Robert Browning : The Poet and the Man, 1833-1840. By
Frances M. Sim. (Fisher Unwin. 109. 6d.) An account of Browning's early years, from the publication of Pauline to his marriage. A certain amount of new material has been discovered with reference to the Pauline period (the poem was inspired by Eliza Flower, his music mistress, who afterwards became the Egeria of the Rev. W. J. Fox, of South Place Chapel) and such material has been pressed into service. At the other end of the book there are some mildly interesting chapters on the early relations between Browning and Eliza- beth Barrett. The remainder of the volume is taken up with rather superficial criticism of Paracelsus, Sordello, and other work of the period, and a number of unnecessary quotations from other criticisms of the poet. The book reads as if it had been compiled in haste.
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