the world has ever known thus falls into three distinctive
periods,--that of the separate life of each up to the time of their
marriage; their married life, with its scenic setting in the enchantment
of Italy; and his life after her withdrawal from earthly scenes. The story
is also of duplex texture; for the outer life, rich in associations,
travel, impressions, is but the visible side of the life of great creative
art. A delightful journey is made, but its record is not limited to the
enjoyment of friends and place; a poem is written whose charm and power
persist through all the years.

[Illustration: BUSTS OF ROBERT AND ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

Made in 1861 by William Wetmore Story]

No adequate word could be written of the Brownings that did not take
account of this twofold life of the poets. It is almost unprecedented that
the power and resplendence and beauty of the life of art should find, in
the temporal environment, so eminent a correspondence of beauty as it did
with Robert and Elizabeth Browning. Not that they were in any wise exempt
from sorrow and pain; the poet, least of all, would choose to be
translated, even if he might, to some enchanted region remote from all the
mingled experiences of humanity; it is the common lot of destiny, with its
prismatic blending of failure and success, of purpose and achievement, of
hope and defeat, of love and sorrow, out of which the poet draws his song.
He would not choose

"That jar of violet wine set in the air,
That palest rose sweet in the night of life,"

to the exclusion of the common experiences of the day.

"Who never ate his bread in sorrow,
Who never spent the darksome hours
Weeping, and watching for the morrow,
He knows you not, ye unseen Powers."

But to those who, poets or otherwise, see life somewhat in the true
proportion of its lasting relations, events are largely transmuted into
experiences, and are realized in their extended relations. The destiny of
the Brownings led them into constantly picturesque surroundings; and the
force and manliness of his nature, the tender sweetness and playful
loveliness of hers, combined with their vast intellectual range, their
mutual genius for friendships, their devotion to each other and to their
son, their reverence for their art, and their lofty and noble spirituality
of nature,--all united to produce this exquisite and unrivaled romance of
life,--

"A Beauty passing the earth's store