and in the consciousness of man." The sympathetic
reader of Browning's "Paracelsus" will realize, however, that the drama he
presents is spiritual, rather than occult. It is not the search for the
possible mysteries, or achievements of the crucible. It is the adventure
of the soul, not the penetration into the secrets of unknown elementals.

In the autumn of 1835 the Browning family removed from Camberwell to
Hatcham. They bestowed themselves in a spacious, delightful old house,
with "long, low rooms," wherein the household gods, inclusive of the six
thousand books of the elder Browning's treasured library, found abundant
accommodation; and the outlook on the Surrey hills gratified them all.
During these years we catch a few glimpses of the poet's only sister,
Sarianna, who was two years younger than her brother, and quite as fond of
listening to the conversation of an uncle, William Shergold Browning, who
had removed to Paris. Here he was connected with the Rothschild banking
house, and had achieved some distinction as the author of a "History of
the Huguenots." He also wrote two historical novels, entitled "Hoel Mar en
Morven" and "Provost of Paris," and compiled one of those harmless volumes
entitled "Leisure Hours." It was this uncle who had brought about the
introduction of his nephew and Marquis Amedee de Ripert-Monclar, whose
uncle, the Marquis de Fortia, a member of the Institut, was a special
friend of William Shergold Browning. In later years a grandson of the
Paris Browning, after graduating at Lincoln College, became Crown
prosecutor in New South Wales. He is known as Robert Jardine Browning, and
he was on terms of intimacy with his cousins, Robert and Sarianna, whom he
often visited.

[Illustration: ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

_From a drawing made by Field Talfourd, in Rome, 1855_]

The family friendship with Carlyle was a source of great pleasure to Mrs.
Browning, the poet's mother, and there is on record a night when Carlyle
and his brother dined with the Brownings at Hatcham. Another family friend
and habitue was the Rev. Archer Gurney, who at a later time became
Chaplain to the British Embassy in Paris. Mr. Gurney was a writer of poems
and plays, lyrics and dramatic verse, and a volume of his work entitled
"Fra Cipollo and Other Poems" was published, from which Browning drew his
motto for "Colombe's Birthday." Mr. Gurney was deeply interested in
young Browning's poetry, and there is a nebulous tr