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"The Browning Cyclopaedia."

_SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE FIRST EDITION._


"Conscientious and painstaking,"--_The Times._

"Obviously a most painstaking work, and in many ways it is very well
done."--_Pall Mall Gazette._

"In many ways a serviceable book, and deserves to be widely bought."--_The
Speaker._

"A book of far-reaching research and careful industry... will make this
poet clearer, nearer, and dearer to every reader who systematically uses
his book."--_Scotsman._

"Dr. Berdoe is a safe and thoughtful guide; his work has evidently been a
labour of love, and bears many marks of patient research."--_Echo._

"Students of Browning will find it an invaluable aid."--_Graphic._

"A work suggestive of immense industry."--_Morning Post._

"Erudite and comprehensive."--_Glasgow Herald._

"As a companion to Browning's works the Cyclopaedia will be most valuable;
it is a laborious, if necessary, piece of work, conscientiously performed,
for which present and future readers and students of Browning ought to be
really grateful."--_Nottingham Daily Guardian._

"A monumental labour, and fitting company for the great compositions he
elucidates."--_Rock._

"It is very well that so patient and ubiquitous a reader as Dr. Berdoe
should have written this useful cyclopaedia, and cleared the meaning of
many a dark and doubtful passage of the poet."--_Black and White._

"It is not too much to say that Dr. Berdoe has earned the gratitude of
every reader of Browning, and has materially aided the study of English
literature in one of its ripest developments."--_British Weekly._

"Dr. Berdoe's Cyclopaedia should make all other handbooks
unnecessary."--_Star._

"We are happy to commend the volume to Browning students as the most
ambitious and useful in its class yet executed."--_Notes and Queries._

"A most learned and creditable piece of work. Not a difficulty is
shirked."--_Vanity Fair._

"A monument of industry and devotion. It has really faced difficulties, it
is conveniently arranged, and is well printed and bound."--_Bookman._

"A wonderful help."--_Gentlewoman._

"Can be strongly recommended as one for a favourite corner in one's
library."--_Whitehall Review._

"Exceedingly well done; its interest and usefulness, we think, may pass
without question."--_Publishers' Circular._

"In a singularly industrious and exhaustive manner he has set himself to
make clear the obscure and to accentuate the beautiful in Robert
Browning's poem... must have involved infinite labour and research. It
cannot be doubted that the book will be widely sought for and warmly
appreciated."--_Daily Telegraph._

"Dr. Berdoe tackles every allusion, every proper name, every phase of
thought, besides giving a most elaborate analysis of each poem. He has
produced what we might almost call a monumental work."--_Literary
Opinion._

"This cyclopaedia may certainly claim to be by a long way the most
efficient aid to the study of Browning that has been published, or is
likely to be published.... Lovers of Browning will prize it highly, and
all who wish to understand him will consult it with advantage."--_Baptist
Magazine._

"The work has evidently been one of love, and we doubt whether any one
could have been found better qualified to undertake it."--_Cambridge
Review._

"All readers of Browning will feel indebted to Dr. Berdoe for his
interesting accounts of the historical facts on which many of the dramas
are based, and also for his learned dissertations on 'The Ring and the
Book' and 'Sordello.'"--_British Medical Journal._

"The work is so well done that no one is likely to think of doing it over
again."--_The Critic_ (New York).

"This work reflects the greatest credit on Dr. Berdoe and on the Browning
Society, of which he is so distinguished a member,--it is simply
invaluable."--_The Hawk._

"The Cyclopaedia has at any rate brought his (Browning's) best work well
within the compass of all serious readers of intelligence--Browning made
easy."--_The Month._




THE BROWNING CYCLOPAEDIA.




By the Same Author.


=BROWNING'S MESSAGE TO HIS TIME. His Religion, Philosophy, and Science.=
With Portrait and Facsimile Letters. Second edition, price 2_s._ 6_d._


_OPINIONS OF THE PRESS._

"Full of admiration and sympathy."--_Saturday Review._

"Much that is helpful and suggestive."--_Scotsman._

"Should have a wide circulation, it is interesting and
stimulative."--_Literary World._

"It is the work of one who, having gained good himself, has made it his
endeavour to bring the same good within the reach of others, and, as such,
it deserves success."--_Cambridge Review._

"We have no hesitation in strongly recommending this little volume to any
who desire to understand the moral and mental attitude of Robert
Browning.... We are much obliged to Dr. Berdoe for his volume."--_Oxford
University Herald._

"Cannot fail to be of assistance to new readers."--_Morning Post._

"The work of a faithful and enthusiastic student is here."--_Nation._




    THE BROWNING CYCLOPAEDIA

    _A GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF THE WORKS_
    OF ROBERT BROWNING

    WITH
    Copious Explanatory Notes and References
    on all Difficult Passages


    BY EDWARD BERDOE

    LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, EDINBURGH; MEMBER OF
    THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, ENGLAND, ETC., ETC.

    _Author of "Browning's Message to his Time," "Browning as a Scientific
    Poet," etc., etc._


    LONDON: SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. LTD.
    NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
    1897




    FIRST EDITION, _December, 1891_.
    SECOND EDITION, _March, 1892_.
    THIRD EDITION (Revised), _September, 1897_.




    I gratefully Dedicate these pages
    TO DR. F. J. FURNIVALL
    AND MISS E. H. HICKEY,
    THE FOUNDERS OF
    THE BROWNING SOCIETY.




PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.


The demand for a second edition of this work within three months of its
publication is a sufficient proof that such a book meets a want,
notwithstanding the many previous attempts of a more or less partial
character which have been made to explain Browning to "the general." With
the exception of certain superfine reviewers, to whom nothing is
obscure--except such things as they are asked to explain without previous
notice--every one admits that Browning requires more or less elucidation.
It is said by some that I have explained too much, but this might be said
of most commentaries, and certainly of every dictionary. It is difficult
to know precisely where to draw the line. If I am not to explain (say for
lady readers) what is meant by the phrase "_De te fabula narratur_," I
know not why any of the classical quotations should be translated. If
Browning is hard to understand, it must be on account of the obscurity of
his language, of his thought, or the purport of his verses; very often the
objection is made that the difficulty applies to all these. I have not
written for the "learned," but for the people at large. _The Manchester
Guardian_, in a kindly notice of my book, says "the error and marvel of
his book is the supposition that any <DW36> who can only be crutched by
it into an understanding of Browning will ever understand Browning at
all." There are many readers, however, who understand Browning a little,
and I hope that this book will enable them to understand him a great deal
more: though all <DW36>s cannot be turned into athletes, some undeveloped
persons may be helped to achieve feats of strength.

A word concerning my critics. No one can do me a greater service than by
pointing out mistakes and omissions in this work. I cannot hope to please
everybody, but I will do my best to make future editions as perfect as
possible.

E. B.

_March 1892._




PREFACE.


I make no apology for the publication of this work, because some such book
has long been a necessity to any one who seriously proposes to study
Browning. Up to its appearance there was no single book to which the
leader could turn, which gave an exposition of the leading ideas of every
poem, its key-note, the sources--historical, legendary, or fanciful--to
which the poem was due, and a glossary of every difficult word or allusion
which might obscure the sense to such readers as had short memories or
scanty reading. It would be affectation to pretend to believe that every
educated person ought to know, without the aid of such a work as this,
what Browning means by phrases and allusions which may be found by
hundreds in his works. The wisest reader cannot be expected to remember,
even if he has ever learned, a host of remote incidents in Italian
history, for example, to say nothing of classical terms which "every
schoolboy" ought to know, but rarely does. Browning is obscure,
undoubtedly, if a poem is read for the first time without any hint as to
its main purport: the meaning in almost every case lies more or less below
the surface; the superficial idea which a careless perusal of the poem
would afford is pretty sure to be the wrong one. Browning's poetry is
intended to make people think, and without thought the fullest commentary
will not help the reader much. "I can have little doubt," said the poet,
in his preface to the First Series of _Selections_ from his works, "that
my writing has been in the main too hard for many I should have been
pleased to communicate with; but I never designedly tried to puzzle
people, as some of my critics have supposed. On the other hand, I never
pretended to offer such literature as should be a substitute for a cigar
or a game at dominoes to an idle man. So, perhaps, on the whole, I get my
deserts, and something over--not a crowd, but a few I value more." As for
my own qualifications for the task I have undertaken, I can only say that
I have attended nearly every meeting of the Browning Society from its
inauguration; I have read every book, paper, and article upon Browning on
which I could lay my hands, have gone over every line of the poet's works
again and again, have asked the assistance of literary friends in every
difficulty, and have pegged away at the obscurities till they _seemed_ (at
any rate) to vanish. It is possible that a scientific education in some
considerable degree assists a man who addresses himself to a task of this
sort: a medical man does not like to be beaten by any difficulty which
common perseverance can conquer; when one has spent days in tracing a
nerve thread through the body to its origin, and through all its
ramifications, a few visits to the library of the British Museum, or a few
hours' puzzling over the meaning of a difficult passage in a poem, do not
deter him from solving a mystery,--and this is all I can claim. I have not
shirked any obscurities; unlike some commentators of the old-fashioned
sort, who in dealing with the Bible carefully told us that a score meant
twenty, but said nothing as to the meaning of the verse in Ezekiel's dream
about the women who wept for Tammuz--but have honestly tried to help my
readers in every case where they have a right to ask such aid. Probably I
have overlooked many things which I ought to have explained. It is not
less certain that some will say I have explained much that they already
knew. I can only ask for a merciful judgment in either case. I am quite
anxious to be set right in every particular in which I may be wrong, and
shall be grateful for hints and suggestions concerning anything which is
not clear. I have to thank Professor Sonnenschein for permission to
publish his valuable Notes to _Sordello_, with several articles on the
history of the Guelf and Ghibelline leaders: these are all indicated by
the initial [S.] at the end of each note or article. I am grateful also to
Mr. A. J. Campbell for permission to use his notes on Rabbi Ben Ezra. I
have also to thank Dr. Furnivall, Miss Frances Power Cobbe, and the Very
Rev. Canon Akers, M.A., for their kindness in helping me on certain
difficult points which came within their lines of study. It would be
impossible to read the works of commentators on Browning for the years
which I have devoted to the task without imbibing the opinions and often
insensibly adopting the phraseology of the authors: if in any case I have
used the ideas and language of other writers without acknowledging them, I
hope it will be credited to the infirmity of human nature, and not
attributed to any wilful appropriation of other men's and women's literary
valuables. As for the poet himself, I have largely used his actual words
and phrases in putting his ideas into plain prose; it has not always been
possible, for reasons which every one will understand, to put quotation
marks to every few words or portions of lines where this has occurred.
When, therefore, a beautiful thought is expressed in appropriate language,
it is most certainly not mine, but Browning's. My only aim has been to
bring the Author of the vast body of literature to which this book is an
introduction a little nearer to the English and American reading public;
my own opinions and criticisms I have endeavoured as much as possible to
suppress. In the words of Dr. Furnivall, "This is a business book," and
simply as such I offer it to the public.

EDWARD BERDOE.

LONDON, _November 28th, 1891_.




_BOOKS, ESSAYS, ETC., WHICH ARE ESPECIALLY USEFUL TO THE BROWNING
STUDENT._


BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS.

=Life of Robert Browning.= By MRS. SUTHERLAND ORR. London: 1891.

=Life of Robert Browning.= By WILLIAM SHARP. London: 1890.

    On the whole, Mr. Sharp's Biography will be found the more useful for
    the student. It contains an excellent Bibliography by Mr. John P.
    Anderson of the British Museum, and a Chronological List of the Poet's
    Works.

=Robert Browning: Chief Poet of the Age.= By W. G. KINGSLAND. London:
1890. Excellent for beginners.

=Robert Browning: Personalia.= By EDMUND GOSSE. Boston: 1890.


WORKS OF CRITICISM AND EXPOSITION.

=Robert Browning: Essays and Thoughts.= By JOHN T. NETTLESHIP. London:
1868. Artistic and suggestive.

=Stories from Robert Browning.= By F. M. HOLLAND; with Introduction by
MRS. SUTHERLAND ORR. London: 1882.

=A Handbook to the Works of Robert Browning.= By MRS. SUTHERLAND ORR.
London: 1885.

=An Introduction to the Study of Browning.= By ARTHUR SYMONS. London:
1886. Intensely sympathetic and appreciative.

=A Bibliography of Robert Browning, from 1833 to 1881.= By DR. F. J.
FURNIVALL. 1881.

=An Introduction to the Study of Robert Browning's Poetry.= By HIRAM
CORSON. Boston: 1888.

=Studies in the Poetry of Robert Browning.= By JAMES FOTHERINGHAM. London:
1887.

=Browning Guide Book.= By GEORGE WILLIS COOKE. Boston: 1891.

=Strafford: a Tragedy.= With Notes and Preface, by E. H. HICKEY, and
Introduction by S. R. GARDINER. London: 1884.

=Browning and the Christian Faith.= The Evidences of Christianity from
Browning's Point of View. By EDWARD BERDOE. London: 1896.

=Browning as a Philosophical Religious Teacher.= By Prof. HENRY JONES.
Glasgow: 1891.

=Browning's Message to His Time: His Religion, Philosophy and Science.= By
EDWARD BERDOE. London: 1890.


THE BROWNING SOCIETY'S PUBLICATIONS.

=The Browning Society's Papers, Part I.= Vol. I., 1881-4, pp. 1-116
(_presented by Dr. Furnivall_). [1881-2.

    1. A Reprint of BROWNING'S Introductory Essay to the 25 spurious
    _Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley_, 1852: On the Objective and
    Subjective Poet, on the Relation of the Poet's Life to his Work; on
    Shelley, his Nature, Art, and Character.

    2. A Bibliography of ROBERT BROWNING, 1833-81: Alphabetical and
    Chronological Lists of his Works, with Reprints of discontinued
    Prefaces, of _Ben Karshook's Wisdom_, partial collations of _Sordello_
    1840, 1863, and _Paracelsus_ 1835, 1863, etc., and with Trial-Lists of
    the Criticisms on BROWNING, Personal Notices of him, etc., by F. J.
    FURNIVALL.

=The Browning Society's Papers, Part II.= Vol. I., 1881-4, pp. 117-258.
[1881-2.

    3. Additions to the Bibliography of