course such a work must go on no longer than it is liked; and to provide
against a certain and but too possible contingency, let me hasten to say
now--what, if I were sure of success, I would try to say
circumstantially enough at the close--that I dedicate my best intentions
most admiringly to the author of 'Ion'--most affectionately to Serjeant
Talfourd.

ROBERT BROWNING."


5. Preface to _Bells and Pomegranates_.--VIII. _Luria_ and _A Soul's
Tragedy_.

"Here ends my first series of 'Bells and Pomegranates:' and I take the
opportunity of explaining, in reply to inquiries, that I only meant by
that title to indicate an endeavour towards something like an
alteration, or mixture, of music with discoursing, sound with sense,
poetry with thought; which looks too ambitious, thus expressed, so the
symbol was preferred. It is little to the purpose, that such is actually
one of the most familiar of the many Rabbinical (and Patristic)
acceptations of the phrase; because I confess that, letting authority
alone, I supposed the bare words, in such juxtaposition, would
sufficiently convey the desired meaning. 'Faith and good works' is
another fancy, for instance, and perhaps no easier to arrive at: yet
Giotto placed a pomegranate-fruit in the hand of Dante, and Raffaelle
crowned his Theology (in the _Camera della Segnatura_) with blossoms of
the same; as if the Bellari and Vasari would be sure to come after, and
explain that it was merely '_simbolo delle buone opere--il qual
Pomogranato fu però usato nelle vesti del Pontefice appresso gli
Ebrei_.' R. B."