words of
Rabbi Ben Ezra, "all good things are ours, nor soul helps flesh more,
now, than flesh helps soul." The poem may also be said
to represent what is, or should be, the true spirit
of the man of science. In spite of what Karshish writes,
apologetically, he betrays his real attitude throughout,
towards the wonderful spiritual problem involved.

It is, as many of Browning's Monologues are, a double picture--
one direct, the other reflected, and the reflected one is as distinct
as the direct. The composition also bears testimony to Browning's
own soul-healthfulness. Though the spiritual bearing of things
is the all-in-all, in his poetry, the robustness of his nature,
the fulness and splendid equilibrium of his life, protect him against
an inarticulate mysticism. Browning is, in the widest and deepest
sense of the word, the healthiest of all living poets;
and in general constitution the most Shakespearian.

What he makes Shakespeare say, in the Monologue entitled
`At the Mermaid', he could say, with perhaps greater truth,
in his own person, than Shakespeare could have said it:--

"Have you found your life distasteful?
My life did and does smack sweet.
Was your youth of pleasure wasteful?
Mine I save and hold complete.
Do your joys with age diminish?
When mine fail me, I'll complain.
Must in death your daylight finish?
My sun sets to rise again.

I find earth not gray but rosy,
Heaven not grim but fair of hue.
Do I stoop? I pluck a posy.
Do I stand and stare? All's blue."

It is the spirit expressed in these lines which has made his poetry
so entirely CONSTRUCTIVE. With the destructive spirit
he has no affinities. The poetry of despair and poets with the dumps
he cannot away with.

Perhaps the most comprehensive passage in Browning's poetry,
expressive of his ideal of a complete man under the conditions
of earth-life, is found in `Colombe's Birthday', Act IV.
Valence says of Prince Berthold:--

"He gathers earth's WHOLE GOOD into his arms, standing, as man, now,
stately, strong and wise--marching to fortune, not surprised by her:
one great aim, like a guiding star above--which tasks strength,
wisdom, stateliness, to lift his manhood to the height
that takes the prize; a prize not near--lest overlooking earth,
he rashly spring to seize it--nor remote, so that
he rests upon his path content: but day by day, while shimmering
grows shine,