of the young poet. In _The Early Writings of Robert Browning_[1]
Mr. Gosse gives an account of the impression made by this poem upon men
so diverse as the Rev. William Johnson Fox, John Stuart Mill, and Dante
Gabriel Rossetti, to all of whom, in spite of its crudities and very
evident immaturity, it seemed a production of exceptional promise.

After an interval of two years Browning published, this time under his
own name, a second long poem. The subject, Paracelsus, had been
suggested by the friend, Amedee de Ripert-Monclar, to whom the poem is
dedicated. In pursuance of his purposed rehabilitation of a vanished age
Browning made extensive researches in the British Museum into the
history of Paracelsus, the great leader in sixteenth century medical
science; but in the poem the facts are subordinated to a minute analysis
of the spiritual history of Paracelsus. The poem was too abstruse in
subject and style to bring Browning popularity, but his genius was
recognized by important critics, and, though he was but twenty-three, he
was admitted into the foremost literary circles of London. One of
his most distinguished new friends was Mr. Macready, the great actor. It
was at his house that Browning first met Mr. Forster, who had already
written favorable critiques of _Paracelsus_, one for _The Examiner_ and
one for _The New Monthly Magazine_. Other literary associates of this
period were Leigh Hunt, Barry Cornwall, Sergeant Talfourd, Dickens, and
Walter Savage Landor. There were not infrequent dinners and suppers to
which the young poet was welcomed. He is described as being at this
period singularly handsome. "He looks and acts," said Mr. Macready,
"more like a youthful poet than any man I ever saw." He had
sculpturesque masses of dark wavy hair, a skin like delicate ivory,
deep-set, expressive eyes, and a sensitive mouth. He was slender,
graceful, and most attractive in manner, and he was something of a dandy
in his attention to dress. He is said to have made an especially good
impression on one occasion when the circumstances must have been as
trying as they were exhilarating. In May, 1836, a group of poets had
assembled at Mr. Talfourd's to celebrate Macready's successful
production of Talfourd's _Ion_. Browning sat opposite Macready, who was
between Wordsworth and Landor. When Talfourd proposed a toast, "The
Poets of England," he spoke in complimentary terms of Wordsworth and
Landor, but called for a response from "the yo