Browning's verses on his schoolmaster were not always equally complimentary. In 1833 he added at the end of a note he was sending to Mr. W. J. Fox, an "impromptu" he had made "on hearing a sermon by the Rev. Thomas] R[eady] pronounced 'heavy,' " A heavy sermon-sure the error's great For not a word Tom uttered had its weight. The old school, then considered one of the best in South London, is now pulled down, but with the help of the rate-books and the local authorities it has been found possible to discover the site. In the Domett family a tradition ran that this was the school "at which Goldsmith was an usher, the wretchedness of which position he has put upon lasting record." This seems to be the fact, although Miss Browning, when the matter was mentioned to her, declared that the tradition had not until then reached her ears. In the early days of his acquaintance with Browning, doubtless during a walk from Camberwell to New Cross, in the course of which they would pass the spot, Domett mentions that as we passed the wall of the playground, I think, over which was seen a green-house, Browning made some remark expressive of the disgust with which he always thought of the place, and added, "I made an epigram one day upon it." As far as I remember it was to the following effect-the last line I know word for word,— Within these walls and near that house of glass, Did I three [?] years of hapless childhood pass. D-d undiluted misery it was! (This last in a suddenly deepened tone.) He said he well remembered my other brother Edward [who died, aged The ? is Domett's own. Five years would be more exact, 23] with his love for ships and predilection for a sailor's life, and how he had taught him (B.) the proper pronunciation of the word "bow" of a ship. Domett himself was at school at Stockwell Park, and his memories of school-days somewhat resemble those of Browning. After his return from New Zealand he revisited the site of his former school-an old countryhouse in a park-and in noting the changes during fifty years, adds the words, "I loathe the recollection of my earlier school-days there, though there used to be some fun too now and then." He left school in 1827, and passed to Cambridge. Domett was not, as Mrs. Orr in her not wholly reliable biography of the poet declares, a friend of Browning from boyhood. It is true, as she says, that "the families of Joseph Arnould and Alfred Domett both lived at Camberwell," the home of the Dometts being, indeed, in Camberwell Grove, which, in spite of all changes in the neighborhood, still retains its woodland character; but it is not true that either Arnould or Domett was known to Browning "before the publication of Pauline," in 1833. Nor was Mrs. Orr correct in saying that Domett's father was "one of Nelson's captains." One member of the family, Admiral Sir Wm. Domett, K.C.B., was not only one of Nelson's captains, but a friend of the great commander: but Domett's father, who ran away to sea, left the Navy in 1781, immediately after the battle of the Doggerbank, at which he was present as a middy. He then entered the merchant service, married the daughter of a ship-owner, and became a shipowner himself. Such details have a bearing upon the life of Browning, for it is noticeable how many of his early friends were connected with the sea. Christopher Dowson-"dear Chris. Dowson," passionately fond of the theatre, with his pretty cottage at Woodford, where Browning and Miss Browning, Arnould and others visited him: "poor Chris. Dowson," as he is called in the later days of his sorrow, was connected with shipping, and used to call and tell Browning when a ship was about to sail New Zealand-wards to Domett. Then there is "the familiar figure" of Captain Lloyd, whose unexpected arrival at Hatcham one morning broke in upon the first inspiration of "The Flight of the Duchess" and changed the whole course of that poem. Domett's cousins, the Youngs, again, were ship-builders, as were the Curlings. But Captain Pritchard, an old and intimate friend of the Browning family,' seems to be the most important member, biographically speaking, of this group. He certainly knew the Brownings by 1828, when the poet was sixteen, and it was through him that Browning attended some of the lectures at Guy's of the celebrated Dr. James Blundell, Captain Pritchard's cousin, who lived in Piccadilly and died worth some £350,000. Dr. Blundell's nephew, Bezer Blundell, "a Grandison in a lawyer's office-a possible Sidney trying to squeeze himself into the clothes of an attorney," is one of the interesting figures in the previously-mentioned "set" with which Browning mingled. It seems most probable, although it cannot be stated with absolute certainty, that it was through "dear old Pritchard" that Browning became acquainted with the whole of the Dowson-Domett circle, the friendship with the Dowsons having preceded by some years that with Domett. In his Diary Domett speaks in 1878 of remembering Browning's mother The gold watch, for instance, always worn by Miss Browning, was the gift of this friend. 10 Mrs. Orr ["Life," p. 66] says: "This winter of 1834-5 witnessed the birth, perhaps also the distinction, of an amateur periodical, established by some of Mr. Browning's friends; foremost among these the young "about 40 years before (say 1838)"; but no real intimacy seems to have existed until at least 1840, when Browning was 28 and Domett 29. The acquaintance with Arnould arose out of that with Domett. In 1839 Domett issued, as a little paper-covered pamphlet, his poem Venice, and it seems probable that this was the means of bringing him into touch with Browning, who, during the previous year, had made his first visit to Italy for Sordello, and had returned full of enthusiasm for the island city, a description of which, it will be remembered, he introduced towards the end of Book III. of his poem. Christopher Dowson and Browning were old friends: Browning had been concerned with the Dowsons in 1834-5 in producing an amateur periodical-Olla Podrida.10 Now Chris. Dowson had in 1836 married Mary Domett, Alfred's sister, and presumably gave Browning a copy of his brother-in-law's poem. That Browning had not long known Domett when Sordello appeared is clear, for in writing to him on March 25, 1840, and alluding to his apostrophes to Landor and Miss Fanny Haworth ("Eyebright") in Book III., he declared that the author of Venice should also have been alluded to as a matter of course, had he known him earlier. In the same letter he mentions that he is about to consult Dowson before inviting Domett to come over to Southampton Street-for the Brownings were still living at Camberwell-for an informal meal. This seems to make clear both the source and the extent of the intimacy in March, 1840. Sordello was thus advertised for the first time in the Athenæum of February Dowsons. The magazine was called "The Trifler," and published in monthly num. bers of about 10 pages each." The name of the magazine, for which Browning also wrote, was, I am informed by Sir Frederick Young, who well remembers it, not "The Trifler" but "Olla Podrida." 29th, 1840-"Price 6s. 6d. boards: Sordello, a Poem by Robert Browning," and the first letter from Browning to Domett was sent with a presentation copy of this little volume with its blue paper covers and tawny unlettered back. As indicative of the early stage of the friendship, the title-page bore the formal inscription, "Alfred Domett, Esq., with R. B.'s best regards." The accompanying letter, consisting simply of two sentences, was undated, except for the enigmatical words, "Saturday night, St. Perpetua's Day!" Truly, a Sordello-like inscription; but like many other Sordello puzzles, easy of solution; for St. Perpetua's Day, as the almanac explains, is March 7th, which in 1840 fell on a Saturday. But the question still remains as to why Browning should speak at all of so unusual a Saint. The reason, however, is simple. The Rev. W. Johnson Fox, Browning's "literary father," had written the first cordial review he ever received, that on Pauline, in 1833; and in expressing his thanks Browning declared, "I shall never write a line without thinking of the source of my first praise." In 1835 Paracelsus also was welcomed by Mr. Fox, who soon afterwards introduced, at his own home, Browning and Macready, and thus indirectly contributed to the production of Strafford, in 1837. Browning, therefore, of course, at once sent a copy of Sordello to Mr. Fox. But with Mr. Fox lived Miss Eliza Flower, who was tenderly attached to Browning, and he to her; indeed, as Mrs. Orr truly says, "If, in spite of his denials, any woman inspired Pauline, it can have been no other than she." It is this intimacy which explains the reference to St. Perpetua, for Miss Flower's sister, 11 Mr. Wise also identified the Miss Flower, to whom the letter was addressed, with Miss Sarah Flower, afterwards "Mrs. Adams," as he explains. But, in 1842, she had been married eight years. Mr. Wise's further state Sarah-author of "Nearer My God to Thee"-was at that time at work upon her forthcoming poetical drama, which from the name of the saint with whose life it dealt was called Vivia Perpetua. Such details may seen trivial, but are not wholly so, for although Browning's reply to Miss Eliza Flower's letter of acknowledgment of Sordello has been twice reprinted, it has been inevitably misunderstood by both its editors for lack of doing exactly what Browning asked Domett to do with regard to St. Perpetua's day-i.e., consult the almanac. This reply of Browning, as given by Mrs. Orr (Life, p. 110), is simply headed, "Monday night, March 9," to which she added the date [? 1841]; Mr. T. J. Wise, to whom students of Browning are in many ways indebted, unfortunately replaced this by [1842]." The almanac would have informed both editors that it was in 1840 that March 9 fell on a Monday, thus showing that the misunderstood letter distinctly referred to Sordello, which had been published only nine days before; and also reminding them of a much more important fact that the "three plays" Browning alluded to were those mentioned at the end of the Sordello volume as "Nearly ready. Pippa Passes, King Victor and King Charles, Mansoor the Hierophant. Dramas by R.B." These plays--the name of the last being changed before publication to The Return of the Druses-were therefore sufficiently well in hand to be advertised in February, 1840, although not published till 1841, 1842 and 1843. It was of Sordello that Landor wrote to Forster, "I only wish he (B.) would atticize a little. Few of the Athenians had such a quarry on their property, ment that Mrs. Adams "is supposed to have at least partially inspired Pauline,' is another little slip. He meant, of course, Eliza Flower, the elder sister. but they constructed better roads for the conveyance of the material." Domett, in writing to thank Browning for the poem, expressed the same view in other words, and even hinted that he considered Browning was being "difficult on system." He had from the first and ever retained a deep admiration for the beauties of the poem, and in the copy which Browning sent him -it lies beside me as I write the most striking passages are boldly marked in the margin, while a series of cross references and marginal notes forms a kind of analysis or running commentary. Some of these notes, indeed, as the quotation given below from the Diary explains, are in the handwriting of Browning, who, when Domett lent him the volume, was particularly pleased to find that his friend had even copied out on one blank fly-leaf Dante's description of Sordello in the Antepurgatorio, and had himself made his own metrical translation of it on another blank page. The Diary has a somewhat interesting entry in regard to this much-travelled copy of Sordello. In March, 1872, immediately after the renewal of the old intimacy, Domett was discussing with Browning some points in connection with the Toccata of Galuppi's, and ventured upon a suggestion as to one expression in it. Browning did not at all agree with him. Domett's comment is : Browning, I saw, had not lost the good-humored patience with which he could listen to friendly criticism on any of his works. I have proof of this in a copy of the original edition of Sordello, which he sent me when it first appeared. The poem is undoubtedly somewhat obscure, though curiously enough much more so in the more "objective" (so to speak) incidents of the story than in its subjective phases, that is in the narrative of the hero's varying moods of mind or the philosophical reflections of the poet. Accordingly, I had scribbled in pencil on the book two or three impatient remarks, such as "Who says this?" "What does this mean?" &c. Some time after Browning asked me to let him see my copy of the poem, which I lent him. He returned it with two or three pencil notes of his own, answering my questions. But I was amused many years afterwards, in New Zealand, on the appearance of a second edition of Sordello [in 1863] to find he had altered, I think, all the passages I had hinted objections to or questioned the meaning of. One instance is curious. Speaking of a picture by Guidone at Siena [Sordello, Bk I., 577-583], in the first edition, the poet says : A painful birth must be Matured ere San Eufemio's [sic] sacristy Or transept gather fruits of one great gaze At the noon-sun: look you! An orange haze The same blue stripe round that-and, i' the midst, Thy spectral whiteness, mother-maid, who didst Pursue the dizzy painter! I had written carelessly in pencil on the margin "Rather the moon, from the description;" and also, "Why cut off the 'n'," against the next line. In the edition of 1863 the passage stands: Gather fruits of one great gaze At the moon: look you! The same orange haze, The same blue stripe round that-and, in the midst, Thy spectral whiteness, Mother-maid. The alterations here made are, as Domett says, "curious" rather than important, except as indicating that minute attention to detail which marks Browning's revision of his poem when once he had decided that it was inadvisable to attempt, as he had for a time contemplated, to re-write it. The question, however, "Why cut off the 'n'?" in the expression "i' the midst," was one which it would have troubled Browning to answer, for he seems to have had no settled convictions in regard to its presence or absence. Some years ago, on reading through a series of proofs of Browning's poems corrected by himself, then in the possession of Mr. Moncure Conway, one could not but be struck by the fact that the cases in which what had at first been printed as "on" or "in" and was on revision changed to o' or i', were hardly, if at all, more numerous than those in which the shortened form had been replaced by the longer. Presumably the varying emphasis laid by the poet on the words as he read and re-read his lines at various times decided the matter; the usage was certainly no mere mannerism. The copy of Sordello referred to above was that which Browning returned to Domett when he sent to New Zealand the first of the fourteen letters of which mention has been made. These letters are chiefly interesting as affording evidence of Browning's love for his friend. It is often difficult, indeed, to realize that they are written by one man to another. He signs himself as affectionately, at times, as he afterwards did to Miss Barrett; he thinks and talks of his absent friend; he can hardly realize, so near does Domett seem in spirit, that they are severed so far; he longs for a letter; when it comes he is jubilant, but writes eagerly for another. With books, newspapers and reviews he sends scraps of literary gossip and impromptu criticism, but Arnould's letters perhaps excel those of Browning in this respect and in some others. One event of the summer of 1843 is of interest. Browning was then visiting the pretty cottage in Epping Forest where Chris. Dowson and his wife, Domett's sister Mary, spent the summer months. Here he occupied his time in copying his friend's scattered poems from the family albums, and wrote afterwards to New Zealand in hearty praise of them, particularly of "Hougoumont" and "A Glee for Win ter." The former poem contrasts the peaceful scene of 1837, with the sight of fruit-trees and daisies, and the sound of bees, doves and skylarks, with the ghastly sights and sounds of the battlefield of 1815: Oh God! what are we? Do we then Form part of this material scene? Can thirty thousand thinking men Fall-and but leave the fields more green? The "Glee for Winter" is the poem which led Christopher North to declare that Domett had "the prime virtue of a song-writer-a heart." Hence, rude Winter! crabbed old fellow, Never merry, never mellow! What will kill this dull old fellow? Dear old songs for ever new- The heartfelt character of this lyric sprang from the fact that it was largely a record of the real experiences of Domett's own home. A letter from the sister of Sir Frederick Young thus describes that home: "We can well remember that bright, unconventional, if somewhat rough house in the [Camberwell] Grove, where there was always such a lively atmosphere of freedom, interest and gay fun. We used to go round there whenever we could, when we used so often to stay with our |