they reached the
railroad they were told that the Prussians would be at the other end
before night. At last they arrived at Honfleur, where they found an
English vessel which was about to convey cattle to Southampton; and in
this, setting out at midnight, they made their passage to England.

Some words addressed to Miss Blagden, written I believe in 1871, once
more strike a touching familiar note.

'. . . But _no_, dearest Isa. The simple truth is that _she_ was the poet,
and I the clever person by comparison--remember her limited experience
of all kinds, and what she made of it. Remember on the other hand, how
my uninterrupted health and strength and practice with the world have
helped me. . . .'

'Balaustion's Adventure' and 'Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau' were
published, respectively, in August and December 1871. They had been
preceded in the March of the same year by a ballad, 'Herve Riel',
afterwards reprinted in the 'Pacchiarotto' volume, and which Mr.
Browning now sold to the 'Cornhill Magazine' for the benefit of the
French sufferers by the war.

The circumstances of this little transaction, unique in Mr. Browning's
experience, are set forth in the following letter:

Feb. 4, '71.

'My dear Smith,--I want to give something to the people in Paris, and
can afford so very little just now, that I am forced upon an expedient.
Will you buy of me that poem which poor Simeon praised in a letter
you saw, and which I like better than most things I have done of
late?--Buy,--I mean,--the right of printing it in the Pall Mall and,
if you please, the Cornhill also,--the copyright remaining with me. You
remember you wanted to print it in the Cornhill, and I was obstinate:
there is hardly any occasion on which I should be otherwise, if the
printing any poem of mine in a magazine were purely for my own sake: so,
any liberality you exercise will not be drawn into a precedent against
you. I fancy this is a case in which one may handsomely puff one's own
ware, and I venture to call my verses good for once. I send them to
you directly, because expedition will render whatever I contribute more
valuable: for when you make up your mind as to how liberally I shall be
enabled to give, you must send me a cheque and I will send the same as
the "Product of a Poem"--so that your light will shine deservedly. Now,
begin proceedings by reading the poem to Mrs. Smith,--by whose judgment
I will cheerfully be bound; and, with her approva