The society of London between 1870 and 1890 contained no more striking or interesting figure than that of Robert Browning.  No one meeting him for the first time and unfurnished with a clue would have guessed his vocation.  He might have been a diplomatist, a statesman, a discoverer, or a man of science.  But whatever was his calling, one felt sure that it must be something essentially practical.  Of the disordered appearance, the unconventional demeanour, the rapt and mystic air which we assume to be characteristic of the poet he had absolutely none.  And his conversation corresponded to his appearance.  It abounded in vigour, in fire, in vivacity.  It was genuinely interesting, and often strikingly eloquent, yet all the time it was entirely free from mystery, vagueness, and jargon.  It was the crisp, emphatic, and powerful discourse of a man of the world who was incomparably better informed than the mass of his congeners.  Mr. Browning was the readiest, the blithest, and the most forcible of talkers, and when he dealt in criticism the edge of his sword was mercilessly whetted against pretension and vanity.  The inflection of his voice, the flash of his eye, the pose of his head, the action of his hand, all lent their special emphasis to the condemnation.  “I like religion to be treated seriously,” he exclaimed with reference to a theological novel of great renown, “and I don’t want to know what this curate or that curate thought about it. No, I don’t.” Surely the secret thoughts of many hearts found utterance in that emphatic cry.

Here I must venture to insert a personal reminiscence.  Mr. Browning had honoured me with his company at dinner, and an unduly fervent admirer had button-holed him throughout a long evening, plying him with questions about what he meant by this line, and whom he intended by that character.  It was more than flesh and blood could stand, and at last the master extricated himself from the grasp of the disciple, exclaiming with the most airy grace, “But, my dear fellow, this is too bad. I am monopolizing you.”  Now and then, at rather rare intervals, when time and place, and company and surroundings, were altogether suitable, Mr. Browning would consent to appear in his true character and to delight his hearers by speaking of his art.  Then the higher and rarer qualities of his genius came into play.  He kindled with responsive fire at a beautiful thought, and burned with contagious enthusiasm over a phrase which struck his fancy.  Yet all the while the poetic rapture was underlain by a groundwork of robust sense.  Rant, and gush, and affectation were abhorrent to his nature, and even in his grandest flights of fancy he was always intelligible.