MR. BIRRELL ON BROWNING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 193, 9 May 1908, Page 12

MR. BIRRELL ON BROWNING.

.ft .is,-Vwith' approbation and even with' "something.of. rftltet' 'that we find in ..active politician doing' work which is not connected, with politics; .Mr. Birrell, wo; are glad to sec, has found time tb publish 'with Messrs; .-. Jack' 1 of -"'Edinburgh,. .in their "Golden .Poets"..'series, a/selection 'from Browning's poems,;jjq' which','ho' gives an introduction.'. Beginning with - a. recollection ot old ! discouragements, he -.tells' us that ,Matthew;:., Arnold ; M an'd Edward Fitzgerald could not read Browning; and, that Tonny,'sbri "confessed to. 'an occasional, disability.. Later,- of course, camo' the enormous .vogue; but, :npw, i ; again, Birrell brings :' discouragemeniV' with''/the . .suggestion that .Browning': lovers'"are!'middle-aged, and -'the formidable question," "Will your sotti read Browning?" We might answer'that he will unless he be. a : young jfool_ extinguished in a .coterie,"'and i.that''.even .in that case he--will .emerge ; ,'and"j'3iake. possession of ,his. heritago.- Birrell/thinks- so, too, "and though 1 h'ej'seems''a -little melancholy about- it: heVv's'ay 8 some good, firm things : for the. His ; prolixity—Mr.Birrell admits something of the , kind—" is not. to be" attributed-.to his using t-oo many words to' express one thought, but to his bMtowmg:/too:'many '.'thoughts on one Sub'ject,'' rightly insist-s .'on the, • 'It is per:tinont,.;to6j";,to,"jiisk'' what is ,the average ."percentago..,o'f. salvage": among• poets, who. cannot, eveni;if : v they..; be -1 save'the •whole ■ o^ v tlieir-!cargo..; -Turning -over tho pages of-Mr. BirrelHs selection, we sie that Browning is,;,as ~ha' .says,^"in the thick of life,", and : it is no' circumscribed' lifo 'that ranges from "The . Bishop Orders his Tomb" to . MA/.GranunariaH!s' • Funeral The busy generatio.nsi, that ( aro to, comb may take Browning in selections, but few poets can hopo.' for. 1 moire- ICNow that there;; seems to bo.no. chance of; thd,.careless extinction of /authors ,: : that-/art.'- • worth'.- preserving, the .specialisation: pf'-literary: study must become hareowdf.,' ;A.'cfint'riry ;henco tho full exploration of'.Browning "may - be: a lonely task,, and. 'yfet' .'onis can believe' that, the penetration even':into''.'Tifi.ne': 1 at .tho' Fair or ."Red Cijtt'on ' might. bfe .im-. hiensely, interesting -to' the critic with ; the instincts of a' biographer. - If oil Browning's works',do', hcrfc'b'eloiig to the essence of. lite-.'ratui-fe'/. they;.sra'part. of a'wonderful; arid fascinating "minjl;' :