HH A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 1849. J-roiu a Crayon Draxving by Lowes Dickenson. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WRITINGS IN PROSE AND VERSE OF ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THOMAS J. WISE LONDON : PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY By Richard Clay & Sons, Ltd. 1918 \tfs » ** Of this Book One Hundred Copies Only have been printed. 383892 ELIZABETH BARRETT MOULTON BARRETT Born at Ccxhoe Hall, Durham, March 6th, 1806. Married Robert Browning, at St. Marylebone Church, London, September 12th, 1846. Died at Casa Guidi, Florence, June 29th, 1861. PREFACE In a series of books such as that to which the present work belongs, it is fitting that an early volume should be devoted to the bibliography of the Writings of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The original editions of Mrs. Browning's poems are of more literary importance, as distinct from their interest as * First Editions/ than those of the majority of Nine- teenth Century authors. Throughout her entire lifetime she consistently altered and revised her verses to an extent exceeded only by Landor and Wordsworth, and equalled only by Byron. Not even Tennyson introduced more frequent changes into his text. In this she differed from her husband, who admitted finding a difficulty in amending his lines when once a poem had ' stiffened in the mould.' I anticipate that no little curiosity will be excited by a perusal of the second portion of the present Bibliography, which deals with the first appearances of individual poems. From the moment when her productive life reached maturity until the close of her career Elizabeth Browning x PREFACE. found herself in full sympathy with American readers, and the number of her best-known poems which were originally contributed to American magazines and news- papers is remarkable. The Cry of the Human, Catarina to Camoens, The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point, Garibaldi, and many others, first saw the light in the pages of American periodical literature. No wonder that in June, 1850, she wrote to Miss Mi.tford ' I thank and love America.' It is a pleasant duty to offer my sincere thanks to those friends who have lent me their ready and whole-hearted assistance in the preparation of the present Bibliography, with the result that I have no hesitation in claiming that the latter is both accurate and complete. Mrs. Luther S. Livingston, of the Harry Widener Memorial Library at Harvard, and Mr. W. N. C. Carlton, librarian of the New- berry Library, Chicago, both expended much time and trouble in helping me to trace such portion of Mrs. Browning's work as first appeared in the American Press. Mrs. Reginald Smith and Miss Ethel Murray Smith very courteously permitted me to examine the Browning Manuscripts in their possession. Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, K.C.B., of the British Museum, the informed editor of Mrs. Browning's Works, promptly Sought to solve any difficulty I placed before him. Mr. J. A. Spoor, of Chicago, furnished me with photographs of his wonderful copy of Poems Before Congress. Mr. Herbert T. Butler not only lent me with his usual generosity scarce editions from his choice library, but once more read my successive proofs, and by so doing helped to free my pages from slips and PREFACE. xi errors by which they might otherwise have been dis- figured. The facsimiles I have given from Mrs, Browning's MSS., together with other illustrations, are certainly numerous. I think they will be found sufficiently interest- ing to warrant their inclusion. Thomas J. Wise. 25, Heath Drive, ~ Hampstead, N \W '. CONTENTS PART I.— EDITIONES PRINCIPES PAGE Preface ...... ix The Battle of Marathon : First Edition, 1820 • ' • • 5 Facsimile Reprint, 189 1 10 An Essay on Mind, 1826 . 13 Prometheus Bound, 1833 21 The Seraphim, and Other Poems, 1838 . 24 Poems : First Edition, 1844 • " • -39 Second Edition, 1850 . . 61 Third Edition, 1853 . . . . 67 Fourth Edition, 1856 . . 67 Fifth Edition, 1862 . 68 Sixth Edition, 1864 . 68 CONTENTS. Sonnets, 1847 The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point, 1849 Casa Guidi Windows, 1851 Two Poems, 1854 .... Aurora Leigh : First Edition, 1857 The Swinburne Edition, 1898 Poems Before Congress, i860 Last Poems, 1862 . The Greek Christian Poets, 1863 . Psyche Apocalypte, 1876 Letters to R. H. Horne, 1877 " . • The Religious Opinions of Elizabeth Barrett Browning First Edition, Privately Printed, 1896 . First Published Edition, 1906 The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1897 The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1899 . A Song, 1907 Leila. A Tale, 1913 . The Enchantress, and Other Poems, 191 3 Epistle to a Canary, 1913 )'AGE 71 84 94 102 104 108 in 119 124 126 129 *33 134 136 138 141 i47 148 CONTENTS. xv I' AGE The Poet's Enchiridion, 1914 152 Unpublished Poems and Stories, with an Inedited Autobiography, 1914 154 New Poems, 1914 . 161 Letters to Robert Browning and Other Correspondents, 1916. . . . . . . • . . 168 Tile Art of Scansion, 1916 . . ■ . . . . 174 Kind Words from a Sick Room, 1891 . . . t\ 175 Note: ''Only a Curl,'''' 1861 . . . . 176 PART II. Contributions to Periodical Literature, etc. . . 181 PART III. Collected Editions . . . . . . . 223 PART IV. Browningiana : Complete Volumes of Biography and Criticism 2^1 PART I. EDITIONES PRINCIPES, etc. B 2 THE ; ^y BATTLE OF MARATHON. A POEM.. -•< Behold What care employs me now, my vows I pay To tfie sweet Muses, tcacliers of my yonlh !" Akenside. 1 " Ancient of days ! August AUiena ! Where, Where are thy men of might, thy grand in soul? Gone—glimmering through the dream of thing* that m First in the race that led to glory'* goal, They won, and past away." B\i!o.n. BY E. B. BARRETT Eontron : PKIXTED FOR W. LIXDSELE, 87, WIMPOLE- STREET, CAVENDISH-SQUARE. PART L EDITIONES PRINCIPES, etc. M [The Battle of Marathon : 1820] The / Battle of Marathon. / A Poem. / " Behold j What care employs me now, my vows I pay j To the sweet Muses, teachers of my youth ! " / Akenside. / " Ancient of days ! August Athena ! Where, j Where are thy men of might, thy grand in soul ? j Gone — glimmering through the dream of things that were, j First in the race that led to glory s goal, j They ivon, and past away" Byron. / By E. B. Barrett. / London : / Printed for W. Lindsell, 87, Wimpole- / Street, Cavendish-Square. / 1820. Collation : — Demy octavo, pp. xvi + 72 ; consisting of : Title-page, as above (with imprint " Printed by Gold and Walton, j 24, W ardour-street, Soho," at the foot of the reverse) pp. i — ii ; Dedication (to her Father, with blank reverse) pp. iii — iv ; Preface pp. v — xv, p. xvi is blank ; Text of Book I pp. '6 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. I — 17 ; p. 18 is blank ; Fly-title to Book II (with blank reverse) pp. 19 — 20 ; Text of Book II pp. 21 — 37 ; p. 38 is blank ; Fly-title to Book III (with blank reverse) pp. 39 — 40 ; Text of Book III pp. 41—56 ; Fly-title to Book IV (with blank reverse) pp. 57 — 58 ; and Text of Book IV pp. 59 — 72. There are no head-lines, the pages being numbered centrally in Arabic numerals. The signatures are a (one sheet of 8 leaves) ; A to D (four sheets, each 8 leaves), and E (a half -sheet of 4 leaves). The book was issued without any half-title. Issued as a ' stabbed ' pamphlet, with untrimmed edges, and without wrappers. The leaves measure 8| x 5 J inches. Fifty copies only were printed. A greatly reduced facsimile of the title-page is given herewith. Contents PAGE The Battle of Marathon. Book I. [The war of Greece with Persia's haughty King] . 1 The Battle of Marathon. Book II. [When from the briny deep, the orient morn] 21 The Battle of Marathon. Book III. [When from the deep the hour's eternal sway] 4 1 The Battle of Marathon. Book IV. [And now the mom by Jove to mortals given] 59 The Battle of Marathon was Mrs. Browning's first book, and is a volume of high rarity. So far as I have been able to ascer- tain, seven copies only have up to the present been recovered. There is as yet no example in the British Museum, neither is the book to be found upon the shelves of any other public library in Edit/ones principes, etc. 7 this country. There is, however, a copy in the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, at Harvard, U.S.A. A second is included in the library of the late Mr. John H. Wrenn, of Chicago, now the property of the University of Texas. A third is in the collection of Mr. Bernard Buchanan Macgeorge, of Glasgow. A fourth was formerly in the Rowfant Library, and is now in American ownership. Several of the surviving copies of the book bear autograph inscriptions. These are usually expressed in the third person, and are consequently without signature. For example, Mr. Locker-Lampson's copy was inscribed " Elizabeth trusts that dear Mrs. [James*] will, with her wonted kindness, accept this little offering," and Mr. Wrenn's was addressed to her uncle, S. M. Barrett. The Harry Widener copy formerly belonged to Mr. William Harris Arnold, in the sale of whose library at New York in May, 1901, it realised $425. The work has twice made its appearance in an English auction-room. A particularly attractive example of the First Edition of The Battle of Marathon is in my own possession. Upon the reverse of the title-page is the following inscription in the handwriting of the young authoress : ^S^ ^^ syj't* This is, I believe, the only specimen of the book yet discovered in uncut condition in the original state as issued. The whole of the remaining copies are bound, with trimmed edges. * The inscription was mutilated by partial erasure. 8, BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. The rarity of the First Edition of The Battle of Marathon is emphasized by the fact that not only was it entirely unknown to Robert Browning until I showed him my own, then recently acquired, copy, but the very existence of the book had, until then, been disbelieved in by him. So late as August ist, 1888, he wrote me, " I have a doubt whether The Battle of Marathon, of which I have never seen a copy, may not be a fabrication." The interest attaching to The Battle of Marathon is biographical and bibliographical, rather than literary. It is a curiosity, and is of importance only as exhibiting the remarkable precocity of its authoress.* At the time of its composition she was in her four- teenth year, and was not " eleven or twelve years old," as erroneously stated in a letter she addressed to R. H. Home on October 5th, 1843. From this letter I extract the following para- graph : " The Greeks were my demi-gods, and haunted me out of Pope's Homer until I dreamt oftener of Agamemnon tlian of Moses the black pony. And thus my ' great epic ' of eleven or twelve years old, in four books and called ' The Battle of Marathon? and of which fifty copies were printed because Papa was bent upon spoiling me, is a Pope's Homer done over again — or rather undone; for although a curious production for a child, it gives evidence only of an imitative faculty and an ear, and a good deal of reading in a peculiar direction. The love of Pope's Homer threw me into Pope on one side, and into Greek on the other, and into Latin as a help to Greek — and the influence of all these tendencies is manifest so long afterwards as in my ' Essay on Mind ' — a didactic poem written when I was seventeen or eighteen,^ and long repented of as worthy of all repentance." * Her precocity, however, unusual though it was, by no means constitutes a record. Chatterton contributed verses to Felix Farley 's Journal when his age was but ten years and six weeks ; whilst Ruskin's lines On Skiddaw and Derwent Water appeared in the pages of The Spiritual Times when their author was precisely nine days less than eleven years old. \ Actually she was in her twentieth year. EDIT/ONES PRINCIPES, ETC. ERRATA FOR THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF THE BATTLE OF MARATHON. Elizabeth was served badly by her printers, or by their reader, as the following list of errors which occur in the pages of her book will show. viii. 1. 20 for independance read independence. ix. ,, 3 ,, I Iliad ,, Iliad. 8 ,, 12 ,, heralds ,, heralds'. 9 ,, 9 insert turned commas after words. 9 ,, 10 ditto before Thrice. 9 ,, 20 ditto after accurst. 9 ,, 20 ditto before to seek. 11,, 4 for darkning read darkening. 14 ,, 3 insert a ? after shall move. 14 ,, 18 ditto flow. 15 ,, 4 insert turned commas after Rome. 16 ,, 2 ditto ,, Jove bestow. 16 ,, 17 ditto ,, Chiefs. 16 ,, 19 ditto before For you. 22 ,, 13 ditto ,, Oh glorious chiefs. 22 ,, 13 ditto after ditto 22 ,, 14 ditto before For you and Sec. 22 „ 21 ditto after Greek's prepare. 22 ,, 23 ditto before Leave us. 22 ,, 23 ditto after not thus. 22 ,, 23 ditto before Oh Pylian Sage. 23 > j 3 for Athens fates read Athens' fates. 23 m 5 >> visions ,, vision's. 23 >» 7 „ give read given. 24 ,, 23 insert comma at end instead of full point. 25 ., 1 insert turned commas after impious man. 25,, 3 ditto before Where lies your. 26 ,, 3 for Senates read Senate's. 29 ,, 23 insert turned commas after Daughter of Jove,! 29 m 24 ditto before Without thy. 30 ,, 9 insert turned commas afteryiw^. IO BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. 44 49 52 54 54 54 30 1. 9 insert turned commas before unconqnered. 31 ,, 4 for Athens read Athens '. 32 ,, 5 ,, moons ,, moon's. 33 ,, II ,, Hermes ,, Hermes'. 33 „ 22 ,, Athens ,, Athens (twice). 34 „ 4 „ .? read / 35 last line for Athens read Athens'. 43 I. 21 for At hen's read Athens'. 44 ,, 9 ,, unfold ,, enfold. 17 ,, /wwx ,, lion's. 11 ,, leaders ,, leader's. 2 >> glory s ,, glories. 1 insert turned commas before Assembled Greeks. 3 for Darius read Darius'. 10 insert turned commas before /.$•#•£ the fleet. 56 ,, 11 for leaders read leader's. • 59 >> 9 >> f^«^ >• crowd. 70,, 17 ,, javelins ,, javelin's. There are numerous instances in which the mere division of lines is made to serve as punctuation, and no point has been put at the end of lines requiring one. But, as in each case the sense is sufficiently clear, these lines have not been indicated in the fore- going table. («) ( Type-facsimile Reprint : 1 89 1 ) The / Battle of Marathon / A Poem / Written in Early Youth by / Elizabeth Barrett Browning / Printed for her Father in 1820 / And now reprinted in Type- Fac-simile / With an Introduction by / H. Buxton Forman / London / For Private Distri- bution Only / 1 89 1. Collation : — Demy" octavo, pp. 16 + xvi + 72 ; con- sisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. EDIT! ONES PRINCIPE S, ETC. 13 i — 2 ; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. 3 — 4 ; Certificate of Issue (with blank reverse) pp. 5 — 6 ; Introduction pp. 7 — 13 ; p. 14 is blank ; List of Corrections (i.e. a list of errors occurring in the original edition) pp. 15 — 16 ; Facsimile of the original Title-page (with imprint upon the foot of the reverse) pp. i — ii ; Dedication (with blank reverse) pp. iii — iv ; Preface pp. v — xv ; p. xvi is blank ; Text of Book I pp. 1 — 17 ; p. 18 is blank ; Fly-title to Book II (with blank reverse) pp. 19 — 20 ; Text of Book II pp. 21 — ^7 I P- 3$ is blank ; Fly-title to Book III (with blank re- verse) pp. 39 — 40 ; Text of Book III -pp. 41 — 56 ; Fly-title to Book IV (with blank reverse) pp. 57 — 58 ; and Text of Book IV pp. 59 — 72. There, are no head-lines, the pages being numbered centrally. The signatures are a and b (two sheets, each 8 leaves), A to D (four sheets, each 8 leaves), and E (4 leaves). Issued" in drab paper boards, with white paper back- label. Fifty copies only were printed upon paper, as notified in the Certificate of Issue. Four additional copies were printed upon fine Vellum. (3) [An Essay on Mind : 1826] An / Essay on Mind, / with / Other Poems. / " Brama assai, poco spera, e nulla chiede" / Tasso. / London : / James Duncan, Paternoster Row. / MDCCCXXVI. 14 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNJNG. Collation : — Duodecimo, pp. xvi -f 152 ; consisting of : Title-page, as above (with imprint " Printed by A. Macintosh, Great New-street, London" at the foot of the reverse) pp. i — ii ; Preface iii — xiii ; p. xiv is blank ; Table of Contents p. xv ; p. xvi is blank ; Fly-title to An Essay on Mind, Book I (with blank reverse) pp. 1 — 2 ; 'Analysis of the First Book pp. 3 — 4 ; Text of Book I pp. 5 — 42 ; Fly-title to Book II (with blank reverse) pp. 43 — 44 ; Analysis of the Second Book pp. 45 — 46 ; Text of Book II pp. 47 — 88 ; Notes to Book I pp. 89 — 97 ; Notes to Book II pp. 98 — 106 ; Fly- title to Miscellaneous Poems (with blank reverse) pp. 107-108 ; and Text of the Poems pp. 109 — 152. The imprint is repeated at the foot of the last page. There are head-lines throughout ; pp. 5 — 88 are headed Essay on Mind, pp. 89 — 106 are headed Notes to Book I [Book II], and pp. 109 — 152 are headed with the titles of the Poems occupying each individual page. The signatures are A (8 leaves), B to G (six sheets, each 12 leaves), and H (4 leaves). The book was issued without any half-title. Issued in blue-grey paper * boards, backed with drab, with white paper back-label lettered, " Essay j on j Mind, / with I Other / Poems, j 5s. bds." The leaves, which are untrimmed, measure 7$ x 4! inches. A reduced fac- simile of the title-page is given herewith. * /;/ some examples the boards are wholly drab. EDI TI ONES PR1NCIPES, ETC. 15 Contents PAGE Essay on Mind. Book I. [Since Spirit first inspired, pervaded all] 5 Essay on Mind. Book 11. [But now to higher themes ! no more confined] 47 To my Father on his Birth-day. [Amidst the days of pleasant mirth,] 109 Spenserian Stanzas on a Boy of Three Years old. [Child of the sunny locks and beautiful brow !] 112 Verses to my Brother. •[/ will write down thy name, and when His writ] 114 Stanzas on the Death of Lord Byron. [He was, and is not! Gra?cia's trembling shore,] 117 Memory. [My Fancy *s steps have often strayed] 120 To •. [Mine is a wayward lay ;] 123 Stanzas Occasioned by a Passage in Mr. Emerson's Journal. [Name not his name, or look afar] 126 The Past. [There is a silence upon the Ocean] 129 The Prayer. [Methought that 1 did stand upon a tomb] . . 132 On a Picture of Riego's Widow. [Daughter of Spain ! a passer by] 134 Song. [Weep, as if you thought of laughter !] 137 The Dream. A Fragment. [1 had a dream 1 — my spirit was unbound] . . . 139 Riga's Last Song. [7 have looked my last on my native land,] 143 The Vision of Fame. [Did ye ever sit on summer noon,] . . 146 " The influence of all these tendencies [Pope's ' Homer/ and the study of Greek and Latin] is manifest so long afterwards as in my 1 Essay on Mind,' a didactic poem written when 1 was seventeen or eighteen* and long repented of as worthy of all repentance. The * As already noted, she was actually in her twentieth year. Throughout her life Elizabeth appears to have been under a misapprehension regarding the i6 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. poem is imitative in its form, yet is not without traces of an indi- vidual thinking and feeling — the bird pecks through the shell in it. With this it has a pertness and pedantry which did not even then belong to the character of its author, and which I regret now more than I do the literary defectiveness." — [Letter to R. H. Home, October $th, 1843.] The following letter addressed by Elizabeth Barrett to Sir Uvedale Price was written in reply to a series of criticisms upon the contents of the Essay on Mind volume furnished by her corre- spondent. The vigorous and able defence of her work made by the youthful poetess will certainly be read with interested attention. Hope End, June, 1826. My dear Sir, Though I received your sheet of observations at Hastings more than a fortnight ago, travelling from thence and settling here after an eleven months absence have induced me to delay writing until this morning. Giving your observations their due consideration occupies more time than feeling their kindness ; and I was anxious to speak to you of my convictions as well as of my obligation. It hardly seems real to me that my unworthy little book should receive Mr. Price's toleration, much less his approval, and this human frailty seems my exercise of a virtue — / am too proud not to be grateful. Dare I rely on your indulgence, or will you think me very pre- sumptuous if I intrude on you the few remarks which occurred to me while reading your criticism ? You object to my expression " Aonian rhyme" {and in reference to Cowley's " Pyramus and Thisbe ") on the ground of * ' Aonian leading one to suppose that in our native clime he first wrote in Greek or Latin." Why in Latin ? and if year of her birth ; and it is curious that for a considerable period after her death not the year only, but also the place, of her birth were matters of controversy. Even at the present time thejatter is not infrequently referred to as Hope End. EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 17 in Latin, why not in English ; since we have apparently as much right to call our verse Aonian as the Romans had ? The inspirers of our national poetry are the Muses — the sacred Nine — the veritable Aonides. Gray, who seems positive as to their identity, says that they " In Greece's evil hour Left their Parnassus for the Latian plains ! " and " When Latium had the lofty spirit lost, They sought, oh Albion ! next, thy sea-encircled coast." Surely if the Aonides be the inspirers, Aonian is the inspiration-- besides, as Sir John Denham says — " as Courts make not Kings but Kings the Court. So where the Muses and their train resort Parnassus stands." (Cooper's Hill.) With respect to the word " illustrate "* which I have made a dactyl " contrary to usage," I must build my defence rather on analogy than on any precedent immediately in point. I think it may be observed that among our old poets, Spenser especially, the established accent of a word often changed with its position in a line. In the following from The Faerie Queene " envy " has its present trochaic accentua- tion — " Ne wicked envy, ne vile gealosy." Directly afterwards it is a spondee — " Each other does envy with deadly hate." Here " courage " is a trochee — " One day when him high courage did emmove." Afterwards a spondee — " His stout courage to stoupe, and shew his inward paine." C 1 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. Instances of this license are to be found in Milton , though more rarely t as in " aspect/' &c. You object to my conversion of " illustrate " also because " to wa^ a vowiZ short before three consonants as str must be injurious to euphony and articulation ." TFtf /?az>£ however an instance of this in the received accentuation of the word ' circum- spect ' among others. To my expression 1 ' Science' soaring sons " you say in objection — " Such an elision as this, and afterwards ' prejudice/ / do not remember to have seen made use of, except in proper names, as ' the wrath of Peleus' son.' " / believe a similar elision may be found in The Dunciad — " On Dulness' lap the sacred head reposed." To your other instructive criticisms I thankfully accede ; and if the remarks I have ventured to make in these instances be thought by you presumptuous (and they almost seem so to myself) let me beseech you to forget them — only remembering what I must always remember with pleasure, That I am, Dear Sir, Most gratefully yours, E. B. B. There exist two Manuscripts of An Essay on Mind, but unfortu- nately both are imperfect. They were sold together (with the MSS. of two other poems, and a presentation copy of the book added) as Lot 117 in the Browning Sale at Messrs. Sotheby's Rooms on Friday, May 2nd, 1913, and realised £192. On February 25th, 1918, both MSS. again occurred for sale at Sotheby's. Upon this occasion they were catalogued separately. The first MS., Lot 2854, 77 pp. 4to, sold for £48 ; the second MS., Lot 2855, 90 pp. 4to, sold for £66. An Essay on Mind, with Other Poems, was reprinted complete, together with the Miscellaneous Poems from the succeeding volume C 2 PROMETHEUS BOUND. TRANSLATED FROM THE GREER OF AESCHYLUS. AND MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, BY THE TRANSLATOR) JOR OF " AS ESSAY O.N MIND," WITH OTlfST: IflfM Th irplv llkv k&Wigtss — — MlMNERMCJ *KyyvQ-AGB Stanzas. [I may sing ; but minstrel's singing] 321 The Young Queen. [The shroud is yet unspread] .... 323 Previously printed in The Athenaum, July 1st, 1837, p. 483. Victoria's Tears. [0 Maiden ! heir of kings !] 328 Previously printed in The Athenaum, July 8th, 1837, p. 506. Vanities. [Could ye be very blest in hearkening] 332 Bereavement. [When some Beloveds, 'neath whose eyelids lay] 335 Consolation. [All are not taken 1 there are left behind] . . 336 A Supplication for Love : Hymn I. [God, named Love, whose fount thou art,] ^ . . . 337 The Mediator : Hymn II. [How high Thou art ! our songs can own] 340 The Weeping Saviour : Hymn III. [When Jesus' friend had ceased to be.] ...... # 342 The Weeping Saviour was apparently written as early as 1833, and the title originally bestowed upon the poem was The Tears of Jesus. In a copy of the first edition of Prometheus Bound, pre- sented by Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Maddox, with an inscription dated • Dec. 18, 1833,' the verses are written in full upon the end fly-leaf. I give a facsimile of this interesting MS. The volume in which it is inscribed is in the library of Mr. Herbert T. Butler. The Measure : Hymn IV. [God, the Creator, with a pulseless hand] . . » > 344 Cowper's Grave. [It is a place where poets crowned] . . . 346 The Weakest Thing. [Which is the weakest thing of all] . 354 The Name'. [/ have a name, a little name,] ...,..*.. 356 In Poems, 1850 (Vol. ii, pp. 383 — 386) the title was extended to The Pet-Name. Note. — Each poem to which no reference is attached appeared for the first time in this volume. There is a copy of the First Edition of The Seraphim and Other Poems, 1838, in the Library of the British Museum. The Press- mark is 994. f. 3. &&%&:/& ZFsrzjr fc***?m e, ^r^r *>£/Asi*. <5e-^ «6 •■ v-y, !• > ' . , / ■ .' ". • ' .-.".■••■ ■"* ■ '- & /«r7C€ ' tch »s n> JAeoiA /tH on i ** " '■ ■ ^ ?■■< • *m*/{&0 <* /^v • *, sins!* \ ■ 4%,t( <^ ^A4#/w//7l (. -AV EDITIONES PRINCIPE S, ETC. 43 Contents Vol. 1. pac;e A Drama of Exile. [Hail Gabriel, the keeper of the gate /] . 3 I give herewith a reduced facsimile of two pages of the Original Manuscript of A Drama of Exile. These pages carry the text as printed in 1844 from p. 53, 1. 13, to p. 55, last line. Sonnets : The Soul's Expression. [With stammering lips and in- sufficient sound,] 123 Previously printed in Graham's Magazine, July, 1 843, p. 34. The Seraph and Poet. [The seraph sings before the manifest] 124 Previously printed in Graham's Magazine, August, 1843, p. 71. On a Portrait of Wordsworth, by R. B. Haydon. [Wordsworth upon Helvellyn! Let the cloud] 125 Previously printed (under the tentative title On Mr. Hay Jon's Portrait of Mr. Wordsworth) in The Athenceum, October 29I//, 1842, p. 932. Past and Future. [My future will not copy fair my past] 126 Irreparableness. [/ have been in the meadows all the day] 127 Tears. [Thank God, bless God, all ye who suffer not] ... 128 Grief. [I tell you, hopeless grief is passionless — ] .... 129 Previously printed (as Sonnet i, without title) in Graham's Magazine, December, 1842, p. 303. Substitution. \W hen some beloved voice that was to you] . 130 Previously printed (as Sonnet ii, without title) in Graham's Magazine, December, 1842, p. 303. Comfort. [Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet] . 131 Perplexed Music. [Experience, like a pale musician, holds] 132 Work. [What are we set on earth for ? Say, to toil — ] . 133 Previously printed (as Sonnet Hi, without title) in Graham's Magazine, December, 1842, p. 303. 44 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. PAGE Futurity. [And, O beloved voices, upon which] 134 The Two Sayings. [Two sayings of the Holy Scriptures beat] 135 The Look. [The Saviour looked on Peter. Ay, no word] . 136 The Meaning of the Look. [/ think that look of Christ might seem to say] 137 A thought for a Lonely Death-bed. [7/ God compel thee to this destiny] 138 Work and Contemplation. [The woman singeth at her spinning-wheel] 139 Previously printed (as Sonnet w t without title) in Graham's Magazine, December, 1842, p. 303. Pain in Pleasure. [A thought lay like a flower upon mine hearty , . 14° Previously printed in Graham's Magazine, August, 1844, p. 65. An Apprehension. [If all the gentlest-hearted friends I know] ^ . . > 14 1 Discontent. [Light human nature is too lightly tost] ... 142 Patience Taught by Nature. [" dreary life ! " we cry," dreary life!"] , 143 Cheerfulness Taught by Reason. [/ think we are too ready with complaint] . . , 144 Exaggeration. [We overstate the ills of life, and take] . . 145 Adequacy. [Now by the verdure on thy thousand hills] . . 146 To George Sand. A Desire. [Thou large-brained woman and large-hearted man] 147 To George Sand. A Recognition. [True genius, but true woman t dost deny] r 148 The Prisoner. (7 count the dismal time by months and years] . , . , 149 Insufficiency. [When I attain to utter forth in verse] . . 150 The Romaunt of the Page. [A knight of gallant deeds]. 153 Previously prinled in Findens Tableaux, 1839, pp. 1—5. EDIT! ONES PR INC IP ES, ETC. 45 PAGE The Lay of the Brown Rosary. [" Onora, Onora"— her mother is calling] 1 7 3 Previously printed (under the tentative title Legend of (he Brown Rosary) in Finderis Tableaux ; 1840, pp. 15—21. The Mournful Mother. [Dost thou weep, mournful mother] « 202 In Poems 1850, Vol. ii, p. 387, the title was amended to The Mourning Mother. • A Valediction. [God be with thee my beloved, — God be with thee!] 206 Lady Geraldine's Courtship. [Dear my friend and fellow- student, I would lean my spirit o'er you] . . . . . 209 Vol. II. A Vision of Poets. [A Poet could not sleep aright] . . . . 3 Rhyme of the Duchess May. [In the belfry, one by one, zvent the ringers from the sun]. . .• 63 The Lady's Yes. ["Yes/" I answered you last night ;]. . 96 Previously printed in Graham's Magazine, January \ 1844, p. 18. The Poet and the Bird. [Said a people to a poet — M Go out from among us straightway I] . . . . . 9S The Lost Bower. [In the pleasant orchard closes] 100 A Child Asleep. [How he sleepeth ! having drunken] ... 123 Previously printed (under the tentative title The Dream) in Finderis Tableaux, 1840, pp. 7 — 8. The Cry of the Children. [Do ye hear the children weeping, my brothers] 127 Previously printed in BlackivooiVs Magazine, August, 1843, pp. 260—262. Crowned and Wedded. [When last before her people's face her own fair face she bent] 136 Previously printed (under the tentative title The Crowned and Wedded Queen) in The Athenaum, February 15th, 1840, p. 131. 46 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. PAGE Crowned and Buried. [Napoleon /—years ago, and that great word] i j.2 Previously printed (under the tentative title Napoleon's Return) in The Athenaum, July ^th, 1840, p. 532. To Flush, My Dog. [Loving friend , the gift of one] .... 152 Previously printed in The Athenaeum, July 22nd, 1843, p. 670. Upon the first page of a letter addressed by her to H. R. Home, Elizabeth sketched a portrait-head of Flush. I give a facsimile of this page. It will be observed that the sketch bears a striking resemblance to the portrait engraved by T. O. Barlow of Elizabeth hersel f. The Fourfold Aspect. [When ye stood up in the house] . . 159 A Flower in a Letter. [My lonely chamber next the sea] . . 166 In its original manuscript form this poem bore the tentative title A Madrigal of Flowers, and the first line of the second stanza commenced A hundred flowers instead of A thousand flowers as in the published version. The Cry of the Human. [" There is no God" the foolish saith, — ] 173 Previously printed, but with a widely differing text, in the Boston Miscellany of Literature and Fashion, Vol. ii, November, 1842, pp. 197—199- A Lay of the Early Rose. [A rose once grew within] . . 180 Bertha in the Lane. [Put the broidery-frame away] ... 191 That Day. [/ stand by the river where both of us stood] . . 203 An early version of these stanzas, the text of which differs greatly from that here published, was printed under the title Song in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1914, Vol. ii, pp. 174 — 175. Loved Once. [/ classed, appraising once,] 205 Previously printed (the first line reading, " I classed and counted once ") in Graham's Magazine, March, 1844, p. ICO. A Rhapsody of Life's Progress. [We are borne into life — it is sweet, it is strange !] . »••. -:•;'•• 209 /ft**.* M si. tffl. *%~&-£&*t/^ «*/ -6 //7tr/r~~/\ ?* t/ tcr^/lT* &k n. iS '-Cav, & C*>cVt7c5> J £££ % EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 49 PAGE L. E. L.'s Last Question. [' Do you think of me as I think of you] 219 Previously printed in The A t he nceum, January 26th, 1839, p. 69. The House of Clouds. [/ would build a cloudy House] . . 223 Previously printed in The Athemeum, August 21st, 1841, p. 643. Catarina to Camoens. [On the door you will not enter,] . . 229 Previously printed in Graham's Magazine, October, 1843, p. 208. An early draft of Catarina to Camoens was printed in The Poets' Enchiridion, &c, 1914, pp. 47 — 49 ; and again in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1914, Vol. ii, pp. 185—186. A Portrait. [/ will paint her as 1 see her 1] . 237 The Portrait was of her cousin, Georgina Barrett. Sleeping and Watching. [Sleep on, baby, on the floor] . . 241 Previously printed (under the tentative title The Child and the Watcher) in Graham's Magazine, September, 1843, p. 158. Wine of Cyprus. [If old Bacchus were the speaker] .... 244 The Romance of the Swan's Nest. [Little Elite sits alone] 254 Lessons from the Gorse. [Mountain gorses, ever-golden !] . 260 Previously printed in The Atheimum, October 2yd, 1841, p. 810. The Dead Pan. [Gods of Hellas, gods of Hellas] 262 Note. — Each poem to which no reference is attached, appeared for the first time in these volumes. The following hitherto unpublished letter, addressed by Elizabeth Barrett to Hugh Stuart Boyd on December 12th, 1843, deals largely with the genesis of A Drama of Exile. It would appear from it that the title first chosen for the poem was The First Day of Exile. The holograph of this letter was generously placed at my disposal by its present owners, Messrs. Maggs Bros., of 34~& 35, Conduit Street, W. E 50 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. December \\2th~\, 1843. Tuesday. My very dear Friend, You must have thought that either your abbey had passed its chimes upon me, or that something worse had happened in my forgetting you. Day after day I have wished to write to you, and thought of you both by day time and night time, though I did not write. Forgive me. Sometimes I have not been well, and sometimes I have had so much other necessary writing to do, that I scarcely knew how to procure my manumission. And then you had the satisfaction of the last ivord in the opium argument — a very great comfort, be it avowed, whether to man or woman 1 1 For the rest, although the silence seemed to say so, I assure you I am not left actually dead upon the field of battle. Before I fell dead I should want to know a good deal that I don't know yet, about dates and manuscripts. Surely the testimony of the Highland Society — who investigated the subject with the zeal of patriots and the acuteness of antiquarians, and came to the conclusion that not a single MS. was extant in the form of the Macpherson pseudo-translations — surely, surely such a testimony is not to be overthrown by one individual hastily I You see I am in the dark. This literal version you speak of, I never saw. You will admit that I cannot be expected to drop my sword to you, without further information and evidence. ' ' Oh. She is the most obstinate of human beings." ! ! H.S.B. I am very busy about my new book, which will come out in the spring, but of which not a page is printed yet. If you say of the poetry in it, that I am "fallen off," or even not improved in some respects, you will avenge Ossian. My own opinion of myself is, that I have made some progress, that I have more strength and more variety in expression. After all it makes me tremble to think of you, and I fear, I fear, that you will not indeed like, as I would have you, my " Vision of Poets," since you begin with a distaste {which I do not think unjust) towards the form of versification. It was unfortunate, the selection of that form. But in commencing the poem I did not EDITIONES P RING I PES, ETC. 51 pre-meditate the length of it, and for a short poem the measure is less important. I am now in the midst of another poem, the subject of which seized on me and would not let me go until I wrote on it. The title may perhaps be, " The first Day of Exile," the subject being the sorrows of our first parents when cast out, or especially the grief of Eve, under that reproach of her soul which must have afflicted her with so peculiar an agony. It is a poem in the dramatic form — a sort of masque : and is, like Comus, in blank verse, with lyrics interspersed, and about eight hundred lines are written already. I never wrote anything so fast I think — but, after all, I am by no means sure that I shall like it well enough to print it. The dramatic persons are the Angel Gabriel, Satan, Adam, Eve, the Spirit of the Earth and Elements, the Spirit of the Animal Creation, and perhaps the Christ. What do you think ? Is it a subject susceptible of good ? Shall I do it ? Well, if I don't, I have many poems more than enough to make a book without it. I shall take your advice about printing the ballads — but — oh you are not serious, my dearest Mr. Boyd, in suggesting the leaving out of " Flush " ? leave out Flush 1 1 Why for love's sake I could not do it. I shall make some alterations and leave out a little, but the public must have an introduction to Flushie — to say nothing of His Highness Prince Posterity. And then again, you must excuse me from the animal magnetism. It is precisely because I believe in it that I am averse to having recourse to it. Do you not understand ? I shrink from the mystery which seems to consist in placing the spiritual being, and the will, into dependence on another spiritual being and will, and by means unguessed at by the reason. Is there nothing in this abnegation of the personal entity from which you yourself would not shrink ? Mary Minto, who has frequently been cast into magnetic trances herself, wanted me to let her send a lock of my hair to a chief Rabbi of the magneiisers in Paris, that he might pronounce on the complaint of the owner and its best remedy. But, I said a positive ' No.' " How wise you were," said Mr. Kenyon and Miss Mil ford to me. " Hew foolish you E 2 52 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. were," says Mr. Boyd. But my dearest friend, would it have been wise of me to place myself in relation, for doubtful good or possible evil, with these mysteries ? And then you know, or you do not know perhaps, what a fanciful nature I am tormented by sometimes. If I had parted with that lock of hair, Queen Mab would have been with me day and night. I should have seen visions and dreamt dreams. And, through the thick of them, a great French disembodied spirit would have floated, peering about the room, and causing my flesh to creep with cold magnetic testimonies of a ' Presence? And then, do you remember the harm which all the old witches {whom I am beginning to believe in) did with a lock of hair ? What charms of horror were wrought by it ! And, finally, 1 have read in Baron Dupotet and Dr. Stone's book upon mesmerism that in cases of the chest, it will not avail, and that spitting of blood has been brought on very violently by attempting to cast the patient into sleep. This I can believe, because in all such cases, the circulation is too quick — and one of the certain effects of the magnetic action, is the quickening of the pulse. This is reasonable, is it not ? whatever that may be, on the other page, about witches. What a letter ! The worst of me is, that whenever I begin, there is no getting to the end of me. Forgive me, because it is the same with my friendship for you. I began with regarding you very much, and you certainly never will see the end of it. Not that you care for that. May God bless you. I hope that Annie's being settled so near you, may be a cause of a great deal of pleasure and comfort to you. Arabel talks of going to see you both, but just at present she has a cold. Dearest Mr. Boyd's Affectionate and grateful Elizabeth B. Barrett. The following passage, extracted from a letter addressed by- Elizabeth Barrett to R. H. Home, throws a still more vivid light upon the genesis of A Drama of Exile. The letter was written on December 20th, 1843, eight days later than that to Hugh Stuart EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 53 Boyd printed above. In the meantime the title of the Drama had been expanded to The First Day's Exile from Eden, and the eight hundred completed lines had increased to a thousand. It is curious to reflect that the poem which ultimately held the place of honour in the new volumes, and which lent its name to furnish the title for the American edition, should have been hesitatingly added to the copy which for ' more than a year ' had been regarded as ' ready.' ' ' A volume full of MSS. had been ready for more than a year, when suddenly, a short time ago, when I fancied I had no heavier work than to make copy and corrections, I fell upon a fragment of a sort of masque on ' The First Day's Exile from Eden ' — or rather, it fell upon me, and beset me till I would finish it. I cannot tell you even now whether I shall end by printing it — only if I do print it, it must take a first place in the book— so that everything has come to a stand until it is -finished, and I decide. From the twenty lines I found, I have run into a thousand already — blank verse and lyric intermixtures, and in the dramatic form ; a masque, I shall call it ; and after all, nobody in the world may ever see it except myself ; and I reserve my judgment on it. The object is the development of the peculiar anguish of Eve — the fate of woman at its root — and the first step of Humanity into the world-wilderness , driven by the Curse. You, know Milton leaves the first parents in Eden ; through Eden they ' take their solitary way' I meet them flying along the great sword-glare I Then, I have Voices of Eden, Spirits in farewell, and lyrical reproaches of Spirits of the Earth and Animal nature. The wanderers find themselves in an earthly Zodiac — Shadows of fallen life answering to the starry Shapes of those twelve signs, of which Orion knows — and terrifying the Exiles in the desert, when the first exile-sun has gone down, with a vision of future desolation. At last, Christ appearing, pacifies and reconciles, — and the Heavenly Zodiac shining out, chases the Earthly one underneath, and leaves nothing but the starlight on the ground. 54 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. This is a sketch — not very definite. Besides, there is a Satan, and an Angel Gabriel, and some choral angels. Tell me how it strikes you. Is it likely to be aught or nought f It is better in the doing than in the saying — as I have said it here — but still I doubt. The principal interest is set on Eve; the 'first in the transgression.' 1 First in the transgression ' has been said over and over again, because of the tradition — but first and deepest in the sorrow, nobody seems to have said, or, at least, written of, as conceiving." One of the most successful, and in every way one of the most attractive, of Mrs. Browning's poems,* The Dead Pan, made its first appearance in this edition of 1844. A considerable corre- spondence regarding it (printed in Vol. i of her Letters, 1897) passed between Elizabeth and her cousin John Kenyon, whose own translation of Schiller's Gods of Greece had excited its composition. The poem, as she asserted, ' was not written in a desultory, frag- mentary way, but with a design, which leaves its whole burden on the last stanzas.' Many letters also were exchanged by R. H. Home and the poetess regarding the rhymes employed in The Dead Pan. This correspondence is given at some length in the second volume of the Letters to R. H. Home, 1877, pp. 1 13-125. On December 20th, 1843, she wrote — " / have almost a mind to send you a MS. poem, which is short enough and happy enough to have had some MS. reputation, because Mr. Kenyon took it into his head that it was ( the best thing I ever wrote, or ever should write ' {which isn't true, I hope), and chaperoned it about wherever his kindness could reach. It is a contra to Schiller's ' Gods of Greece,' and I make amends for having the worst of the poetry, by having the best of the argument." Eventually Kenyon proposed to submit the poem to Robert Browning, then still a personal stranger to Elizabeth Barrett.* * In an undated letter she wrote to Home— " I take the courage and vanity to send yon a note which a poet [R.B.] whom we both admire, wrote to a friend of mine who lent him the MS. of this very • Pan * . . . Send me the note back, and never tell anybody that I showed it to yon— it would appear too vain." At /s ' £f4? fr$r V tc&Cj f^ y f MeU^ LWi ut^ f/ypr tJ'A <--«c , e 6&SU /* ^<<3 - • • / /2£ fr s/S' ■x-it-- s/ict ** / tlsX/i A^A/i'-tS *>' ^~<*tf*? &£&WC <&>'yfAJL-> '"-, & it &#<$-€ fsPfrr* ?^-€?J y<^z<^P9Lp -*'<■/■ ore? faM. 'sa*i «>0 <&eeU~> ™ , / li -^ '/r^^S A<^~ Auiify **&r *ASr> 6> Z % f /?i / , ■ , •' /■.:-.' < ■ **& fastens EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC: 59 For this purpose a special transcript was made by its authoress, and was placed in Browning's hands by Kenyon. This Manuscript is fortunately still extant, and stands as a vivid link connecting the two great poets. It is exquisitely written, and was evidently prepared with the utmost care and precision. It forms a dainty pamphlet of sixteen pages, post octavo size. The first leaf carries upon its recto the brief title " Pan is Dead !jE. B. B." ; the reverse is blank. The second leaf carries a Dedication " Pan is Dead. / Humbly dedicated to the Author / of the paraphrase of / Schiller's Gods of Greece," the reverse again remaining blank. Then come ten numbered pages of text, the last of which is signed with the initials E. B. B. A blank leaf completes the pamphlet. I regard this as being the most finished, and after the ' Portuguese ' Sonnets the most pleasing, Manuscript of Mrs. Browning extant, and I accor- dingly give a facsimile, the exact size of the original, of the first four pages of its text. The earlier title Pan is Dead was changed to The Dead Pan at the suggestion of John Kenyon. In October of the same year, 1844, that the Poems appeared in London they were published in America, in two volumes, in an edition which also consisted of 1500 copies. The title (which was post-dated 1845) reads as follows : — A J Drama of Exile: / and / Other Poems. \ By \ Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, / Author of c The Seraphim : and Other Poems' \ Vol. i. [Vol. ii.] J New York : / Henry G. Langley, j No. 8, Astor-House. / M.DCCC.XLV. Collation : — Vol. i, pp. xii + 264, with Portrait-Frontispiece ; Vol. ii. pp. 279. This American edition of the Poems derives considerable biblio- graphical value from the fact that the preface commences with a paragraph, addressed particularly to the American public, which did not appear in the London edition. This opening paragraph runs as follows : — 60 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. 11 My love and admiration have belonged to the great American people, as long as I have felt proud of being an Englishwoman, and almost as long as I have loved poetry itself. But it is only of late that I have been admitted to the privilege of personal gratitude to Americans, and only to-day that I am encouraged to offer to their hands an American edition of a new collection of my poems, about to be published in my own country. This edition precedes the English one by a step* — a step eagerly taken, and with a spring in it of pleasure and pride suspended, however, for a moment, that, by a cordial figure I may kiss the soil of America, and address my thanks to those sons of the soil, who, if strangers and foreigners, are yet kinsmen and friends, and who, if never seen, nor perhaps to be seen by eyes of mine, have already caused them to glisten by words of kindness and courtesy." There is evidence that the title under which the Poems appeared in America had originally been chosen to serve for the London edition as well. On September 10th, 1844, Elizabeth wrote to Mrs. Martin : " More and more I congratulate myself for the decision I came to at the last moment, and in the face of some persuasions, to call the book ' Poems/ instead of trusting its responsibility to the Drama, by such a title as ' A Drama of Exile, and Poems.'' It is plain, as I anticipated, that for one person who is ever so little pleased with the Drama, fifty at least will like the smaller poems. And perhaps they are right." Again on October 1st, 1844, she wrote to Cornelius Matthews — II I am glad that I gave the name of ' Poems ' to the work instead of admitting the ' Drama of Exile ' into the title-page and increasing its responsibility ; for one person who likes the Drama, ten like the other poems. Both Carlyle and Miss Martineau select as favorite * Such no doubt was the anticipation of the authoress, but as a matter of fact the American edition appeared two months later than that published in London. The latter came out in August, 1844, whilst the former did not make its appearance until the following October. EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 61 1 Lady Geraldine's Courtship? which amuses and surprises me some- what. In that poem I had endeavoured to throw conventionalities (turned asbestos for the nonce) into the fire of poetry, to make them glow and glitter as if they were not dull things." A portion (about 50 octavo pages) of the original Manuscript of A Drama of Exile was included in the Browning Sale held in Messrs. Sotheby's Rooms on Friday, May 2nd, 1913. It formed Lot 118, and was sold for £41. There is a copy of the First Edition of Poems, 1844, in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 1164. e. 37. c (7) ( Second Edition : 1850) Poems / By / Elizabeth Barrett Browning / New Edition / In Two Volumes / Vol. I. [Vol. //.] j London / Chapman & Hall, 193, Piccadilly. / (Late 186, Strand.) / 1850. Vol. I. Collation : — Foolscap octavo, pp. xii + 362 ; consisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i-ii ; Title- page, as above (with imprint " London : /Bradbury and Evans, Printers, Whitefriars " upon the centre of the reverse) pp. iii-iv ; Dedication, To my Father, pp. v-vi ; Preface, styled Advertisement, pp. vii-viii ; Table of Contents pp. ix-xii ; and Text of the Poems pp. 1 — 362, including separate Fly-titles to A Drama of Exile, The Seraphim, Prometheus Bound, A Lament for Adonis, A Vision of Poets, The Poet's Vow, The Romaunt of Margret, 62 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. IsobeVs Child, and Sonnets. There are headlines throughout, each page being headed with the title of the particular poem occupying it. Follow- ing p. 362 is a leaf, with blank reverse, and with the imprint repeated upon its recto. The signa- tures are a (a half -sheet of 4 leaves), b (a quarter- sheet of 2 leaves), B to Z (twenty-two sheets, each 8 leaves), plus A A (six leaves). Vol. II. Collation : — Foolscap octavo, pp. viii + 480 ; consisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i-ii ; Title- page, as above (with imprint " London : j Bradbury and Evans, Printers, White friars " upon the centre of the reverse) pp. iii-iy ; Table of Contents pp. v-viii ; and Text of the Poems pp. 1 — 480. There are headlines throughout, each page being headed with the title of the particular poem occupying it. The imprint is repeated at the foot of the last page. The signatures are A (a half-sheet of 4 leaves) and B to H H (thirty sheets, each 8 leaves). Issued in dark grey-blue blind-stamped cloth boards, lettered " Eliz h ' Barrett / Browning's / Poems j Vol. i [Vcl. ii] / London j Chapman & Hall " in gold across the back. The leaves measure 6f x 4I inches. This, the Second, but greatly enlarged, Edition of Mrs. Browning's Poems is of considerable interest and importance, and its claim to rank as a princeps is fully justified. In it the forty-three Sonnets from the Portuguese (originally printed at Reading in 1847 f° r private circulation only) were for the first time given to the public. EDITION ES PR INCITES, ETC. 63 In it also the second translation of the Prometheus Bound of iEschy- lus first appeared, in addition to the other pieces noted below. The lengthy Preface which appeared in the edition of 1844 was cancelled, and replaced by a short prefatory Advertisement. Contents The following poems were either first printed or first collected in these volumes. Vol. I. PAGE Prometheus Bound. [We reach the utmost limit of the earth,] 137 " One early failure, which, though happily free of (he current of publication, may be remembered against me by a fezu of my personal friends, I have replaced by an entirely new version, made for them and my conscience, in expiation of a sin of my youth, with the sincerest application of my mature mind." A Lament for Adonis. [7 mourn for Adonis — Adonis is dead!] 191 Flush or Faunus. [You see this dog. It was but yesterday] . 338 Finite and Infinite. [The wind sounds only in opposing straights] 339 Two Sketches : I. [The shadow of her face upon the wall] 350 II. [Her azure eyes, dark lashes hold in fee :] 351 Both previously printed in Blackwood's Magazine, June, 1847, pp. 683—684. Mountaineer * and Poet. [The simple goatherd, between Alp and sky,] 352 Previously printed (the first line reading The simple goatherd, who treads places high,) in Blackzvood ''s Magazine, June, 1847, p. 68;. The Poet. [The poet hath the child's sight in his breast,] . . . 353 Previously printed in Blackwood's Magazine, June, 1847, p. 684. Life. [Each creature holds an insular point in space :] . . . 355 Previously printed in Blackwood's Magazine, May, 1847, p. 555- 64 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. pac;e Love. [We cannot live, except, thus, mutually^ 356 Previously printed in Blackwood's Magazine, May, 1847, pp. 555-556. Heaven and Earth. [God, who, with thunders and great voices kept] 357 Previously printed in Blackwood's Magazine, May, 1847, p. 556. The Prospect. [Methinks we do as fretful children do ,]. . . 358 Previously printed in Blackwood's Magazine, May, 1847, p. 556. Hugh Stuart Boyd. His Blindness. [God would not let the spheric Lights accost] 359 Hugh Stuart Boyd. His Death, 1848. [Beloved friend, who living many years] 360 Hugh Stuart Boyd. Legacies. [Three gifts the Dying left me; JZschylus,] 361 Future and Past. [My future will not copy fair my past.] . 362 In the Fourth Edition of Mrs. Browning's Poems, 1856, this Sonnet was introduced into the series of Sonnets from the Portuguese, where it became No. 42. Vol. II. The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point. I stand on the mark, beside the shore, 129 Previously printed in The Liberty Bell, by Friends of Freedom, Boston, Mass., 1848, pp. 29—44. Also printed separately in pamphlet form : The / Runaway Slave / at Pilgrim's Point. / By / Elizabeth Barrett Browning. / London : / Edward Moxon, Dover Street. / 1849. 8vo, PP- 2 6 [See post, No. 13]. Hector in the Garden. [Nine years old 1 The first of any] 265 Previously printed in Blackwood's Magazine, October, 1846, pp. 493-495- EDIT/ONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 65 PAGE Confessions. [Face to face in my chamber, my silent chamber, I saw her I] 312 A Sabbath Morning at Sea. [The ship went on with solemn Me:] 325 Previously printed (under the tentative title A Sabbath on the Sea, the first line reading Our ship went on with solemn pace — ) in The Amaranth, 1839, pp. 73 — 75. The Mask. [/ have a smiling face, she said,] 335 Calls on the Heart. [Free Heart, that singest to-day,] . . . 338 An early discarded draft of this poem, entitled The Heart, was printed, in Hitherto tin published Poems and Stories, 19 14, Vol. ii, pp. 172—174. Wisdom Unapplied. [If I were thou, butterfly,] 343 An earlier, and shorter, version of this poem is printed in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, 1914, Vol. ii, pp. 180 — 182. Human Life's Mystery. [We sow the glebe, we reap the corn,] 350 A Child's Thought of God. [They say that God lives very high!] 353 The Claim. [Grief sate upon a rock and sighed one day :] . . 355 Previously printed (under the tentative title A Claim in an Allegory) in The Athenceum, September 17th, 1842, p. 818. Life and Love. [Fast this life of mine was dying,] 357 Inclusions. [Oh, wilt thou have my hand, Dear, to lie along in thine ?] 358 Insufficiency. [There is no one beside thee, and no one above thee ;] 359 Song of the Rose. From the Greek. [If Zeus chose us a King of the flowers in his mirth,] , . . . 360 A Dead Rose. [0 Rose ! who dares to name thee ?].... 361 Previously printed in Blackwood's Magazine, October, 1846, pp. 491—492. F 66 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. 'ACE A Woman's Shortcomings. [She has laughed as softly as if she sighed ;] 398 Previously printed in Blackwood's Magazine, October, 1846, pp. 488—489. A short Son?, consisting of two eight-line stanzas, which were expanded into stanzas 3, 4, and 5 of A Woman* s Short- comings, was ultimately printed in 1907 : A Song I By j Elizabeth Barrett Browning / Privately Printed j 1 907. Fcp. 8vo, pp. 4. [See post, No. 27]. A Man's Requirements. [Love me, sweet, with all thou art,] . 400 Previously printed in Blackwood'' s Magazine, October, 1846, pp. 489—490. A Year's Spinning. [He listened at the porch that day] . . . 403 Previously printed (under the tentative title Maude's Spinning in Blackwood's Magazine, October, 1846, pp. 490 — 491. Change upon Change. [Five months ago, the stream did flow,] 405 Previously printed (under the tentative title Change on Change, the first line reading " Three months ago, the stream didjloiv") in Blackwood 's Magazine, October, 1846, p. 492. An earlier version of the poem is printed (under the title Changes, the first line reading " Yes, change ! the earth is changing too ") in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, 19 14, Vol. ii, pp. 190— 191. A Reed. [/ am no trumpet, but a reed :].... 409 Previously printed in Blackwood's Magazine, October, 1846, pp. 492—493. A Child's Grave at Florence. [Of English blood, of Tuscan birth,] 424 Previously printed in The Athemeum, December 22nd, 1849, P- l 3®4- Sonnets from the Portuguese (43). [I thought once how Theocritus had sung] 438 Previously printed in separate form, as follows : Sonnets. I By I E. B. B. / Reading : / Not for Publication. / 1847. Fcp. 8vo, pp. 47. [See post, No. 12]. There is a copy of Poems, 1850, in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 11611. e. 1. 2. ' EDIT/ONES PRINCIPE S, ETC. 67 (3) ( Th ird Edition : 1853) Poems. / By / Elizabeth Barrett Browning. / Third Edition. /In Two Volumes. / Vol. I. {Vol. //.] / London : / Chapman & Hall, 193, Piccadilly. / 1853. Collation : — Foolscap octavo. Vol. I pp. xii -f 362 ; Vol. II pp. viii -f 480. Issued in dark green blind-stamped cloth boards, gilt lettered. This Edition, also, is of considerable importance, the whole of the Poems it contains having been carefully revised, the author stating in a Postscript to her original Preface that she had " done her best to remedy the oversights and defects of that former revision, which her absence from England rendered less complete than it should have been." (9) {Fourth Edition : 1856) Poems. / By / Elizabeth Barrett Browning. / Fourth Edition. / In Three Volumes. / Vol. I. {Vol. II\ Vol. III.'] j London : / Chapman & Hall, 193, Piccadilly. / 1856. Collation : — Foolscap octavo. Vol. I pp. xii + 314 ; Vol. II pp. viii + 303 ; Vol. Ill pp. viii + 310. [In vol. I the first leaf, included in the pagination as pp. i — ii, is a blank. In the succeeding edition this error was rectified.] Issued in dark green blind-stamped cloth boards, gilt lettered. F 2 68 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. The Fourth Edition also is a book of some importance. Many of the Poems were again revised, and the whole of Casa Guidi Windows was added, together with the following new pieces : — Vol. iii, page A Denial. [We have met late — it is too late to meet ,] .... 179 Proof and Disproof. [Dost thou love me, my beloved ?] . . 182 Question and Answer. [Love you seek for, presupposes] . 185 In this Edition Future and Past was removed from its original position and placed among the Sonnets from the Portuguese, where it became No. xlii, thus raising the number of Sonnets embodied in that series to forty-four. The Prefatory Note (styled Advertisement) differs in each of the above editions. (10) (Fifth Edition : 1862) The Fifth Edition, 1862, again in Three Volumes, is an absolute reprint of the Fourth Edition of 1856. (") (Sixth Edition : 1864) Poems / By / Elizabeth Barrett Browning. / Sixth Edition. / In Four Volumes. / Vol. I. [Vol. II, &c.~\\ London : / Chapman & Hall, 193, Piccadilly./ 1864. Collation : — Foolscap octavo. Vol. I pp. x + 314, with Portrait-Frontispiece ; Vol. II pp. viii -f 303 ; Vol. Ill pp. viii + 310 ; Vol. IV pp. vi + 403. Issued in dark green blind-stamped cloth boards, gilt lettered. EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 71 The first three volumes of this edition are a precise reprint of those forming the Fifth Edition of 1862. The fourth volume contains Aurora Leigh. The Sixth was the last separate edition of the Poems. It was followed by the Poetical Works, in Five Volumes, of 1866. This latter, although the First Edition of the Works, was numbered "Seventh Edition" upon its title-pages, thus continuing the numeration of the last edition of the Poems. (12) [Sonnets: 1847] Sonnets. / By / E. B. B. / Reading : / [Not for Publication.] / 1847. Collation : — Foolscap octavo, pp. 47'; consisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. 1 — 2 ; Title- page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. 3 — 4 ; and Text of the forty-three Sonnets pp. 5 — 47. The reverse of p. 47 is blank. There is no printer's imprint. The headline is Sonnets throughout, upon both sides of the page. The signatures are A to C (3 sheets, each 8 leaves). Issued stitched, and without wrappers. The leaves, which were untrimmed, measure 6 J X 4§ inches. The series of Sonnets as printed in 1847 consisted of forty-three sonnets only. But in 1856, when the Fourth Edition of the Poems appeared, a fresh sonnet was introduced between Nos. xli and xlii of the original series, itself becoming No. xlii ; thus the total number of sonnets in the finally completed series reached forty-four. This additional sonnet had already appeared, under the title 72 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. Future and Past, in the enlarged edition of the Poems published in 1850, where it occupied p. 362 of the first volume. When incor- porated in the series of Sonnets from the Portuguese the title it had hitherto borne was dropped, and the sonnet was given a number instead. The Sonnets — the original series of forty-three — were first published in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, New Edition, 1850, Vol. ii, pp. 438 — 480. The title Sonnets from the Portuguese by which this wonderful series of love poems is now so widely known was certainly adopted as an afterthought, and was almost as certainly chanced upon by accident. At first sight the title is misleading, as it was intended that it should be ; but it is remarkable that at this late day it is by no means unusual to find persons who regard the sonnets as being actual translations from the Portuguese tongue. One of the pet names bestowed by Browning upon his wife was " the little Portuguese," a name originated partly by her dark complexion, and partly by her poem Catarina to Camoens, of which Browning was particularly fond. Hence when the sonnets were handed by the poetess to her husband the gift may possibly have be,en offered as " from the little Portuguese." Three years later when the time came to lay them open to the world the title would commend itself as one well suited to veil from the public the nature of the sonnets, whilst at the same time remaining transparent to the husband to whom they were addressed. Meanwhile the tentative title Sonnets from the Bosnian had been suggested and discarded. The history of the tiny volume of 1847 has already been so fully told, and the romance attaching to it is so deeply appreciated, that it would be superfluous to repeat its story here in any detailed or exhaustive manner. It is sufficient to record that the sonnets were written by Elizabeth Barrett during the period of her courtship by Robert Browning, and were in the main composed whilst she lay upon her invalid couch in her father's house in Wimpole Street. ■>-r:\ 1rophet ? Why, if I had yielded, I should have felt the steps of pale spirits treading all over my sofa and bed, by day and night, and pulling a corresponding lock of hair on my head at awful intervals. " There is at present no copy of the First Edition of Sonnets, 1847, in the Library of the British Museum. (13) [The Runaway Slave: 1849] The / Runaway Slave / at Pilgrim's Point. / By / Elizabeth Barrett Browning. / [Printers ornament] / London : / Edward Moxon, Dover Street. / 1849. Collation : — Octavo, printed in half-sheets, pp. 26 ; consisting of : a blank leaf, pp. 1 — 2 ; Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. 3 — 4 ; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. 5 — 6 ; Prefatory Note (styled Advertisement, and dated " Florence, 1849," w fth blank reverse) pp. 7 — 8 ; and Text of the Poem pp. o — 26. Following p. 26 is a leaf (with blank reverse) with the following imprint upon the centre of ;ts recto, " London : / Bradbury and Evans, Printers, Whitefriars." There are head-lines throughout, each verso being headed RUNAWAY SLAVE AT PILGRIMS POINT. ELIZABETH -BARRETT BROWNING. LONDON ':, EDWARD MOXON, DOVER STREET. 1849. EDITIONES PRINCIPE 'S, ETC. 87 The Runaway Slave, and each recto At Pilgrim's Point. There are no signatures, but the book is composed of three half -sheets (each of 4 leaves), followed by a quarter-sheet of two leaves. The Title is enclosed within a double ruled frame ; every other page containing letterpress is sur- rounded by a single rectangular rule. Issued in pale buff-coloured paper wrappers, with trimmed edges, and with the title-page reproduced upon the front. The leaves measure 8-J- x 5 T V inches. A few examples would appear to have escaped the binder's plough, for copies are occasionally to be met with the edges of which remain untrimmed. The leaves of these measure 8 § x Sw- indles. Contents. PAGE The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point. [/ stand on the mark, beside the shore,] 9 The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point was first printed in The Liberty Bell. By Friends of Freedom. . . . Boston : National Anti-Slavery Bazaar. MDCCCXLVIII, 8vo, pp. viii + 292. Pages 29-44 were occupied by the poem. The Bazaar in question was the Fourteenth Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Fair, and was held in Faneuil Hall. " / am just sending off an anti-slavery po&m for America, too ferocious, perhaps, for the Americans to publish ; but they asked for a poem and shall have it" [E. B. B.'s letter to H. S. Boyd, December 21st, 1846.] " / have just finished my anti-slavery ballad and sent it off to America, where nobody will print it, I am certain, because I could not help making it bitter. If they do print it, I shall think them more boldly in earnest than I fancy now." [E. B. B. to Miss Mitford, February 8th, 1847.] 88 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. How very little information Robert Browning possessed regarding the bibliography of his wife's poetical works is evidenced by the fact that at one time he expressed doubts regarding the very existence of The Battle of Marathon and The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point. It was not until I acquired copies of both, and exhibited them in turn to him, that he admitted that such books really had been produced. The following letter was addressed to me by Browning before he had seen The Runaway Slave : — 29, De Vere Gardens, London, W . August 1st, 1888. Dear Mr. Wise, The" Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point " was given by its Author to the Boston " Liberty Bell," and was afterwards comprised in the collective edition of Chapman and Hall, 1850. / never heard of a separate publication, and am pretty certain such a circumstance never happened. I fear that this must be a fabricated affair, and, moreover, have a doubt whether " The Battle of Marathon," of which I never have seen a copy, may not be a fabrica- tion also. As the poem (" The Runaway Slave") was first printed in America, no copyright could be claimed for it in England. It is possible some of the" Friends of Freedom " may have used a certain "freedom" in reprinting the poem, for the sake of the good cause, nor thought proper to refer to the author at all. foUMM nu , &*W hw ^HAc I 4Y M., JtfAi - sccA, q / C.'-e*s$i &k M *~<% Az '■i£ tMs? ^<"2e iAt, /*Jl \t : /V ■".-" ■/'"■• L*& 'Xv<^f »^ ^Cfo- ,4^ ^%Ut ^^U- <*t '^i' 4^. i ^c t -4<' H yt \ 4tw~&-e<%.fA U * V v*v -A cA 4:& X. A. J ' ■■■/ J 7 K i ' £C C^i ,. Sic/ 7~~ ■ >■] -'3 4 4c tycncttA ikaf A/ ^ fcttp&totrv&^p ~2L*J .- / fc> > ■&U*/ / 7 r / i. , .c ■ / ^ ^X s/ £ i&tyxfc. ^i>>. v C - c<& (^ <%U^ t? jUc'i^. \ /->" -Vs *'•'■ ( * C ^ V f 'As '-* , x A. '_ ^7 AJ A* / / / !.' •■ ** ^^? ^W rf.^ ^ ^ ^ < a. ) /: 4* "■' '&%&&& fyXifc y ^ feud £T c/lCc tAl&> yC*)f? jtr , &j i, ^CStJy jzu? fcAfij Y f ' c/ **/; A^,^ r^-4£f/ ' -tubes foC^ 1 "ft 4> 1 ^^u ' it .' ^vt~^&? e^' £-- tyc*i' C ^ #£*£ *^>£ /V/ /i^»£A.s/?iJhvL-> -<- M 'At-. : &h. .' V ?&<) 4^C~~4 ^et/^— r/- Ofc £>%€. Jz4f*n, &*?A, *L ^c>£eJ*A*^*X £/e,*™f fa+t-Lej- WVu*J-nJtM> **- *#*. WA , *» "f^aruur^ c^u*J<^ U oW£ Hjl-'Vu^U. uiti fat J* **«*$ EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC. in Although a ' Neiv Edition, * this issue of Aurora Leigh is of con- siderable interest, as a lengthy study of the poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne (which occupies pp. vii-xiv) appeared here for the first time. This 'essay was reprinted in Pericles and Other Studies, By Algernon Charles Swinburne, London : Printed for Private Circulation, 1914, pp. 19-27. I give herewith a facsimile, greatly reduced, of the first page of Swinburne's original Manu- script, which occupies eight pages of blue paper, large quarto size. It is interesting to recall the high estimation in which the poetry of Elizabeth Browning, Aurora Leigh in particular, was held by Landor. In 1857 he wrote to John Forster — " I am reading a poem full of thought and fascinating with fancy — Mrs. Browning s Aurora Leigh. In many pages, and particularly 126 and 127, there is the wild imagination of Shakespeare. 1 have not yet read much farther. 1 had no idea that any one in this age was capable of so much poetry. I am half-drunk with it. Never did I think I should have a good hearty draught of poetry again : the distemper had got into the vineyard that produced it." (18) [Poems Before Congress : i860] Poems Before Congress. / By / Elizabeth Barrett Browning. / London : / Chapman and Hall, 193, Piccadilly. / i860. Collation : — Crown Octavo, pp. x + 65 ; consisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i — ii ; Title- page, as above (with imprint " London : / Bradbury and Evans, Printers, Whitefriars " upon the centre of the reverse) pp. iii — iv ; Preface (dated " Rome, February, i860 ") pp. v — viii ; Table of Contents ii2 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. (with blank reverse) pp. ix — x ; and Text of the Poems pp. i — 65. The reverse of p. 65 is blank. There are head-lines throughout, each page being headed with the title of the poem occupying it. The signatures are A (6 leaves, the first a blank), B to E (4 sheets, each 8 leaves), and F (2 leaves). F 2 carries a series of Advertisements of Works by Robert and E. B. Browning upon its recto, the reverse is blank. Issued in stamped cloth boards, lettered " Poems Before Congress / Elizabeth Barrett Browning " upon the front. The leaves measure 7J x 4J inches. In some copies the cloth is of a bright red colour, in others it is dark blue. The published price was Four Shillings. Contents PAGE Napoleon III in Italy. [Emperor, Emperor /] 1 The Dance. [You remember down at Florence our Cascine,] . 21 A Tale of Villafranca. [My little son, my Florentine^] . 26 Previously printed in The Athemsum^ September 24th, 1859, pp. 397-398. A Court Lady. [Her hair was tawny with gold, her eyes with purple were dark,] 32 An August Voice. [You'll take back your Grand Duke ?]. . 39 Christmas Gifts. [The Pope on Christmas Day] 46 Italy and the World. [Florence, Bologna, Parma, Modena.] 50 A Curse for a Nation. [/ heard an angel speak last night,] 59 Previously printed in The Liberty Be//, 1856, pp. I — 9. Note. — Ea,ch poem to which no reference is attached, appeared for the first time in this volume. An imperfect Manuscript of Poems Before Congress, consisting of 43 £ octavo pages, was included in the Browning Sale at Messrs. &M ^ ug u^ **«,(£ **;£JU Lj *, Jiuwt, X^ Ufya*r "t /k tplxll kjprw, J^fiuj j frvL /j : siu J+h> Xvu **2 fan*/ IttAYS \ M4usu,ul?(rtir kuMbl, Hvlu . ^ k*U*4 *+ A*r hi***, MRS. BROWNING. C2 * w JTZtl . POETICAL WORKS. - Bt ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, (fa-toUt- stud ^ -*f Fourth Edition, with Corrections and Additions. Three Vols. **<•*<' jutt-d*-* ■** Fc ap., cloth. 1 8,. m ^J /t0 ^ . AURORA LEIGH, A POEM f& ^7/iX^ IN NINE BOOKS. /Crb([ .J Br ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. (&vU*t ^U/4^ ##) Fourth Edition, with Portrait of the Authoress. Fcap., cloth, 7*. MB. BROWNING. POETICAL WORKS. By ROBERT > BROWNING. With numerous Alterations and Additions. Two Vols. Fcap., cloth, 16*. CHRISTMAS EVE AND EASTER DAY A POEM. Br ROBERT BROWNING. Fcap. 8vo, cloth. 6*. * MEN AND WOMEN. By ROBERT BROWNING. In Two Vols. Fcap. 8vo, cloth. 12s. EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 115 Sotheby's Rooms on Friday, May 2nd, 1913. It formed Lot 151, and was sold for £88. Regarding the Napoleonic poems included in this volume Mrs. Browning wrote — ' My book has had a very angry reception in my native country, but I shall be forgiven some day ; meanwhile, forgiven or unforgiven, it is satisfactory to one's own soul to have spoken the truth as one apprehends the truths A most fascinating copy of the First Edition of Poems before Congress was included in the same sale, when it formed Lot 44I. This was the copy given by Mrs. Browning to her husband, and has the following inscription in her handwriting upon the half- title, with his name (in his own handwriting) above it : From Elizabeth B. B. Faccia opra di se degne in chiara luce, E rimirando Te maestro e duce. Tasso. On one of the fly-leaves is pasted a drawing in pen-and-ink by Mrs. Browning, with an inscription by her below : i860. Oct. 7 — Villa Alberti. Siena — My fig tree — E. B. B. and another by her husband : Drawn the last time she ever sat under it. We left, the next day. R.B. Two different Photographs of Mrs. Browning — the last ever taken — each with inscription beneath by Robert Browning, "Rome, May 27, 1 86 1," are inserted, the one at the commencement and the other at the end of the text. On the back of the last page of text is pasted a pencilled plan, with the following note beneath : This plan was made on the spot by Ba [Mrs. Brdwning\, shortly before we left Rome, of the Apartment in the Palazzo Barberini for I 2 u6 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. which we were in negotiation up to the last: We would have taken it for "five or six years." She spoke anxiously about it this day last month. Alone, Casa Guidi,July 28, '61. R. B. On the opposite page, upon the blank margins above and beside the advertisements, are two other remarkable Notes by Robert Browning : Note. Tuesday, July 21, 1863. Arabel told me yesterday that she had been much agitated by a dream which happened the night before, Sunday, July 19 : she saw Her and asked " When shall I be with you?" The reply was "Dearest, in five years"'; whereupon Arabel woke. She knew in her dream that it was not to the living she spoke — and her question referred to her own death. R. B. {Arabel died in my arms yesterday a little before 12 o'clock : R. B. Friday, June \2, 1868). (Arabel was born July 4th, 18 13.) On the last leaf of the book is a copy in Browning's writing of the inscription placed on Casa Guidi : Qui scrisse e mori — Elisabetta Barrett Browning — che in cuore di donna conciliava — scienza di dotto e spirito di Poeta — e fece del suo verso aureo anello—fra Italia ed Inghilterra — Pose questa memoria — Firenze grata — 1861. This intensely interesting volume was sold for £235, and ulti- mately found a home in the library of Mr. J. A. Spoor, of Chicago. By Mr. Spoor's generous courtesy I am enabled to give facsimiles of Mrs. Browning's drawing of her fig tree, and of the page carrying Robert Browning's notes regarding ' Arabel/ i.e. Arabella Moulton- Barrett, his favourite sister-in-law. There is a copy of the First Edition of Poems Before Congress in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 11651. c 38. 1LIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. LONDON : CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 1862. EDITIONES P RING I PES, ETC. u 9 (19) [Last Poems : 1862] Last Poems / By / Elizabeth Barrett Browning. / London : / Chapman and Hall, 193, Piccadilly. / 1862. Collation : — Crown octavo, pp. xii -f- 142 ; consisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i — ii ; Title- page, as above (with imprint "Printed by / John Edward Taylor, Little Queen Street, / Lincoln's Inn Fields " upon the centre of the reverse) pp. iii — iv ; Dedication "To' Grateful Florence,' To the Munici- pality, Her Representative, and To Tommaseo, Its Spokesman, most gratefully " (with blank re- verse) pp. v — vi ; Prefatory Note, styled Adver- tisement (with blank reverse) pp. vii — viii ; Table of Contents pp. ix — xi ; p. xii is blank ; Text of the Poems pp. 1 — 102 ; Fly-title to Translations (with blank reverse) pp. 103 — 104, and Text of the Translations pp. 105 — 142. There are head- lines throughout, each page being headed with the title of the Poem occupying it. The imprint is repeated thus at the foot of p. 142, " John Edward Taylor, Printer, / Little Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields." The signatures are A (a half -sheet of 4 leaves), b (2 leaves), and B to K (9 sheets, each 8 leaves). Sig. K 8 is occupied by a series of Advertisements of the Works of Robert and E. B. Browning. Issued in purple stamped cloth boards, lettered " Last / Poems / Eliz. B. j Browning ] Chapman & Hall" in gilt i2o BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. across the back. The leaves measure 7 J x 5 inches. The published price was Six Shillings. A Second, Edition was published in the same year. Contents TAGE Little Mattie. [Dead I Thirteen a month ago I] 1 Previously printed in The Comhill Magazine, June, 1861, pp. 736-737. A False Step. [Sweet, thou hast trod on a heart.] 5 Void in Law. [Sleep, little babe, on my knee,] 7 Lord Walter's Wife. [' But why do you go,' said the lady, while both sate under the yew,] 11 Bianca Among the Nightingales. [The cypress stood up like a church] , 17 My Kate. [She was not as pretty as women I know.] .... 24 A Song for the Ragged Schools of London. [/ am listening here in Rome.] 26 Previously printed (under the tentative title A Plea for the Ragged Schools of London) in Two Poems By Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, 1854, pp. 3 — II. May's Love. [You love all, you say,] 33 Amy's Cruelty. [Fair Amy of the terraced house,] .... 34 Previously printed in The Keepsake, 1857, pp. 75—76. My Heart and I. [Enough I we're tired, my heart and I.] . 37 The Best Thing in the World. [What's the best thing in the world ?] 40 Where's Agnes ? [N ay , if I had come back so ,] 41 De Profundis. [The face which, duly as the sun,] 48 Previously printed in The New York Independent, December 6th, i860. A Musical Instrument. [What was he doing, the great god Pan,] 55 Previously printed in The Comhill Magazine, July, i860, pp. 84—85. EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 121 •AGE First News from Villafranca. [Peace, peace, peace, do you say?] 57 Previously printed in The New York Independent ', June Jth, i860. King Victor Emanuel Entering Florence, April, i860. {King of us all, we cried to thee, cried to thee,] 59 Previously printed in The New York Independent ', August 1 6/4, i860. The Sword of Castruccio Castracani. [When Victor Emanuel the King,] , . . . . 62 Previously printed in The New York Independent, August yoth, i860. Summing up in Italy. [Observe how it will be at last,] ... 65 Previously printed in The New York Independent ', September 27th, i860. 11 Died . . ." [What shall we add now ? He is dead.] ... 69 The Forced Recruit. [In the ranks of the Austrian you found him.] 72 Previously printed (under the tentative title A Forced Recruit at Solferino) in The Cornhill Magazine, October, i860, pp. 419 — 420. Garibaldi. [He bent his head upon his breast] 75 Previously printed in The New York Independent ', October nth, i860. Only a Curl. [Friends of faces unknown and a land] ... 78 Previously printed in The New York Independent, May 16th, 1861. A View Across the Roman Campagna. [Over the dumb Campagna-sea,] 82 Previously printed in The New York J independent, July 23th, 1861. The King's Gift. [Teresa, ah, Teresita I] 85 Previously printed, under the tentative title The King's Gift. Caprera, in The New York Independent, July iSth, 1861. Parting Lovers. [/ love thee, love thee, Giulio ;] 87 Previously printed in The New York Independent, March 21st, 1861. Mother and Poet. [Dead I One of them shot by the sea in the east,] , . . . 91 Previously printed in The New York Independent, May 2nd, 1861. 122 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. PAGE Nature's Remorses. [Her soul was bred by a throne, and fed] 97 The North and the South. [' Now give us lands where the olives grow,'] 101 Translations. Paraphrase on Theocritus : The Cyclops. [And so an easier life our Cyclops drew,] 105 Paraphrases on Apuleius : Psyche Gazing on Cupid. [Then Psyche, weak in body and soul, put on] 109 Psyche Wafted by Zephyrus. [While Psyche wept upon the rock forsaken,] in Psyche and Pan. [The gentle River, in her Cupid's honour,] 112 Psyche Propitiating Ceres. [Then mother Ceres from afar beheld her,] 113 Psyche and the Eagle. [But sovran Jove's rapacious Bird, the regal] 115 Psyche and Cerberus. [A mighty dog with three colossal necks,] 116 Psyche and Proserpine. [Then Psyche entered in to Proserpine] \ 117 Psyche and Venus. [And Psyche brought to Venus what was sent] 118 Mercury Carries Psyche to Olympus. [Then Jove com- manded the god Mercury] 118 Marriage of Psyche and Cupid. [And Jove's right-hand approached the ambrosial bowl] 119 Paraphrases on Nonnus : How Bacchus finds Ariadne Sleeping. [When Bacchus first beheld the desolate] 121 How Bacchus Comforts Ariadne. [Then Bacchus' subtle speech her sorrow crossed : — ]. 124 EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 123 PACK Paraphrase on Hesiod : Bacchus and Ariadne. [The golden-hatred Bacchus did espouse] , 126 Paraphrase on Euripides : Antistrophe. [Love, love, who once didst pass the Dardan portals,] . 127 Paraphrases on Homer : Hector and Andromache. [She rushed to meet him : the nurse following] 128 The Daughters of Pandarus. [And so these daughters fair of Pandarus ,] 132 The Daughters of Pandarus. Another Version. [So the storms bore the daughters of Pandarus out into thrall]. 133 Paraphrase on Anacreon : Ode to the Swallow. [Thou indeed, little Swallow,] . . 135 Although not published until 1862, the above Paraphrases were, with one exception, written in the spring of 1845. We are told in the prefatory Advertisement (which was written by Robert Browning) that they "were intended to accompany and explain certain Engravings after ancient Greece, in the projected work of a friend." Paraphrases on Heine : I. [Out of my own great woe] 137 IT [Art thou indeed so adverse ?] 138 III. [My child, we were two children,] 138 IV. [Thou lovest me not, thou lovest me not!] . 140 V. [My own sweet Love, if thou in the grave,] 140 VI. [The years they come and go,] ............. 141 Note. — Each poem to which no reference is attached appeared for the first time in this volume. 124 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. A Manuscript consisting of a large proportion of the pieces included in Last Poems formed Lot 154 in the Browning Sale at Messrs. Sotheby's Rooms on Friday, May 2nd, 1913. The MS. extended to 79 octavo pages, and was sold for £190. There is a copy of the First Edition of Last Poems By Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C. 58. d. 3. (20) [The Greek Christian Poets : 1863] The / Greek Christian Poets / and the / English Poets. / By / Elizabeth Barrett Browning./ London :/ Chapman & Hall, 193, Piccadilly. / 1863. Collation : — Foolscap octavo, pp. iv -f 211 ; consisting of : Title-page, as above (with imprint " Printed by J John Edward Taylor, Little Queen Street, / Lin- coln's Inn Fields " upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i — ii ; Prefatory Note, styled Advertisement, pp. iii — iv ; Text of Some Account of the Greek Christian Poets, pp. 1 — 103 ; p. 104 is blank ; and Text of The Book of the Poets, pp. 105— 211. The imprint is repeated thus at the foot of p. 211, " John Edward Taylor, Printer, j Little Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields." The reverse of this page is filled with a series of Advertisements of Works by Mrs. Browning. There are head-lines throughout, each page being headed with the title of the Essay occupying it. The signatures are A (2 leaves), B to O (thirteen sheets, each 8 leaves) and P (2 leaves). EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 125 Issued in dark green stamped cloth boards, lettered " The Greek j Christian / Poets / and the / English / Poets j Eliz. B. J Browning j Chapman & Hall " in gilt across the back. The leaves measure 6| x 4 T \ inches. The published price was Five Shillings. The volume passed into * remainder/ the only one of Mrs. Browning's books, apart from the Two Poems pamphlet of 1854, to suffer such a fate. These ' remainder ' copies were put up in green cloth boards, lettered " Browning's / Greek j Christian / Poets / Etc." Contents. The whole of the text of The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets was reprinted verbatim from the pages of The Athenceum, where it had appeared in ten instalments, as follows : — The Greek Christian Poets : Part I. February 26th, 1842, pp. 189-190. „ II. March $th, 1842, pp. 210-212. „ III. March 12th, 1842, pp. 229-231. „ IV. March igth, 1842, pp. 249-252. The Book of the Poets : Part I. June 4th, 1842, pp. 497-499. II. June nth, 1842, pp. 520-523. III. June 25th, 1842, pp. 558-560. IV. August 6th, 1842, pp. 706-708. V. August 13th, 1842, pp. 728-729. VI. August 21th, 1842, pp. 757-759- The final portion of this Study (Part vi), although here embodied with the earlier sections of the Essay, originally served in The Athenceum as a Review of Wordsworth's Poems Chiefly of Early and Late Years, Moxon, 1842. 126 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. " I am going to reprint the Greek Christian Poets and another Essay — nothing that ought to be published shall be kept back — and this she certainly intended to correct, augment, and reproduce — but I open the doubled-up paper ! " [Robert Browning to Isa Blagden, January 19th, 1863.] The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets was reprinted in The' Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1890, Vol. v, pp. 109-290. Also in the one-vol. edition, 1897, pp. 590-651. There is a copy of the First Edition of The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 11335. b. 9. (21) [Psyche Apocalypte : 1876] Psyche Apocalypt6 : / A Lyrical Drama. / Projected by / Elizabeth Barrett Browning / and / R. H. Home. / Reprinted from the St. James's Magazine and United Empire Review / for February, 1876. / London and Aylesbury : / Printed by Hazell, Watson, and Viney. / 1876. / For Private Circula- tion. Collation : — Demy octavo, pp. 19 ; consisting of : Half- title (with blank reverse) pp. 1 — 2 ; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. 3 — 4 ; and Text pp. 5 — 19. The reverse of p. 19 is blank. The head-line is Psyche Apocalypte throughout, upon both sides of the page. At the foot of p. 19 is the following imprint, " Hazell, Watson and Viney, Printers, London and Aylesbury. There are no %3 S YC.H E A POC A LY PT £ : % ti'Vuil tlritwr ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING K. II. HORN]-.. F*.ru«ry,\.%-A i LONDON AND AYLKsm kY : LINTED BY HAZELL. WATSON, AND VINEY /:-;• -Privak- O EDIT I ONES PRINCIPES, ETC. . 129 signatures, but the pamphlet is composed of a * single sheet of 8 leaves, inset within a quarter- sheet of 2 leaves. Issued stitched, and without wrappers. The leaves, which were trimmed, measure 9 x 5§ inches. Sixty-five copies only were printed. Psyche Apocalypte" was a Lyrical Drama projected by R. H. Home in collaboration with Elizabeth Barrett. Between the two a considerable amount of correspondence passed upon the subject, and a large proportion of the text of the pamphlet is occupied by letters and portions of letters addressed by the poetess to the poet. Lists of suggested Dramatis Personae, Sketches of the Plots of the proposed three Acts, with a few short lyrics, complete the letter- press. The reason to which Home attributed the failure of the scheme to mature was the marriage of Miss Barrett to Robert Browning, of which he gives a somewhat light-hearted account at the close of the pamphlet. As stated upon the title-page, Psyche Apocalypte had previously appeared in The St. James's Magazine and United Empire Review, February, 1876, pp. 478-492. A " first ' rough draft ' " of fragments of Psyche Apocalypte' was printed by Mr. Buxton Forman in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, 1914, Vol. ii, pp. 203-220. There is at present no copy of the First Edition of Psyche Apocalypte in the Library of the British Museum. (22) [Letters to R. H. Horne : 1877] Letters/of/ Elizabeth Barrett Browning/ Addressed to / Richard Hengist Horne, / Author of " Orion," K 130 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. " Gregory vii.," " Cosmo de' Medici," etc. / With Comments on Contemporaries. / Edited by / S. R. Townshend Mayer. / Vol. I. [Vol. II.] / ^Publishers device] / London : Richard Bentley and Son, / Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. / 1877. Vol. I. Collation : — Crown octavo, pp. x + 272 ; consisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i — ii ; Title- page, as above (with imprint " Hazell, Watson, and Viney, Printers, London and Aylesbury " at the foot of the reverse) pp. hi — iv ; Prefatory Note pp. v — viii ; Table of Contents of Vol. I. p. ix ; List of Corrigenda to Volume I. p. x ; Fly-title to Part I, Early Letters (with blank reverse) pp. 1 — 2 ; Text of Part I pp. 3 — 92 ; Fly-title to Part II, Chaucer Modernized (with blank reverse) pp.93 — 94 ; Text of Part II pp. 95 — 127 ; p. 128 is blank ; Fly-title to Part III, A New Spirit of the Age (with blank reverse) pp. 129 — 130 ; and Text of Part III pp. 131 — 272. There are head-lines throughout. The signatures, which are denoted in Arabic numerals, are 1 to 17 (17 sheets, each 8 leaves), preceded by five unsigned 'leaves. Vol. II. ' Collation : — Crown octavo, pp. vi -f 296 ; consisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse pp. i — ii ; Title-page, as above (with* blank reverse) pp. hi — iv ; Table of Contents of Vol. II. (with blank reverse) pp. v — vi ; Fly-title to Part III, A New Spirit of the Age. EDIT/ONES PR INC/PES, ETC 131 Continued (with blank reverse) pp. 1 — 2 ; Text of Part III pp. 3 — 57 ; p. 58 is blank ; Fly-title to Part IV, Psyche Apocalypti (with blank reverse) pp. 59 — 60 ; Text of Part IV pp. 61 — no ; Fly- title to Part V, Last Letters on General Topics (with blank reverse) pp. in — 112 ; Text of Part V pp. 113 — 195 ; p. 196 is blank ; Fly-title to Part VI. Recollections of Contemporaries (with blank reverse) pp. 197 — 198 ; and Text of Part VI pp. 199 — 296. There are head-lines throughout. The imprint, " Printed by Hazell, Watson, and Viney, London and Aylesbury," is at the foot of p. 296. The signatures, which are denoted in Arabic numerals, are 1 to 18 (18 sheets, each 8 leaves), and 19 (4 leaves), preceded by three unsigned leaves. Issued in purple stamped cloth boards, lettered " Letters / of I Elizabeth / Barrett / Browning j Home / Vol. I. [Vol. II.] I Bentley " in gilt across the back. The leaves measure 7J X 5f\ inches. There is a copy of Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Addressed to Richard Hengist Home in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 10921. e. 1. (23) [The Religious Opinions of Elizabeth Barrett Browning: 1896] The / Religious Opinions / of / Elizabeth Barrett Browning/ As Expressed in Three Letters addressed to / Wm. Merry, Esq., J. P. / Edited by the Rev. / K 2 132 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. W. Robertson Nicoll, LL.D. / London : / Privately Printed. / 1896. Collation : — Square octavo, pp. 28 ; consisting of : Half- title (with blank reverse) pp. 1 — 2 ; Title-page (with blank reverse) pp. 3 — 4 ; Certificate of Issue (with blank reverse) pp. 5 — 6 ; Editor's Preface pp. 7 — 8 ; Fly-title to the Three Letters (with blank reverse) pp. 9 — 10 ; and Text of the Letters pp. 11 — 28. Following p. 28 is a leaf with The Ashley Library Book-mark upon its recto, the . reverse blank. There are head-lines throughout, each verso being headed The Religious Opinions of, and each recto Elizabeth Barrett Browning. There are no signatures, but the book is composed of a quarter-sheet (2 leaves), one full sheet (8 leaves), and a half -sheet (4 leaves), fourteen leaves in all. Issued in Japanese-vellum boards, lettered in gold up the back " The Religious Opinions of E. B. Browning." The leaves, which are untrimmed, measure 8J x 6J inches. Thirty copies only were printed. ■" This morning I received a letter from Mr. Merry, of Stoneiield. with whom I do not regularly correspond, but who insisted, against my will, on my writing about his book on ' Predestination,' and when I did so, branched off himself into a collateral commentary on the English liturgy, in relation to certain supposed views of mine. I send you a leaf of his letter, the body of which refers to theological letters." — [Elizabeth Browning to R. H. Home, January 8th, 1844.] There is a copy of the First Edition of The Religious Opinions of Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 10910. dd. 31. EDIT/ONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 133 (24) (First Published Edition : 1 906) The Religious / Opinions / of / Elizabeth Barrett / Browning / [Ornament] j H odder and Stoughton / Publishers, London. Collation : — Small quarto, pp. 56 ; consisting of : a leaf (with unnumbered blank recto), and with the following note upon its verso, " Published by kind permission of j Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., on behalf of the / Proprietor of the Copyright," p. 1 ; Half-title reading " Mrs. Browning s j Religious Opinions j As expressed in Three Letters addressed I to Wm. Merry, Esq., f.P. (with blank reverse) p. 2 -; Title-page, as above (with imprint " Printed in 1906 / Ye Edinburgh Press, 68 Old Bailey, / London, E.C." Upon the reverse) pp. 3 — 4 ; Preface [by Sir William Robertson Nicoll] pp. 5 — 8 ; and Text pp. 9 — 56, including a Fly-title (with blank reverse) to each of the three Letters. There are no head-lines, but each page is furnished with a foot-line Elizabeth Barrett j Browning, followed by the number of the page in Arabic numerals placed between round brackets. There are no signatures, but the volume is composed of eight sheets, each 4 leaves ; the first leaf of the first sheet, and the last two leaves of the last sheet, are blank. Issued in thick white-marbled paper wrappers, with trimmed edges, and lettered in gold along the back and upon the front cover. 134 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. (25) [Letters : 1897] The Letters / of / Elizabeth Barrett Browning / Edited with Biographical Additions / By / Frederic G. Kenyon / With Portraits /In Two Volumes / Volume I. [Volume //.] / London / Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place / 1897 / [All rights reserved]. Vol. I. Collation : — Crown octavo, pp. xiv + 478 ; consisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i — ii ; Title- page (with blank reverse) pp. iii — iv ; Preface pp. v — xi ; p. xii is blank ; Table of Contents of the First Volume pp. xiii — xiv ; and Text of the Letters pp. 1 — 478. There are head-lines throughout. The imprint, M Spottiswoode & Co. Printers, New- street Square, London," is at the foot of p. 478. The signatures are A to H H (31 sheets, each 8 leaves). Sig. Ai is blank. Sig. HH 8 carries a series of Advertisements of Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Co.'s Publications. Facing the title-page is a reproduction of a Photograph of a Bust of Elizabeth Browning by W. W. Story, and facing p. 365 is a reproduction of a Photograph of Casa Guidi. Vol. II. Collation : — Crown octavo, pp. vi + 464 ; consisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i — ii ; Title- page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. iii — iv ; EDIT/ONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 135 Table of Contents of the Second Volume pp. v — vi ; Text of the Letters pp. 1 — 453 ; p. 454 is blank ; and Index pp. 455 — 464. There are head-lines through- out. The imprint, " Printed by / Spottiswoode and Co., New-street Square / London," is at the foot of p. 464. The signatures are A (a half-sheet of 4 leaves, the first a blank), and B to G G (29 sheets, each 8 leaves). An additional half -sheet, with the signature H H, carries a series of Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co.'s Advertisements. Facing the title- page is a Portrait of Robert Browning, from an Oil Painting by W. Fisher, and between pp. 262-263 is a facsimile of a four-page letter addressed by. Elizabeth Browning to Napoleon III. Issued in dark blue cloth boards, lettered " The / Letters / of I Elizabeth / Barrett / Browning / Vol. I. [Vol. II.] / Smith, Elder & Co." in gold across the back. The leaves measure y\ x 5 inches. The published price was Fifteen Shillings. On page 40 of the first volume is printed a set of verses addressed to Hugh Stuart Boyd, commencing ' ' Your lyrics found me dull as prose." They were written, as the Editor informs us, as a retort to a parody of her own poems sent to her by her correspondent and were here for the first time made public. These verses (six 4-line stanzas) are not included in any edition of Mrs. Browning's poetical works. In the same volume, pages 262-263, are two fragments translated from Hesiod — 1. From " Shield of Hercules." [Some gathered grapes, with reap-hooks in their hands]. 136 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. 2. From " Works and Days." [And when that Sirius and Orion come]. And one from Anacreon — [Grapes that wear a purple skin,] The volumes have been several times reprinted, but no change whatever has been introduced into the text. There is a copy of the First Edition of The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1897, in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 010910. ee. 6. (26) [The Letters of Robert Browning and Eliza- beth Barrett Barrett : 1899] The Letters / of / Robert Browning / and / Eliza- beth Barrett Barrett / 1845 — 18 4 6 / With Port- raits and Facsimiles /In Two Volumes / Vol. I. [Vol. II.] / London / Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place/ 1899 / [All rights reserved]. Vol. I. Collation : — Crown octavo, pp. viii -f- 579 ; consisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i — ii ; Title- page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. iii — iv ; Prefatory Note, by Robert Barrett Browning (with blank reverse) pp. v — vi ; Publishers' Preface, styled Advertisement (with list of Illustrations upon the reverse) pp. vii — viii ; and Text of the Letters pp. 1 — 579. The reverse of p. 579 is blank. There are head-lines throughout, each verso being headed Letters of Robert Browning, and each recto EDITIONES PR1NCIPES, ETC 137 and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett. In addition each double-page is headed with the date of the letter occupying it. At the foot of p. 579 is the following imprint, " Spottiswoode & Co., Printers, New-street Square, London." The signatures are A (a half- sheet of 4 leaves, B to 00 (thirty-six sheets, each 8 leaves), and PP (a half -sheet of 4 leaves). •The last two leaves of Sig. PP carry a list of Adver- tisements of Smith, Elder, & Co.'s New Books. Vol. II. Collation : — Crown octavo, pp. vi + 579 ; consisting of : Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. i — ii ; Title- page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. hi — iv ; List of Illustrations (with blank reverse) pp. v — vi ; Text of the Letters pp. 1 — 567 ; p. 568 is blank ; and Index pp. 569 — 579. The reverse of p. 579 is blank. There are head-lines throughout, as in the first volume. At the foot of p. 579 is the following imprint, " Printed by / Spottiswoode and Co., New-street Square / London." The signatures are A (a half -sheet of 4 leaves), B to 00 (thirty - six sheets, each 8 leaves), and PP (a half -sheet of 4 leaves). Sig. Ai is blank. Sigs. PP 3 and 4 carry a list of Advertisements of Smith, Elder & Co.'s New Books. Illustrations. Vol. I. Portrait of Robert Browning. After a Picture by Gordigiani Frontispiece Facsimile of a Letter from Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett Facing />. 578 i 3 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. Vol. II. Portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. After a Picture by Gordigiani Frontispiece Facsimile of a Letter from Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning Facing p. 566 Issued in dark green cloth boards, lettered " The / Letters / of J Robert / Browning / and / Elizabeth / Barrett Barrett j 1 845-1 846 / Vol. i [Vol. ii] / Smith, Elder & Co." in gold across the front. The published price was Twenty-one Shillings. A Second Edition was published in 1899. Since that date the volumes have several times been reprinted, but no change whatever has been introduced into the text. The Letters contained in these volumes are the famous series of " Love Letters " which passed between Robert *and Elizabeth Browning between January 10th, 1845, and September 19th, 1846. The letters written by Robert number Two Hundred and Eighty- four, those from Elizabeth number Two Hundred and Eighty- seven. The whole Five Hundred and Seventy-one letters were sold by auction in the rooms of Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge on Friday, May the 2nd, 191 3, when the remarkable price of £6,550 was obtained for them. There is a copy of the First Edition of The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 2410. b. 3. (27) [A Song : 1907] A Song / By / Elizabeth Barrett Browning / Privately Printed / 1907. EDIT/ONES PRINCIPES, ETC. 139 Collation : — Foolscap octavo, pp. 4 ; consisting of : Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. 1 — 2 ; and Text of the Song pp. 3 — 4. P. 3 has a ' dropped head,' whilst p. 4 has the head-line A Song, together with the page-numeral 4, above a thin rule. The verses are signed, in print, "E. B. B." Issued as a single quarter-sheet, folded to form four pages, with trimmed edges. The leaves measure 4 J x 6f inches. Twenty copies only were printed. Contents. PAGE A Song. [Is't loving, to list to the night guitar] 3 Reprinted (with the first word of the fourth line of the second stanza reading " Thine heart" in place of "Mine heart") in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, 1914, Vol. 11, pp. 155-156. The two eight-line stanzas of which this Song consists form, but with a widely differing text, the third, fourth, and fifth stanzas of A Woman's Shortcomings, first printed in Blackwood's Magazine, October, 1846, pp. 488-489, and afterwards included in Poems, 1850, Vol. ii, pp. 398-399. As the Manuscript from which they were printed in 1907 is headed A Song, it is probable that these two stanzas as originally composed formed a separate and complete entity, and were afterwards amended and expanded when A Woman's Shortcomings was produced. As it is interesting to com- pare them, I give both versions of the stanzas, (1) the earlier version, two stanzas, printed in 1907, and (2) the later version, three stanzas, printed in 1846 and 1850 : — 146 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING, 1907. I. Is't loving, to list to the night guitar, And praise the serenading ; Yet think of nought when the minstrel's far, But of beauty and of braiding ? Is't loving, to bask 'neath tender eyes — 'Neath others, on their removing, And join new vows to old perjuries ? Ah no! this is not loving! II. Unless you can think when the song is done, No other's worth the pondering — Unless you can feel when the minstrel's gone, Mine heart with him is wandering — Unless you can dream that his faith is fast, Thro' months and years of roving— Unless you can die when the dream is past — Ah no ! this is not loving ! 1846— 1850. III. Go, lady, lean to the night-guitar And drop a smile to the bringer ; Then smile as sweetly, when he is far, At the voice of an in-door singer. Bask tenderly beneath tender eyes ; Glance lightly, on their removing ; And join new vows to old perjuries — But dare not call it loving. EDITIONES PRINCIPES, ETC 141 IV. • Unless you can think, when the song is done, No other is soft in the rhythm ; Unless you can feel, when left by One, That all men else go with him ; Unless you can know, when unpraised by his breath, That your beauty itself wants proving ; Unless you can swear " For life, for death ! " — Oh, fear to call it loving! V. Unless you can muse in a crowd all day On the absent face that fixed you ; Unless you can love, as the angels may, With the breadth of heaven betwixt you ; Unless you can dream that his faith is fast, Through behoving and unbehoving : Unless you can die when the dream is past — Oh, never call it loving ! There is a copy of the First Edition of A Song in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is 1875. d. 9. (66). (28) [Leila: 19 13] Leila / A Tale / By / Elizabeth Barrett Browning / London : / Printed for Private Circulation Only / Collation : — Crown octavo, pp. 35 ; consisting of : Half- title (with blank reverse) pp. 1 — 2 ; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. 3 — 4 ; Prefatory Note (with blank reverse) pp. 5 — 6 ; and Text of Leila pp. 7 — 35. The head-line is Leila : A Tale 142 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. throughout, upon b*oth sides of the page. Upon the reverse of p. 35 is the following imprint : " London : j Printed for Thomas J. Wise, H amp- stead, N.W. j Edition limited to Thirty Copies." The signatures are A (a quarter-sheet of two leaves), plas B and C (2 sheets, each 8 leaves), inset within each other. Issued in buff-coloured paper wrappers, with untrimmed edges, and with the title-page reproduced upon the front. The leaves measure 7J x 5 inches. Thirty copies only were printed. Contents. PAGE Leila. [Sweetest of hours ! when o'er the murmuring seas] . 7 Sir Frederic G. Kenyon has suggested, and I agree with his opinion, that Leila " was probably written in the early thirties of last century." Unfortunately the holograph is undated, and the paper upon which it is written has no water-mark. But both handwriting and paper are identical with those of other Manu- scripts, mostly fragmentary, two of which bear the date 1830. The Manuscript of Leila is in my own possession. It is written upon fourteen quarto pages of white paper, and is bound in deep crimson levant morocco, by Sangorski and- Sutcliffe, together with a copy of the pamphlet inlaid to quarto size. A reduced facsimile of one of the pages of this Manuscript is given herewith. The poem was reprinted in New Poems by Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edited by Sir F. G. Kenyon, K.C.B., 1914, pp. 83-111. There is a copy of Leila : A Tale, 191 3, in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C. 43. c. 29. (3). &•■%. r-r*£.*z-~~~ ^ ^-^^ ^- ** :*/- y r ..*/■■■- j- « f.^^: ^j~^^. ?^~y» ~ ~*~M- ' *■ **■ ;.. : ;..Q ^ ~^ <.<^ ^ lis J-*ncJirzc? ;£T 1 ' r Jyi^:^J tfe V* •sptijfage ■<«,., . , _,, r\j ^v *> V, $T '"^V* -%-e c< STy- ' . • -• / > 4 P4^ r. <&€** Ar 7tr*< **» fee r *« V,> /"/-'Arf- y * ; v .:v, <*X r ^J -' < B. Barrett:' There is a copy of The Art of Scansion, 1916, in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is Tab. 578 a. Addition. (36) [Kind Words from a Sick Room : 1891] Kind Words from a Sick Room. / Elizabeth Barrett Barrett / (Mrs. Browning). / Privately Printed / (By William Hutchinson : Greenock) / mdcccxci. Collation : Demy octavo, pp. 10 ; consisting of : Title- page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. 1-2 ; and Text pp. 3-10. There are no head-lines, the pages being numbered centrally in Arabic numerals. There are no signatures, but the pamphlet (which was issued without any half-title) is composed of a quarter-sheet of 2 leaves inset within a half -sheet 176 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. of 4 leaves, 6 leaves in all. The last leaf is a blank. Issued in blue-grey paper wrappers with untrimmed edges. The leaves measure 8f x 5| inches. The text consists of a series of Letters addressed by Miss Barrett to Allan Park Pat on, Esq., of Greenock! There is" a copy of Kind Words from a Sick Room, 1891, in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is oioo,io.cc.2.(5). '■- Note. , The poem Only a Curl, originally published in The New York Independent, May i6ih, 1861, was reprinted in the following June by Mr. James H. Stone, of Baltimore, U.S.A., upon one side of a single leaf of paper. This reprint was unauthorised by the poetess, and the leaflet has no claim whatever to rank as a Browning princeps. PART II. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE, Etc. NOTE. The opening line of each poem as quoted in the folloiuing pages is given precisely as it stands in the book or periodical in which it first appeared. In several instances the lines underwent revision tvhen the poems were subsequently collected by their author. The portrait of * Pen ' which faces p. 181 is reproduced from a photograph, given to me by Mrs. R. B. Browning, of the painting by Hamilton Wild. On October gth, 1859, Robert Browning wrote to Sir Frederic Leighton : " Pen is quite well, and rejoicing just now in a Sardinian pony on which he gallops like Puck on a dragon-fly's back." N 2 ROBERT WIEDEMANN BARRETT BROWNING ( = ' PENINI ' = ' PEN ') AT THE AGE OF TEN. From a Portrait by Hamilton Wild, painted at Siena in 1859. PART II. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE, ETC. The following list consists of Poems and Prose writings, including letters, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning which appeared for the first time in the pages of Annuals, Magazines, and News- papers, and in Books by authors other than herself. Poems etc. which were merely reprinted in such publications are excluded. The Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, November igth, 1825, p. 750. The Rose and Zephyr. [The love of Zephyr for his Rose] Reprinted in Hitherto itnpublished Poems and Stories, Boston, U.S.A., 19 14, Vol. ii, pp. 50 — 53. The first published verses of a poet are always of interest, and as, so far as has yet been ascertained, this poem forms Elizabeth Browning's first public contribution to literature, and as it has never been reprinted in this country, I give it here in full : — 1 82 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. THE ROSE AND ZEPHYR. The love of Zephyr for his Rose Hath oft been told, and all may know it, In sportive verse, and laughing prose That apes the follies of the Poet ; — And, musing in some silent spot, The Minstrel, who has turned a rover, Hath often deem'd his ear had caught The harpings of that fairy lover. But love is transient, joy is frail, In gardens e'en, there's no denying — And it is mine to tell a tale That sets each tender floweret sighing. Sweet was the soft and balmy eve, When Zephyr, for his lov'd-one fearing, Exclaim 'd, " Oh I teach me to believe That thou wilt ay be thus endearing! " For ?nuch I fear, that when the Hours Admit the rosy footed Day, love, Thou' It be as false as other flowers, And let him kiss thy tears away, love 1 " " Be hush'd," she cried, " nor wrong me so, Thou fear' st in vain, and reason est blindly : Thou shall not think thy Rose untrue — 1 Tis a harsh thought, and sounds unkindly. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 183 " Not long ago, in noontide hour, The sunbeams threw their chains about me — Was I gay then? — ask any flower : I could not smile, love, when without thee ! "And the? thy sire, the raging Wind, Would oft our loves indignant sever, Yet, Zephyr, promise to be kind And constant to thy Rose for ever." Thus they talked on, with converse light, Till stars were from the welkin starting ; When mournfully she sigh'd "good night," — And breath 'd a kiss to him at parting. And flowery gossips shrewdly say, Her petal'd bloom grew pale with sorrow — A Lily, much too pure to lie, Speaks of the tears she shed till morrotv. But mark the end — in luckless minute, A gaudy Sunbeam chane'd to stray . Beside her bower, and loitered in it, And smiled those transient tears away. False Rose ! no thought of Zephyr there ; They laughed, and woo'd, and loved together Till a light cloud obscured the air — He fled before the rainy weather ! Sad Rose ! would Zephyr leave thee so ? Oh no ! that truth the Garden's sure of ; Thy bloom is past — thy head droops low — And, hapless Rose / thou'rt heard no more of I 1 84 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. And many a sign, poor Zephyr gave, To all the evil that befe'l thee ; He bore thy petals to the grave, As butterfly historians tell. me. And when June flowers their scent disclose, As down the vales, his pinions bring it, There's a lament for faithless Rose, And passing minstrels hear him sing it. (2) The Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, May 6th, 1826, p. 284. Irregular Stanzas. [Had I been born on a servile snore,] Reprinted in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, 19 14, Vol. ii, pp. 53—55. (3) The Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, September 30th, 1826, p. 620. The Black Statue. [Commanding all the vale around, ] Reprinted in Hitherto unpublished Poems a?id Stories, 19 14, Vol. ii, pp. 57 — 61. The poem bore the signature * Elizabeth ■ at foot. Mr. Buxton Forman, who first identified the verses, accepted this signature as being that of Elizabeth Barrett. There is no reason to question his decision. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 185 (4) The Jewish Expositor and Friend of Israel, January, 1827, pp. 14 — 16. Verses. [Who art thou of the veiled countenance^ Reprinted in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, 19 14, Vol. ii, pp. 71 — 74. (5) The Athe?iceum, March 19th, 1836, p. 208. Man and Nature. [A sad man on a summer day] Reprinted in The Seraphim, and Other Poems, 1838, pp. 287 — 289. (6) The JVezef Monthly Magazine, July, 1836, pp. 316-320. The Romaunt of Margret. [I plant a tree, whose leaf] Reprinted in The Seraphim, and Other Poems, 1838, pp. 119— 135. (7) T7ie Athenceum, July 2nd, 1836, p. 468. The Seaside Walk. [We walked by the sea,'] Reprinted in The Seraphim, and Other Poems, 1838, pp. 290 — 292. (8) The Athenceum, July 23rd, 1836, pp. 522 — 523. A Thought on Thoughts. [A Prose Essay] Reprinted in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, 19 14, Vol. ii, pp. 157—165. 186 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. (9) The New Monthly Magazine, October, 1836, pp. 209 — 218. The Poet's Vow. [Eve is a twofold mystery — ■] Reprinted in The Seraphim, and Other Poems, 1838, pp. 79—118. (10) The New Monthly Magazine, January, 1837, pp. 22—25. The Island. [A boon, O world ! a boon of thee .-] Reprinted in The Seraphim, and Other Poems, 1838, pp. 185—198. (") The Athenazum, July 1st, 1837, p. 483. The Young Queen. [The shroud is yet unspread] Reprinted in The Seraphim, and Other Poems, 1838, PP- 323—3 2 7- (12) The Athenaeum, July 8th, 1837, p. 506. Victoria's Tears. [" O maiden, heir of kings, ~\ Reprinted in The Seraphim, and Other Poems, 1838, pp. 328—331. (13) Finden's Tableaux, Edited by Mary Russell Mit- ford, 1838, pp. 29—31. A Romance of the Ganges. [They stand beneath the midnight, ~\ Reprinted in The Seraphim, and Other Poems, 1838, pp. 171 — 184. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 187 The poem was accompanied by a full-page Illustration, engraved upon steel by H. Egleton, after a drawing by J. Browne. In 1843 the volumes of Finderfs Tableaux were reprinted, and issued in Fifteen Five-shilling Parts, forming two folio volumes. The A thericzum, January 26th, 1839, p. 69. L. E. L.'s Last Question. [" Do you think of me as I think of you,] L. E. L. = Letitia Elizabeth Landon, afterwards Mrs. Maclean. Reprinted in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. ii, pp. 219 — 222. (is) Finderts Tableaux, Edited by Mary Russell Mit- ford, 1839, pp. 1—5. The Romaunt of the Page. {A knight of gallant deeds] Reprinted in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. i, pp. 151—170. The poem was accompanied by a full-page Illustration, engraved upon steel by W. & F. Holl, after a drawing by J. Browne. " / have just finished a very long barbarous ballad for Miss Mitford and the Finderfs Tableaux of this year. The title is ' The Romaunt of the Page,' and the subject not of my own choosing? — [E. B. B. to H. S. Boyd, circa May 1838.] 1 88 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. (16) The Amaranth, Edited by T. K. Hervey, 1839, PP- 73—75- A Sabbath on the Sea. {Our ship went on with solemn pace — ] Reprinted (under the amended title A Sabbath Morning at Sea, the first line reading The ship went on with solemn face :) in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Brou>ning, 1850, Vol. ii, pp. 325 — 328. (17) The Athenceum, February i$th, 1840, p. 131. The Crowned and Wedded Queen. [When last before her people 's face her ozvn fair face she bent,] Reprinted (under the amended title Crowned and Wedded) in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. ii, pp. 136 — 141. (18) Findens Tableaux, Edited by Mary Russell M it- ford, 1840. Pp. 7-8. The Dream. [How he sleepeth / having drunken] Reprinted (under the amended title A Child Asleep) in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1 844, Vol. ii, pp. 123 — 126. Pp. 15—21. Legend of the Brown Rosary. [" Onora, Onora " — her mother is calling — ] Reprinted (under the amended title The Lay of the Brown Rosary) in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. i, pp. 171 — 201. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 189 In Pin den's Tableaux the poem was accompanied by a full- page Illustration engraved upon steel by W. & F. Holl, after a drawing by J. Browne. (19) The Athenceum, July 4M, 1840, p. 532. Napoleon's Return. [Napoleon !— years ago, and that great word,] Reprinted (under the amended title Crowned and Buried) in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. ii, pp. 142 — 151. (20) The Athenaeum, August 21st, 1841, p. 643. The House of Clouds. [/ would build a cloudy house] Reprinted in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. ii, pp. 223 — 228. (21) The Poems of Geoffrey Chaueer Modernised, 8vo., 1841. Pp. 235—247. Queen Annelida and False Arcite. [O thou fierce God of Armies, Mars the red,] Pp. 248—257. The Complaint of Annelida to False Arcite. [The szvord of sorrow, whetted sharp for me] Both poems were first reprinted in The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1897, PP- 145—150. i go BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. (23) The Athencemn, October 23rd, 1841, p. 810. Lessons from the Gorse. [Mountain gorses, ever- golden /] Reprinted in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. ii, pp. 260 — 261. The lines were written at Torquay on March 24th, 1841. (23) The Athe?iceu?n, January &th, 1842, pp. 39 — 40. Three Hymns, Translated from the Greek of Gregory Nazianzen : Hymn I. [Monarch and maker of the worlds, we bless thee /] Hymn II. [O, above all! {how else to sing thee forth ?,] An Evening Hymn. [Notv we utter praise before thee,] Reprinted in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, 19 14, Vol. ii, pp. 222 — 228. (24) The Athenozum, February 26th, 1842, pp. 189 — 190. Some Account of the Greek Christian Poets — Part i. Reprinted in The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets, 1863, pp. 1 — 19. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 191 (25) The Athetiozum, March $th, 1842, pp. 210 — 212. Some Account of the Greek Christian Poets — Part it. Reprinted in The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets, 1863, pp. 19 — 45. (26) ■ • The Athenmim, March 12th, 1842, pp. 229 — 231. Some Account of the Greek Christian Poets — Part Hi. Reprinted in The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets, 1863, pp. 45 — 70. (27) The Athenaium, March 19th, 1842, pp. 249 — 252. Some Account of the Greek Christian Poets — Part iv. Reprinted in The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets, 1863, pp. 70 — 103. (28) The Athenceum, June 4th, 1842, pp. 497 — 499. A Study of The Book of the Poets — Part L Reprinted in The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets, i863,^pp. 105 — 122. 192 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. (29) The Athenceum, Jime n///, 1842, pp. 520 — 523. A Study of The Book of the Poets — Part iu Reprinted (with the closing paragraph referring to Shakespeare omitted) in T/ie Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets, 1863, pp. 122 — 146. (30) The Athenceum, June 25th, 1842, pp. 558 — 560. A Study of The Book of the Poets — Part Hi. Reprinted in The Greek Christian Poets atid the English Poets, 1863, PP- T 46 — 164. (31) The Athenceum, August 6th, 1842, pp. 706 — 708. A Study of The Book of the Poets — Part iv. Reprinted in The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets, 1^63, pp. 164 — 181. (32) The Athenceum, August 13th, 1842, pp. 728 — 729. A Study of The Book of the Poets — Part v. Reprinted in The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets, 1863, pp. 181 — 193. (33) The Athenaum, August 27///, 1842, pp. 757 — 759. A Review of Poems, chiefly of early and late years, including the borderers, a tragedy. By William Wordsworth. Moxon, 1842. Reprinted in The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets, 1863, pp. 193 — 211. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 193 (34) The Athenceum, September 17///, 1842, p. 818. A Claim in an Allegory. [Grief sale upon a rock and sighed one day—] Reprinted (under the amended title The Claim) in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1850, Vol. i|i PP- 355— 35 6 - (35) The Athenceum, October 29th, 1842, p. 932. On Mr. Haydon's Portrait of Mr. Wordsworth, [ Wordsworth upon Helvellyn ! — Let the cloud] Reprinted (under the amended title On a Portrait of Wordsworth, by B. R. Hay don) m Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. i, p. 125. (36) Boston Miscellany of Literature and Fashion, Vol. ii, November 1842, pp. 197 — 199. The Cry of the Human. [ u There is no God" the foolish saith — ] Reprinted in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. ii, pp. 173—179. Between the time that The Cry of the Human appeared in the Boston Miscellany and the time that it appeared in the Poems of 1844 the poem underwent a severe process of revision, tyot only was the text revised throughout, but four new stanzas were added. These were introduced between stanzas 4 and 5 of the earlier version. They read as follows : o 194 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. The plague of gold strikes far and near, — And deep and strong it enters : This purple chimar which we wear, Makes madder than the centaur's. Our thoughts groiv blank, our ivords grow strange We cheer the pale gold-diggers — Each soul is worth so much on 'Change, And marked, like sheep, with figures. Be pitiful, O God! The curse of gold upon the land, The lack of bread enforces — The rail-cars snort from strand to strand, Like more of Death's White horses t The rich preach "rights" and future days, And hear no angel scoffing ! The poor die mute — with starving gaze On corn-ships in the offing. Be pitiful, O God I We meet together at the feast — To private mirth betake us— We stare down in the wine-cup, lest Some vacant chair should shake us ! We name delight, and pledge it round — " 77 shall be ours to-morrow ! M God's seraphs I do your voices sound As sad in naming sorrow ? Be pitiful, O God/ We sit together, with the skies, The steadfast skies, above us : We look into each other's eyes, — " And how long will you love us ? " — CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 195 The eyes grow dim with prophecy, The voices, loiv and breathless — " Till death us pari!"— O words! to be Our best for love the deathless ! Be pitiful, dear God ! As an example of the changes made in the text of the original ten stanzas I give stanzas 3 and 4 as they appeared in the Boston Miscellany, and as they reappeared in Poems, 1844 : Boston Miscellany. Perhaps the war is in the plains ; Earth feels new scythes upon her : We reap our brothers for the wains, A?id call the harvest honor! Draw out confronted line to line, The natures all i?iherit ; Then kill, curse on, by that same sign, Clay, clay ; and spirit, spii'it. Be pitiful— Be pitiful, God! Perhaps the plague is in the town — A?id tiever a bell is tolling ; And corpses, jostled 'neath the moon, Nod to the death- car fs rolling. The strong man calleth for the cup, The young maid brings it weeping : The wife from her sick babe looks up, And shrieks away its sleeping. Be pitiful — Be pitiful, God! o 2 1 96 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. Poems, 1844. The battle hurtles on the plains — Earth feels new scythes upon her : We reap our brothers for the wains, And call the harvest . . . honour, — Draw face to face, from line to line, One image all inherit, — Then kill, curse on, by that same sign, Clay, clay, — and spirit, spirit. Be pitiful, O God! The plague runs festering through the town, — And fiever a bell is tolling ; , And corpses, jostled 'neath the moon, Nod to the dead-cart's rolling ! The young child calleth for the cup — The strong man brings it weeping ; The mother from her babe looks up, And shrieks away its sleeping. Be pitiful, O God! When reprinted later still further changes were made. For instance, in 1853 the penultimate line of stanza 9, which in the versions of 1842 and 1844 read To see a light on dearest broivs, became To see a light upon such brows. (37) Graham's Magazine, Philadelphia, December 1842, P- 3°3- CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 197 Sonnets : I . [/ tell y oti, hopeless grief is passionless /] Reprinted (under the title Grief) in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. i, p. 129. II. [ When some belovdd voice, which was to you] Reprinted (under the title Substitution) in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. i, p. 130. III. [What are we set on earth for? Say, to toil/] Reprinted (under the title Work) in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. i, p. 133. IV. [The woman singe th at her spinning-wheel] Reprinted (under the title Work arid Contemplation) in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. i, p. 139. (38) The Pioneer, Edited by James Russell Lowell and Robert Carter, March 1843, p. 112. The Maiden's Death. \Is she dying? ye who grieve] Reprinted, with certain differences of text, in The Cornhill Magazine, December 1913, pp. 721 — 722. Again printed (but from a different Manuscript, and with several variations in the text) in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 19 14, Vol. ii, pp. 229 — 231, where a facsimile of the Manuscript then employed accompanies the printed text. Afterwards included (with The Cornhill Magazine text) in New Poems by Robert Browning and Eliza- 198 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. beth Barrett Browning, Edited by Sir F. G. Kenyon, K.C.B., 1914, pp. 132— 133. An early draft, extending to 30 lines only, is also printed in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, pp. 175—176. (39) The Aihenozum, June 24th, 1843, PP- 583-584. A Review of Orion : An Epic Poem. By R. H. Horne. *** This Review has never been reprinted. (40) Graham's Magazine, Philadelphia, July 1843, p. 34. The Soul's Expression. [With stammering lips and insufficient sound] Reprinted in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. i, p. 123. (41) The Athenaum, July 22nd, 1843, p. 670. To Flush, My Dog. [Loving friend, the gift of one] Reprinted in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. ii, pp. 152—158. (42) Grahams Magazine, Philadelphia, August 1843, p. 71. The Seraph and Poet. [The seraph sings before the manifest] Reprinted in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. i, p. 124. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 199 (43) Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, August 1843, pp. 260 — 262. The Cry of the Children. [Do ye hear the children weeping, O my brothers /] Reprinted in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. ii, pp. 127—135. (44) Graham's Magazine, Philadelphia, September 1843, p. 158. The Child and the Watcher. {Sleep on, baby, on the floor, ~\ Reprinted (under the amended title Sleeping and Watching) in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Ba?-rett, 1844, Vol. ii, pp. 241 — -243. (45) Graham's Magazine, Philadelphia, October 1843, p. 208. Catarina to Camoens. [On the door you will not enter.'] Reprinted in Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1844, Vol. ii, pp. 229 — 236. An early draft of Catarina "to Camoens was printed by Mr. Buxton Forman in The Poets' Enchiridion, dr'c, 1 9 14, pp. 47 — 49 ; and again in Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, by Elizabeth Browning, 19 14, Vol. ii, pp. 185 — 186. 200 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. (46) A New Spirit of the Age, by R. H. Home, 2 Vols, 1843. Wordsworth, Leigh Hunt, Landor. When compiling A New Spirit of the Age Home made the fullest possible use of his correspondence with Elizabeth Barrett, and whole pages of the book were printed verbatim from her letters. This is sufficiently proved by portions of the original documents which are preserved in the library of the late Mr. H. Buxton Forman. As Mr. Forman himself remarked [Hitherto unpublished Poems and Stories, 19 14, Vol. ii, p. 221] "the extent of his [Home's] debt to E. B. B. is not, and perhaps never will be, fully known." And again [Literary Anecdotes of the Nine- tee?^ Century, Vol. ii, 1896, p. 105] "The two volumes known as Home's New Spirit of the Age are a perfect treasure-house of high criticism from the hand of the greatest woman-poet of this or any other country or century, if only we knew exactly where to light upon her thoughts. It is that fact that gives the book . . . the exquisite freshness and perfume of which its pages are redolent." Home himself wrote * : " Soon after the completion of Chaucer Modernized, two volumes of literary criticism, under the title of A New Spirit of the Age were projected. As in the former case, the work was to be edited and partly written by myself, and the principal and most valuable of my coadjutors was Miss Barrett. ... I may now say that the critique entitled William Words- worth and Leigh Hunt . . . was written in about equal propor- tions by Miss Barrett and myself. ... It was written in letters now and then of considerable length. . . . The review of the * Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Richard Henry Home, 1877, Vol. i, pp. 134—138. "Xr r ' 9 r ^IuaJ ^iu) MLhJ J 'Jrvt- ki*bs 'tfUt f kd. l bh> &*~hA «4lM f$s& t- &t Aut4 j ^ -fe }fM*t»^trfU jfau.^ fa, wli Ufhi fc*f .- ^ .?^| f£V : "-vC Wfc JtfVx fee \ rW * *** '****» t ^*U M'Lri T£>t fdit W ■ J h i ' I * ' ' . * A ,Hs $UM L >***l4- t ***** € *' t'W. * i^*- tfO.^. t*-w K {we**^j fWxW ft. /^ ^"^4 1 ' ? -'•■'-'- - - : '- J '~ J JMil ^ $1^'^ « ^^ ]tf"*,*LiUiiU^- A ', -JL t, ^Jfc^, ^ *iH *^ / jf>w j&*4 til Ktl At'Hfrl t &* ^W»*^ t *J&<*^ % ^U tfCU. »Hi*MH^ftn« 1 *** J &W &"*■ K &\. 4,/v+rtv ? ml L*y fu4- MnliiJ x bffl. - J W^M. ^3^ i i^ i^. ^ ^ t4^.jj^} : ^Mu. *&UW^ Ufa L I p*n ^ f v-/H^rt. X Jo. . A ^H /It W ^4 *~ t & , fatX &ii ^ A klvl Ku n !u^ tit- /' ^ ^^( <- ** Hu^j, ^ii^-y.- Jd^Mt &TH, ^U^ I, ^ i\*,(L j ^ >Hv<^ f M- *f )(3s ^ ^" if* '*«* | i4m ^ ^ *^ ? *f rX ^ f^ ^" ^i^Uiv lw&j< fr&^v , kd T ^* J ^ ?l ^ V ^ ^ i^t'.te^^ *^^ Jt ! f^&'jw^ /* •« *^.I^j4.'mJ **<4* *i-?U'iL ,4j't '-iv -| /u'M#4 vV. • ' s? ***** I - ^ t*> fc+tft- - hk. up. ^^sL !v. ,;; 4- -- -lU^J -ulvftJ- ;fi*w-f«ij ^ ** /^< tec ^-C- o^i^', ***"M$L. My'Ut fay Wu/fev ^ fc* U.&! ui /*£«.«■*& - iL M iJL U&, L - ' i t ' •*' ft, ' / ' " ''■"*■ vis,, v Mhj lu, tub i V^-Uvy (Hi t ft* h huU^ civ i?*Jffiv&* ^ic $ $'. J'**]U«4s Cr/'' Hi \q ^ | ki4 ; osktrt *^ /&. m "(fa i^u LfkUl ty y'i : - *J*i < *&$*- Hu it4 / ; <*u fob 1 ' y? - ,} h^vf < 4^ il(4 Uiu{ ,^m- ^ ' >.W. ^i )Tkl^ U-f ML s v^ #"^>C^ £ 6& ! /' u& *di, /v ^w ^ - ^- r jM *} fr^^/ -I ^c^*. ( ■ 6f cyv BROWNINGIANA. 245 (26) The Browning Collections. / Catalogue / of / Oil Paintings, Drawings & Prints ; / Autograph Letters and Manuscripts ; / Books ; / Statuary, Furniture, Tapestries, / and Works of Art ; / The Property of/ R. W. Barrett Browning, Esq. (Deceased), / of Asolo, Veneto, and La Torre all' Antella, near Florence, Italy / (Sold by Order of the Administra- tors of his Estate), / Including many Relics of his Parents / Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning / Which will be sold by Auction, / by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge / . . . . / At their House, No. 13, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C. / &c. \_May 1st, 2nd, $tk } 6tk, jtk y and %tk, 191 3]. Collation : — Quarto, pp. viii -f- 161, with Portraits and Facsimiles of Manuscripts, and other Illustrations. The Catalogue extended to 1,417 Lots, which produced a total sum of £27,934, of which £15,514 is. was obtained for the Manuscripts, and £6,054 18s. 6d. for the Printed Books. (*7) The Death / of / Elizabeth Barrett Browning / By / Robert Browning / London : / Printed for Private Circulation only / By Richard Clay & Sons, Ltd. / 19 1 6. Collation : — Square octavo, pp. 21, with a four-page facsimile of Browning's Manuscript. 246 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF E. B. BROWNING. Issued in buff-coloured paper wrappers, with untrimmed edges, and with the title-page reproduced upon the front. Thirty Copies only were printed. Elizabeth Barrett Browning died at Casa Guidi, Florence, on Saturday, June 29th, 1861. Upon the following day Robert Browning prepared the lengthy and minutely detailed account of her last illness and death, which was printed for the first — and only — time in the pamphlet here described. This account he forwarded in the form of a Letter — one of the most precious of documents — to his sister Sarianna Browning, then residing with her father in Paris. The holograph is now in my own possession. I give a facsimile of it herewith. (28) To / Elizabeth Barrett Browning / and Other Verses / By / Walter Savage Landor / London : / Printed for Private Circulation Only / 19 17. Collation : — Crown octavo, pp. 22. Issued in bright green paper wrappers, with untrimmed edges, and with the title-page reproduced upon the front. Thirty Copies only were printed. (29) A / Bibliography / of / The Writings in Prose and Verse / of / Elizabeth Barrett Browning / By / Thomas J. Wise / London : / Printed for Private BROWNINGIANA. 247 Circulation only / By Richard Clay & Sons, Ltd. / 1918. Collation : — Foolscap quarto, pp. xv + 247, with Fifty- four full-page facsimiles of Title-pages,Manuscripts, and Portraits. Issued in dark grey paper boards, lettered across the back, and with the title-page reproduced upon the front. One Hundred Copies only were printed. BIBLIOGRAPHIES COMPLETED. The Bibliography of George Borrow, i Vol. The Bibliography of the Members of the Bronte Family, i Vol. The Bibliography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, i Vol. The Bibliography of Robert Browning, i Vol. The Bibliography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, i Vol. A Supplement to the Bibliography of Coleridge, i Vol. The Bibliography of Walter Savage Landor, i Vol. The Bibliography of John Ruskin, 2 Vols. The Bibliography of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 2 Vols. The Bibliography of William Wordsworth, 1 Vol. IN PREPARATION. ■ The Bibliography of Lord Byron. The Bibliography of John Dryden. The Bibliography of John Gay. The Bibliography of Alexander Pope. The Bibliography of Matthew Prior. The Bibliography of Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Bibliography of Algernon Charles Swinburne. London : PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY By Richard Clay & Sons, Ltd. 1918. ^m^mxiT^m I &s3t&vm&*%: d£ I «.; NON-CIRCULATING BOOK Jtere Boofe* and Special Collections ftjreBoc^ and Special Collections THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY