y broad and straight e'en from the Neva's mouth
To Moscow's gates of gold,"

and in which the unending pine forests rising from the snow-covered ground
are so vividly pictured; and in "Colombe's Birthday," where is seen the
region of the heroine,--

"Castle Ravestein--
That sleeps out trustfully its extreme age
On the Meuse' quiet bank, where she lived queen
Over the water-buds,..."

and the place

"... when he hid his child
Among the river-flowers at Ravestein,"

it can be seen how all this country impressed his imagination. Professor
Hall Griffin finds in the fifth book of "Sordello" an unmistakable
description of the most famous and oldest portrait of Charlemagne, which
hangs in the Council Hall of the Rath-haus, in Aix, which Mr. Browning saw
on this trip. During these three months he saw something of Russian
society, and on the breaking up of the ice in the Neva in spring,
witnessed the annual ceremony of the Czar's drinking the first glass of
water from it. Much of the gorgeous, barbaric splendor of Russian fairs
and booths, "with droshkies and fish-pies" on the one hand, and stately
palaces on the other, haunted him, and reflected themselves in several of
his poems. Especially did the Russian music and strains of folk-song
linger in his memory for all the after years.

On his return from Russia Browning had some fancy for entering on a
diplomatic career, and was momentarily disappointed at not receiving an
appointment to Persia, which he had in mind; fortunately for him and for
the world he was held to the orbit of his poetic gift. Diplomacy has an
abundance of recruits without devastating poetic genius to furnish them.
The winter of 1834 found him deeply absorbed in "Paracelsus." This poem is
dedicated to the Marquis Amedee de Ripert-Monclar, who was a great friend
of Browning at this time. The Marquis was four years his senior; he was in
England as a private agent for the Duchesse de Berri and the Royalist
party in France to the English government. The subject of the poem is said
to have been suggested by the Marquis, although the fact that all this
medieval lore had been familiar to Browning from his earliest childhood
must be accounted the pre-determining factor in its creation. William
Sharp quotes Browning as having once said of his father: "The old
gentleman's brain was a storehouse of literary and philosophical
antiquities. He was completely versed in m