190
There, in turn I stand with them and praise you--
Out of my own self, I dare to phrase it.
But the best is when I glide from out them,
Cross a step or two of dubious twilight,
Come out on the other side, the novel
Silent silver lights and darks undreamed of,
Where I hush and bless myself with silence.

XIX

Oh, their Rafael of the dear Madonnas,
Oh, their Dante of the dread Inferno,
Wrote one song--and in my brain I sing it, 200
Drew one angel--borne, see, on my bosom!

* * * * *

NOTES

* * * * *

THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN. (PAGE 1.)

The poem is based on an old myth found in many forms, all turning
upon the attempt to cheat a magician out of his promised reward. See
Brewer's _Reader's Handbook_, Baring-Gould's _Curious Myths
of the Middle Ages_, Grimm's _Deutsche Sagen_, and the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_. There are Persian and Chinese
analogues.

The eldest son of William Macready, the actor, was confined to the
house by illness, and Browning wrote this _jeu d'esprit_ to amuse
the boy and to give him a subject for illustrative drawings.

LINE 1. =Hamelin=. A town in Hanover, Prussia.

89. =Cham=, or Khan. The title of the rulers of Tartary.

91. =Nizam=. The title of the sovereign of Hyderabad, the principal
state of India.

158. =Claret, Moselle=, etc. Names of wines.

179. =Caliph=. The title given to the successor of Mohammed, as
head of the Moslem state, and defender of the faith. _Century
Dictionary_.

TRAY. (PAGE 15.)

The poem tells in detail an actual incident, and was written as a
protest against vivisection.

3. =Sir Olaf=. A conventional name in romances of mediaeval chivalry.

6. A satire upon Byronism. _Manfred_ and _Childe Harold_ are
heroes of this type.

Note the abruptness and vigor of the style. Where does it seem
effective? Where unduly harsh? Why does the poet welcome the third
bard? What things does the poem satirize?

INCIDENT OF THE FRENCH CAMP. (PAGE 17.)

The incident is real, except that the actual hero was a man, not a
boy.

1. =Ratisbon= (German Regensburg). A city in Austria, stormed by
Napoleon in 1809.

11. =Lannes=. Duke of Montebello, a general in Napoleon's army.

20. This sentence is incomplete. The idea is begun anew in line 23.

What two ideals are contrasted in Napoleon and the boy? By what means
is sympathy t