L" is an imaginary legend which presents one of Mr.
Browning's deepest convictions in a popular form. Theocrite was a poor
boy, who worked diligently at his craft, and praised God as he did so.
He dearly wished to become Pope, that he might praise Him better, and
God granted the wish. Theocrite sickened and seemed to die. And he awoke
to find himself a priest, and also, in due time, Pope. But God missed
the praise, which had gone up to Him from the boy craftsman's cell; and
the angel Gabriel came down to earth, and took Theocrite's former place.
And God was again not satisfied; for the angelic praise could not
replace for Him the human. "The silencing of that one weak voice had
stopped the chorus of creation." So Theocrite returned to his old self;
and the angel Gabriel became Pope instead of him.

"THE GLOVE" is the well-known story[98] of a lady of the Court of
Francis I., who, in order to test the courage of her suitor, threw her
glove into the enclosure in which a captive lion stood; and describes
the suitor--one De Lorge--as calmly rescuing the glove, but only to
fling it in the lady's face; this protest against her heartlessness and
vanity being endorsed by both the King and Court. But at this point Mr.
Browning departs from the usual version: for he takes the woman's part.
The supposed witness and narrator of the incident, the poet Ronsard,
sees a look in her face which seems to say that the experiment, if
painful, has been worth making; and he gives her the opportunity of
declaring so. She had too long, she explains, been expected to take
words for deeds, and to believe on his mere assertion, that her admirer
was prepared to die for her; and when the sight of this lion brought
before her the men who had risked their lives in capturing it, without
royal applause to sustain them, the moment seemed opportune for
discovering what this one's courage was worth. She marries a youth, so
the poet continues, whose love reveals itself at this moment of her
disgrace; and (he is disposed to believe) will live happily, though away
from the Court. De Lorge, rendered famous by the incident, woos and wins
a beauty who is admired by the King, and acquires practice in seeking
her gloves--where he is not meant to find them--at the moments in which
his presence is superfluous.

"THE TWINS" is a parable told by Luther in his "Table Talk," to show
that charity and prosperity go hand in hand: and that to those who cease
to give it