ther domicile in the same Peckham district. Many years later, he and
his family left Camberwell and resided at Hatcham, near New Cross, where
his brothers and sisters (by his father's second marriage) lived. There
was a stable attached to the Hatcham house, and in it Mr. Reuben
Browning kept his horse, which he let his poet-nephew ride, while he
himself was at his desk in Rothschild's bank. No doubt this horse was
the 'York' alluded to by the poet in the letter quoted, as a footnote,
at page 189 of this book. Some years after his wife's death, which
occurred in 1849, Mr. Browning left Hatcham and came to Paddington, but
finally went to reside in Paris, and lived there, in a small street off
the Champs Elysees, till his death in 1866. The Creole strain seems to
have been distinctly noticeable in Mr. Browning, so much so that it is
possible it had something to do with his unwillingness to remain at St.
Kitts, where he was certainly on one occasion treated cavalierly enough.
The poet's complexion in youth, light and ivory-toned as it was in later
life, has been described as olive, and it is said that one of his
nephews, who met him in Paris in his early manhood, took him for an
Italian. It has been affirmed that it was the emotional Creole strain in
Browning which found expression in his passion for music.

[Footnote 3: The three brothers were men of liberal education and
literary tastes. Mr. W.S. Browning, who died in 1874, was an author of
some repute. His _History of the Huguenots_ is a standard book on
the subject.]

By old friends of the family I have been told that Mr. Browning had a
strong liking for children, with whom his really remarkable faculty of
impromptu fiction made him a particular favourite. Sometimes he would
supplement his tales by illustrations with pencil or brush. Miss Alice
Corkran has shown me an illustrated coloured map, depictive of the main
incidents and scenery of the _Pilgrim's Progress_, which he genially
made for "the children."[4]

[Footnote 4: Mrs. Fraser Corkran, who saw much of the poet's father
during his residence in Paris, has spoken to me of his extraordinary
analytical faculty in the elucidation of complex criminal cases. It was
once said of him that his detective faculty amounted to genius. This is
a significant trait in the father of the author of "The Ring and the
Book."]

He had three children himself--Robert, born May 7th, 1812, a daughter
named Sarianna, after her mother,