d recognised
that in B. she had received one of the greatest of her poets, and the
causes of this lie on the surface. His subjects were often recondite and
lay beyond the ken and sympathy of the great bulk of readers; and owing,
partly to the subtle links connecting the ideas and partly to his often
extremely condensed and rugged expression, the treatment of them was not
seldom difficult and obscure. Consequently for long he appealed to a
somewhat narrow circle. As time went on, however, and work after work was
added, the circle widened, and the marvellous depth and variety of
thought and intensity of feeling told with increasing force. Societies
began to be formed for the study of the poet's work. Critics became more
and more appreciative, and he at last reaped the harvest of admiration
and honour which was his due. Many distinctions came to him. He was made
LL.D. of Edin., a life Governor of London Univ., and had the offer of the
Lord Rectorship of Glasgow. He _d._ in the house of his son at Venice,
and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The keynote of his teaching is a
wise and noble optimism. His poems were collected in 2 vols. in 1896.
Some vols. of his correspondence with Mrs. B. were also _pub._

Uniform ed. of Works (17 vols. 1888-90); Furnivall's _Browning
Bibliography_ (1883), _Lives_ by Mrs. Sutherland Orr (1891); Gosse
(1890); Dowden (1904), G.K. Chesterton (English Men of Letters), etc.;
_Poetry of Robert Browning_ by Stopford Brooke, 1902, etc.

SUMMARY.--_B._ 1812, _pub._ _Paracelsus_ 1835, _Sordello_ 1840, _Bells
and Pomegranates_ 1841, _m._ to E.B.B. 1846, lives chiefly in Italy till
her _d._, 1861, when he returned to England and continued to write until
his _d._, _pub._ _Dramatis Personae_, _Ring and Book_ 1868-9, _Asolando_
1889, _d._ 1889.

BRUCE, JAMES (1730-1794).--Traveller, was _b._ at the family seat of
Kinnaird, Perthshire, and _ed._ at Harrow. After various travels in
Europe he set out in 1768 on his expedition to Abyssinia, and in 1770
reached the source of the Blue Nile. He returned to England in 1774, and
in 1790 _pub._ his _Travels_ in 5 quarto vols. His notorious vanity, the
singular adventures he related, and the generally embellished character
which he imparted to his narrative excited some degree of scepticism, and
he was subjected to a good deal of satire, to which, though much annoyed,
he did not reply. It is, however, generally allowed that he had shown
great daring, perseverance