and verse-form, the poems of _Men and Women_ defy
classification. Whatever page one turns, there is something novel,
stimulating, captivating. All of Browning's Florentine interests are
represented here--his love of old pictures and little-known music, his
delight in Florence, Venice, Rome, in all Italy, her skies and her
landscapes, the vagrants of her streets, her religious ceremonies, her
church dignitaries, her scholars. Then there are love-poems in all
tones and tempers, the noblest of them all, "One Word More," being
Browning's most direct and personal tribute to his wife. And we see in
its keenest form his intellectual delight in subtle disquisition. The
doctrine of immortality as it appeals to the mind of the cultured,
dissatisfied pagan Cleon; the miracle of Lazarus as it is brooded over
by the Arab physician Karshish; the balancing of faith and doubt in the
clever casuistry of Bishop Blougram--these are topics to Browning's
taste and are treated with skill and mastery. Taken all in all these
poems give to the reader a full impression of Browning's characteristic
force, the darting, penetrating power of his phrase, the rush and energy
and leap of his thought. It is by _Men and Women_, the somewhat similar
_Dramatis Personae_, and the earlier _Dramatic Lyrics_ and _Dramatic
Romances_, that Browning is most widely and most favorably known.

During the first ten years that the Brownings were in Florence Mrs.
Browning's health was so good that she was able to enjoy social and
outdoor pleasures to a degree that would have been thought impossible
before her marriage. She had also kept up her literary work. A new
edition of her poems appeared in 1849; in 1851 she published _Casa Guidi
Windows_, poems illustrative of her ardent interest in all that
pertained to the fight for Italian freedom; and in 1856 her long-planned
verse novel _Aurora Leigh_ was completed and published. But soon after
this her strength began insensibly to fail and during the last three
years of her life she suffered much from repeated bronchial attacks.
However, her death, in June, 1861, was entirely unexpected. The
Florentines had loved her deeply and had appreciated her utterances in
behalf of a free Italy. She was, accordingly, buried in Florence, with
"extraordinary demonstrations of respect," and the house where she had
lived was marked by the municipality with a commemorative tablet.

Browning's wish was to leave Florence at once and to make