nson, in _Boston Literary World_, December
12, 1885.]

11. DRAMATIC ROMANCES AND LYRICS.

[Published in 1845 as No. VII. of _Bells and Pomegranates_
(_Poetical Works_, 1889, dispersedly, in Vols. IV., V., and
VI.).]

_Dramatic Romances_, Browning's second volume of miscellaneous poems, is
not markedly different in style or substance from the _Lyrics_ published
three years earlier. It is somewhat more mature, no doubt, as a whole,
somewhat richer and fuller, somewhat wider in reach and firmer in grasp;
but in tone and treatment it harmonises considerably more with its
predecessor than with its successor, after so long an interval, _Men and
Women_. The book opens with the ballad, _How they brought the Good News
from Ghent to Aix_, the most popular piece, except perhaps the _Pied
Piper_, that Browning has written. Few boys, I suppose, have not read
with breathless emotion this most stirring of ballads: few men can read
it without a thrill. The "good news" is intended for that of the
Pacification of Ghent, but the incident itself is not historical. The
poem was written at sea, off the African coast. Another poem of somewhat
similar kind, appealing more directly than usual to the simpler
feelings, is _The Lost Leader_. It was written in reference to
Wordsworth's abandonment of the Liberal cause, with perhaps a thought of
Southey, but it is applicable to any popular apostasy. This is one of
those songs that do the work of swords. It shows how easily Browning,
had he so chosen, could have stirred the national feeling with his
songs. The _Home-Thoughts from Abroad_ belongs, in its simple
directness, its personal and forthright fervour of song, to this section
of the volume. With the two pieces now known as _Home-Thoughts from
Abroad_ and _Home-Thoughts from the Sea_, a third, very inferior, piece
was originally published. It is now more appropriately included with
_Claret_ and _Tokay_ (two capital little snatches) under the head of
_Nationality in Drinks_. The two "Home-Thoughts," from sea and from
land, are equally remarkable for their poetry and for their patriotism.
I hope there is no need to commend to all Englishmen so passionate and
heartfelt a record of love for England. It is in _Home-Thoughts from
Abroad_, that we find the well-known and magical lines on the thrush:--

"That's the wise thrush: he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fi