y,
and its worthies who have preceded us and who at the present moment
constitute our environment of loving help? Ferishtah's reply, which is
far from conclusive, must be regarded as no discussion of the subject
but the utterance of an isolated thought. Praise rendered to Humanity
and the heroes of the race simply reverts to the giver of the praise;
his own perceptions of what is praiseworthy alone render praise
possible; he must first of all thank and praise the giver of such
perceptions--God. It is strange that Browning should fail to recognise
the fact that the Positivist would immediately trace the power of moral
perception to the energies of Humanity in its upward progress from
primitive savagery to our present state of imperfect development.

It has been necessary to transcribe in a reduced form the teaching of
Ferishtah, for this is the clearest record left by Browning of his own
beliefs on the most important of all subjects, this is an essential part
of his criticism of life, and at the same time it is little less than a
passage of autobiography. The poems are admirable in their vigour, their
humour, their seriousness, their felicity of imagery. Yet the wisdom of
_Ferishtah's Fancies_ is an old man's wisdom; we perceive in it the
inner life, as Baxter puts it, in speaking of changes wrought by his
elder years, quitting the leaves and branches and drawing down to the
root. But when in prologue or epilogue to this volume or that Browning
touches upon the great happiness, the great sorrow of his own life, he
is always young. Here the lyrical epilogue is inspired by a noble
enthusiasm, and closes with a surprise of beauty. What if all his happy
faith in the purpose of life, and the Divine presence through all its
course, were but a reflex from the private and personal love that had
once been his and was still above and around him? Such a doubt contained
its own refutation:

Only, at heart's utmost joy and triumph, terror
Sudden turns the blood to ice: a chill wind disencharms
All the late enchantment! What if all be error--
If the halo irised round my head were, Love, thine arms?

All the more, if this were so, must the speaker's heart turn Godwards in
gratitude. The whole design of the volume with its theological parables
and its beautiful lyrics of human love implies that there is a
correspondency between the truths of religion and the truths of the
passion of love between man and woman.