ungest of the Poets of
England, the author of _Paracelsus_." Landor raised his cup to the young
man, and Wordsworth shook hands with him across the table, saying, "I am
proud to know you, Mr. Browning."

Browning's third literary venture was a tragedy, _Strafford_, dedicated
to Macready, at whose request it was written. The drama presents the
impeachment, condemnation, and execution of the Earl of Strafford, a
statesman who, according to the play, loved the unworthy King Charles
the First and sacrificed everything, even to life itself, in his blind
loyalty to a master who treacherously deserted him in the hour of need.
It was a topic to which Browning had already given much thought, for he
had the preceding year completed, from materials supplied by Mr. John
Forster, a _Life of Strafford_ begun by Forster for Lardner's _Eminent
British Statesmen_.[2] The question of the historic truthfulness of the
drama is discussed by the historian Gardiner in the Introduction to Miss
Emily H. Hickey's edition of _Strafford_. He shows that the play is in
its details and "even in the very roots of the situation" untrue to
fact, and yet he maintains that in the chief characters there is
essential truth of conception. "Every time that I read the play," says
Gardiner, "I feel more certain that Browning has seized the real
Strafford ... Charles, too, with his faults, perhaps exaggerated, is
nevertheless the real Charles." The play was produced at Covent Garden
Theater in May, 1837, with Macready as Strafford and Miss Helen Faucit
as Lady Carlisle, and was successful in spite of poor scenery and
costuming and poor acting in some of the parts. But owing to the
financial condition of the theater and the consequent withdrawal of one
of the important actors after the fifth night, the play had but a brief
run. It was presented again in 1886 under the auspices of the Browning
Society, and its power as an acting play "surprised and impressed" the
audience.

Before the composition of _Strafford_ Browning had begun a long poem,
_Sordello_, which he completed after his first visit to Italy in 1838,
and published in 1840. No one of his poems is more difficult to read,
and many are the stories told of the dismay occasioned by its various
perplexities. The effect of this poem on Browning's fame was disastrous.
In fact, after _Sordello_ there began a period, twenty years long, of
almost complete indifference in England to Browning's work. The
enthusias