--
* Mrs. Orr disputes this statement. -- A. L., 1996.

"The alleged fact is disproved by the statement of the Astronomer Royal,
to whom it has been submitted; but it would have been
a beautiful symbol of translation, such as affectionate fancy
might gladly cherish if it were true." -- Mrs. Sutherland Orr,
"Life and Letters of Robert Browning" (1891).
--

Such questions cannot meanwhile be solved. Our eyes are still confused
with the light, with that ardent flame, as we knew it here.
But this we know, it was indeed "a central fire descending upon many altars."
These, though touched with but a spark of the immortal principle,
bear enduring testimony. And what testimony! How heartfelt:
happily also how widespread, how electrically stimulative!

But the time must come when the poet's personality will have
the remoteness of tradition: when our perplexed judgments
will be as a tale of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
It is impossible for any student of literature, for any interested reader,
not to indulge in some forecast as to what rank in the poetic hierarchy
Robert Browning will ultimately occupy. The commonplace as to
the impossibility of prognosticating the ultimate slow decadence,
or slower rise, or, it may be, sustained suspension, of a poet's fame,
is often insincere, and but an excuse of indolence.
To dogmatise were the height of presumption as well as of folly:
but to forego speculation, based upon complete present knowledge,
for an idle contentment with narrow horizons, were perhaps foolisher still.
But assuredly each must perforce be content with his own prevision.