22 JUNE 1912, Page 27

The Works of Robert Browning. With Introductions by F. G.

Kenyon. Vole. I. and II. (Smith, Elder and Co. 10s. 6d. not each.)—Tho Centenary edition of Browning's poems is to be com- pleted in ton volumes, of which the first two are already published. The books are worthily produced, and each contains a biographical and bibliographical introduction by Sir Frederic Kenyon. No attempt is made at providing an explanatory com- mentary, for, as the Preface rightly says, such an edition would be "at best a book of reference, not of literature ; at worst it is an encumbrance or an impertinence." Browning is a poet whose obscurity will inevitably sooner or later be seized upon as an excuse for some such critical epexegesis as makes the study of Dante a profession in itself. Let us bo thankful that the evil day has not yet arrived.