icial _correctness_; and
in language, a search for novelty to supply the wants and correct the
faults of the poetic vocabulary. He is national in the _Idyls_;
philosophic in _The Two Voices_, and similar poems. The _Princess_ is a
gentle satire on the age; and though, in striving for the reputation of
originality, he sometimes mistakes the original for the beautiful, he is
really the laurelled poet of England in merit as well as in title.

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.--The literary usher is now called upon to cry
with the herald of the days of chivalry--_Place aux dames_. A few ladies,
as we have seen, have already asserted for themselves respectable
positions in the literary ranks. Without a question as to the relative
gifts of mind in man and woman, we have now reached a name which must rank
among those of the first poets of the present century--one which
represents the Victorian age as fully and forcibly as Tennyson, and with
more of novelty than he. Nervous in style, elevated in diction, bold in
expression, learned and original, Mrs. Browning divides the poetic renown
of the period with Tennyson. If he is the laureate, she was the
acknowledged queen of poetry until her untimely death.

Miss Elizabeth Barrett was born in London, in 1809. She was educated with
great care, and began to write at a very early age. A volume, entitled
_Essays on Mind, with Other Poems_, was published when she was only
seventeen. In 1833 she produced _Prometheus Bound_, a translation of the
drama of AEschylus from the original Greek, which exhibited rare classical
attainments; but which she considered so faulty that she afterwards
retranslated it. In 1838 appeared _The Seraphim, and other Poems_; and in
1839, _The Romaunt of the Page_. Not long after, the rupture of a
blood-vessel brought her to the verge of the grave; and while she was
still in a precarious state of health, her favorite brother was drowned.
For several years she lived secluded, studying and composing when her
health permitted; and especially drawing her inspiration from original
sources in Greek and Hebrew. In 1844 she published her collected poems in
two volumes. Among these was _Lady Geraldine's Courtship_: an exquisite
story, the perusal of which is said to have induced Robert Browning to
seek her acquaintance. Her health was now partially restored; and they
were married in 1846. For some time they resided at Florence, in a
congenial and happy union. The power of passi