ace of his having
something to do with the publication of "Bells and Pomegranates." Another
friend of the poet was Christopher Dowson, who married the sister of
Alfred Domett; at their homes, Albion Terrace, and their summer cottage in
Epping Forest, Browning was a frequent visitor. Dowson died early; but
Field Talfourd (a brother of the author of "Ion" and the artist who made
those crayon portraits of Browning and his wife, in the winter of 1859, in
Rome), Joseph Arnould, and Alfred Domett, with one or two other young men,
comprised the poet's more intimate circle at this time. Arnould and Domett
were both studying for the Bar; Arnould had gained the Newdigate in 1834,
and had won great applause by his recital (in the Sheldonian Theater) of
his "Hospice of St. Bernard." Later he was offered the editorship of the
_Daily News_, founded by Forster and Dickens, but he kept true to his
legal studies and in time became the Judge of the High Court at Bombay,
and was knighted by the Crown.

There was a dinner given by Macready at which Browning, Carlyle, and Miss
Martineau were guests, and later a dinner at the Carlyles' where Browning
met a son of Burns "who sang some of his father's songs." To a friend
Browning wrote: "I dined with dear Carlyle and his wife (catch me calling
people 'dear' in a hurry) yesterday. I don't know any people like them."

Browning passed a day with Miss Martineau at Ascot, and again visited her
in Elstree, where she was staying with the Macreadys. She greatly admired
"Paracelsus," and spoke of her first acquaintance with his poetry as a
"wonderful event." He dined with her at her home in Westminster, and there
met John Robertson, the assistant editor of the _Westminster Review_, to
which Miss Martineau was a valued contributor. Henry Chorley, a musical
critic of the day, was another guest that night, and soon after Browning
dined with him "in his bachellor abode," the other guests being Arnould,
Domett, and Bryan Proctor; later, at a musicale given by Chorley, Browning
met Charlotte Cushman and Adelaide Kemble. Chorley drew around him the
best musicians of the time: Mendelssohn, Moscheles, Liszt, David, and
other great composers were often rendered in his chambers. Proctor was
then living in Harley Street, and his house was a center for the literary
folk of the day.

George Eliot speaks of the indifference with which we gaze at our
unintroduced neighbor, "while Destiny stands by, sarcastic, with ou