THE REAL VICTORIANS
SIR,- Of course, as Miss M. E. Durham indicates, Robert Browning, like other poets and dramatists, puts words into the mouths of his characters to express their belief, which were not necessarily his, but does not the whole spirit of his work show that, in face of the darkest problems of life, he reached a position of reasoned optimism, and believed profoundly that, in spite of all, " God's in His heaven, All's right with the world " ?
I Nought I had made it clear in my article that the real Victorians were earnest and fearless in combating social evils and injustices. They are often depicted—or rather caricatured—as smug and com- placent. As a matter of fact, complacency in the face of evils which could and should be righted is the last fault of which they can with
any justice be accused.—Yours obediently, H. E. BANNARD. Littlewick Lodge, Nr. Maidenhead.
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