Robert Browning.
==

His look was a continual and serene gleam. Lamartine, who remarks this
of Bossuet in his youth, adds a phrase which, as observant acquaintances
of the poet will agree, might be written of Browning --
"His lips quivered often without utterance, as if with the wind
of an internal speech."

Except for the touching and beautiful letter which he wrote from Asolo
about two months before his death, to Mr. Wilfrid Meynell,
about a young writer to whom the latter wished to draw
the poet's kindly attention -- a letter which has a peculiar pathos
in the words, "I shall soon depart for Venice, on my way homeward" --
except for this letter there is none so well worth repetition here
as his last word to the Poet-Laureate. The friendship between
these two great poets has in itself the fragrance of genius.
The letter was written just before Browning left London.

==
29 De Vere Gardens, W.,
August 5th, 1889.

My dear Tennyson, -- To-morrow is your birthday -- indeed, a memorable one.
Let me say I associate myself with the universal pride of our country
in your glory, and in its hope that for many and many a year
we may have your very self among us -- secure that your poetry
will be a wonder and delight to all those appointed to come after.
And for my own part, let me further say, I have loved you dearly.
May God bless you and yours.