"HERVÉ RIEL" commemorates the skill, courage, and singleness of heart of
a Breton sailor, who saved the French squadron when beaten at Cape la
Hogue and flying before the English to St. Malo, by guiding it through
the shallows of the river Rance, in a manner declared impracticable by
the Maloese themselves; being all the while so unconscious of the
service he was rendering, that, when desired to name his reward, he
begged for a _whole day's holiday_, to run home and see his wife. His
home was Le Croisic.


_Third Group._


"THROUGH THE METIDJA TO ABD-EL-KADR" represents a follower of
Abd-el-Kadr hastening through the desert to join his chief. Mystic
fancies crowd upon him as he "rides" and "rides": his pulses quickened
by the end in view, and by the swift unresting motion of a horse which
never needs the spur; and as he describes his experience in his own
excited words, we receive not only the mental picture, but the physical
impression of it. This poem is a strong instance of Mr. Browning's power
of conveying sense by sound, when he sees occasion for doing so.


"MEETING AT NIGHT" is a glimpse of moonlight and repose; and of the
appropriate seclusion in the company of the one woman loved.


"PARTING AT MORNING" asserts the need of "men" and their "world," which