life will be supplemented by
a better one?"

Mr. Browning initiates his final inquiry by declaring that he will
accept only the testimony of fact. He rejects surmise, he seeks no
answer in the beauties or in the voices of nature; none in the minds of
his fellow-men; none even in the depths of his sentient self with its
"aspiration" and "reminiscence:" its plausible assurances that God would
be "unjust," and man "wronged," if a second life were not granted to us.

And here he seems for a moment to deny, what he has elsewhere stated,
and everywhere implied, in the poem: that his own spirit must be to him,
despite its isolation and weakness, the one messenger of Divine truth.

But he is only saying the same thing in a different way. He rejects the
spontaneous utterance of his own spirit; but relies on its conclusions.
He rejects it as pleader; but constitutes it judge. And this distinction
is carried out in a dialogue, in which Fancy speaks for the spontaneous
self; Reason for the judicial--the one making its _thrusts_, and the
other _parrying_ them. The question at issue has, however, slightly
shifted its ground; and we find ourselves asking: not, "is the Soul
immortal?" but "what would be the consequence to life of its being
proved so?"

FANCY. "The soul exists after death. I accept the surmise as certainty:
and would see it put to use during life."

REASON. "The 'use' of it will be that the wise man will die at once:
since death, in the absence of any supernatural law to the contrary,
must be clear gain. The soul must fare better when it has ceased to be
thwarted by the body; and we have no reason to suppose that the
obstructions which have their purpose in this life would be renewed in a
future one. Are we happy? death rescues our happiness from its otherwise
certain decay. Are we sad? death cures the sadness. Is life simply for
us a weary compromise between hope and fear, between failure and
attainment? death is still the deliverer. It must come some day. Why not
invoke it in a painless form when the first cloud appears upon our sky?"

FANCY. "Then I concede this much: the certainty of the future life shall
be saddled with the injunction to live out the present, or accept a
proportionate penalty."

REASON. "In that case the wise man will live. But whether the part he
chooses in it be that of actor or of looker-on, he will endure his life
with indifference. Relying on the promises of the future, he will take
su