to the success of the method in which it is composed.
