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A  COMMENTARY  UPON  BROWNING'S 

THE    RING   AND    THE    BOOK 


' 


// 

X 


- 

ZH&.is*>jin4o  in  ,".->•*  .',.•? 

fc  & 


GUIDO     FRANCESCHINI 


A    COMMENTARY    UPON 

BROWNING'S   THE  RING 

AND   THE  BOOK 


: K^COOK 


'  with  the  life  his  life  might  give 
These  lived  again,  and  yet  shall  live* 

WILLIAM   MORRIS 


*SEEN  B\ 
PRESERVA1 
SERVICE 


DATE 

HUMPHREY  MILFOR] 
OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON      EDINBURGH      GLASGOW      NEW  YORK 

TORONTO     MELBOURNE     CAPE  TOWN     BOMBAY 

I  920 


Cf, 


/ 


BeMcatefc 

TO    THE    GENIUS    OF 

ROBERT   BROWNING 

ON    THE    50TH    ANNIVERSARY 

OF    THE    COMPLETED    PUBLICATION    OF 

THE  RING  AND   THE  BOOK 

FEBRUARY    1,    1919 


PREFACE 

IN  the  following  pages  an  attempt  is  made  to  discharge 
the  two  necessary  and  some  of  the  more  or  less  optional 
functions  of  a  commentator  upon  such  a  poem  as  The 
Ring  and  the  Book.  The  necessary  functions  are,  firstly, 
the  explanation  and  illustration  of  the  poet's  thought 
and  language  when  either  is  not  clear,  and,  secondly,  the 
explanation  of  what  may  be  comprehensively  called  his 
allusions  ;  among  the  miscellaneous  optional  functions  here 
undertaken  are  literary  appreciation  and  source-study. 

I.  Answering  a  letter,  written  in  1855,  in  which  Ruskin 
seems  to  have  spoken  of  his  regret  at  the  poet's  obscurity 
and  of  his  delight  in  his  profundity,  Browning  expressed 
a  hope  that  the  *  deepnesses  '  which  his  correspondent 
thought  he  had  found  in  his  work  were  more  than  '  mere 
blacknesses '.  In  The  Ring  and  the  Book  there  are  deep- 
nesses enough,  and  (though  they  are  happily  far  fewer,  in 
proportion  to  its  length,  than  in  most  of  Browning's  longer 
poems)  there  are  also  blacknesses.  The  first  duty  of  a 
commentator  is  to  strive  to  plumb  the  deepnesses  and 
to  make  the  blacknesses  grey.  His  efforts  will  often  be 
partially,  they  will  sometimes  be  wholly,  unsuccessful. 
Plain  phrasing  and  high  thinking  are  rarely  found  together 
in  Browning's  poetry  ;  it  is  just  where  the  thought  is 
most  intricate  that  the  periods  are  most  thorny.  N<»\\ 


viii  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

and  again  more  meanings  than  one  are  packed  into  a 
sentence,  and  a  commentator  may  mistake  a  secondary 
for  a  primary  intention  or  may  see  what  rests  upon  the 
surface  and  fail  to  probe  what  lies  below.  Yet  he  need 
not  be  disheartened.  His  partial  and  tentative  interpreta- 
tions may  help  a  more  fortunate  or  perspicacious  student 
to  interpretations  which  are  complete  and  sure  ;  even  his 
sheer  blunders  by  exciting  surprise  or  impatience  may 
bring  him  correction.  It  is  possible,  of  course,  that  having 
peered  and  peered  into  a  dark  place  he  may  find  that  he 
cannot  even  think  that  he  dimly  sees  his  way.  In  that 
case  he  should  follow  the  rule  that  guided  Dr.  Johnson 
when  he  wrote  his  notes  on  Shakespeare  ;  he  should  frankly 
confess  his  inability.  If  he  passes  without  remark  over 
passages  which  readers  are  certain  to  find  puzzling,  he 
annoys  or  he  discourages.  Some  will  condemn  his  com- 
mentary, it  may  be  unjustly,  but  not  unnaturally,  as  a 
fraud.  Others  will  be  dismayed  by  a  misgiving  that,  as 
they  find  difficulties  where,  apparently,  there  are  none, 
they  must  be  exceptionally  obtuse  ;  they  will  feel  as 
Douglas  Jerrold  is  said  to  have  felt  when  on  recovery 
from  an  illness  he  tried  to  read  Bordello  :  '  I'm  an  idiot ', 
he  reflected,  '  my  mind's  gone  '. 

II.  Students  of  a  poem  so  allusive,  so  variously  and 
sometimes  so  mysteriously  allusive,  as  The  Ring  and  the 
Book  will  often  wish  for  explanations  even  in  passages  in 
which  the  poet's  language  and  his  drift  are  free  from 
obscurity.  It  has  been  remarked  that  Browning  paid  his 
readers  the  high  compliment  of  assuming  that  their  erudi- 
tion was  as  extensive  and  peculiar  as  his  own  ;  he  referred 
compendiously,  as  to  matters  of  common  knowledge,  to 
all  manner  of  matters  literary,  artistic,  historical,  ecclesi- 
astical, social,  biographical,  topographical,  zoological, 
anatomical  and  so  forth,  which  are  familiar,  if  familiar  at 


PREFACE  ix 

all,  to  specialists  only.  He  vouchsafes  us  a  reference  to 
the  Kiirhth  .Ivieid  for  your  frigid  Virgil's  fieriest  word, 
I »ut  \\hrre  ;ur  \\c  to  find  the  sole  joke  of  Thucydides, 
and  the  jest  (if  jest  there  was)  of  the  Patavinian  about 
the  Aretines  ?  What  was  the  gold  snow  Jove  rained 
on  Rhodes,  and  why  might  Arcangeli  ask,  '  What's  this 
to  Bacchus  ?  '  What  are  the  chasms  permissible  only 
to  Catullus,  and  what  are  the  scazons  into  which  Capon- 
sacchi  was  to  insert  an  iambus  impermissibly  ?  Why  was 
Pompilia  according  to  one  speaker  Thalassian-pme,  and 
who  was  the  Corinna  whom  according  to  another  she 
could  act  without  book  ?  Even  trained  scholars  have 
answered  one  or  two  of  these  questions  wrongly,  or  have 
confessed  that  they  cannot  answer  them  at  all.  Again, 
how  was  Caponsacchi  to  break  Priscian's  head,  and  what 
was  the  Brazen  Head  that  broke  itself  ?  What  sort  of 
verse  is  Bembo's  verse,  and  what  is  a  Marinesque  Adoniad  ? 
Who  was  frank  Ser  Franco  of  the  Merry  Tales,  and  who 
was  Guido's  wicked  townsman  of  the  sonnet  -  book  ? 
What  is  the  tract  De  Tribus  which  St.  John  did  not  write, 
and  who  wrote  the  De  Raptu  Helena  ?  Who  was  Olimpia 
of  the  Vatican,  and  what  Olimpias  and  Biancas  gave  their 
husbands  power  unlimited  ?  What  is  the  arachnoid  tunic 
of  the  brain,  and  what  are  the  symphyses  ?  What  is  the 
Boat-fountain,  and  what  are  the  caritellas  over  which  the 
Triton  snorted  a  spray  ?  How,  at  tarocs,  do  you  nick 
the  nine  and  ninety  and  one  over  ?  What  is  the  Est-est, 
and  what  is  Tern  Quatern  ?  Who  were  the  Molinists, 
and  what  was  their  Philosophic  Sin  ?  Why  should 
Fe"nelon  be  let  know  the  fool  he  is,  and  for  what  would 
li«'  be  condemned  ?  Who  was  the  Pope's  sagacious  Swede  ? 
Who  was  the  accomplished  Giro  Ferri  ?  Who  was  florid 
old  rogue  Albano  ?  These  are  among  the  questions,  under 
some  of  the  headings  above-mentioned,  which  are  raised 

b 


1   '  i  <  I      L  VJ&LU* 

some  of 


x  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

by  allusions  in  The  Ring  and  the  Book,  Most  readers  can 
answer  some  of  them,  many  can  answer  many  ;  but 
Browning  writes  as  if  we  could  all  answer  them  all, 
without  hesitation  and  '  without  book '.  We  may,  no 
doubt,  leave  a  large  proportion  of  them  unanswered  with- 
out being  seriously  thrown  out,  but  they  excite  our  curiosity ; 
we  should  like  to  know  the  answers,  if  only  it  were  not 
sometimes  necessary  to  search  for  them  far  and  wide. 
It  is  the  plain  duty  of  a  commentator  to  make  the  search  ; 
if  in  a  particular  case  he  has  not  made  it,  or  has  made  it 
unsuccessfully,  he  should  say  that  that  is  so. 

III.  Excellent  detailed  expositions  have  been  published 
of  some  of  Browning's  longer  and  more  difficult  poems  ; 
we  have  for  instance  Mr.  Duff's  study  of  Sordello  and  Mr. 
Nettleship's  analysis  of  Fifine  ;  but  owing,  perhaps,  partly 
to  its  relative  clearness  and  partly  to  its  abnormal  length 
there  has  been  but  little  detailed  exposition  of  The  Ring 
and  the  Book,  and  that  little  has  been  casual  and  somewhat 
thin.  General  literary  criticism  of  the  poem,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  been  abundant,  systematic,  and  (within  its 
limits)  thorough  ;  much  of  it  is  of  the  finest  quality  ;  on 
important  points  it  is  so  harmonious  that,  half  a  century 
having  passed  since  the  poem  was  published,  it  may 
make  some  claim  to  finality.  For  these  reasons  it  was  at 
first  my  intention,  with  respect  to  this  optional  function 
of  a  commentator,  to  exercise  my  option  negatively,  but 
the  merest  commentator  cannot  fix  his  thoughts,  for  any 
length  of  time,  on  a  literary  masterpiece  without  having 
his  modest  say  to  say  on  some  of  its  broader  issues  ;  he 
will  see,  or  imagine  that  he  sees,  some  of  the  problems 
which  it  presents  from  a  new  angle  ;  he  will  in  any  case 
be  tempted  to  examine  and  compare  the  appreciations  of 
approved  literary  critics.  Of  such  appreciations  of  The 
Ring  and  the  Book  many  have  appeared  in  well-known 


PREFACE  xi 

books  about  Browning,  but  I  have  also  found  stimulating 
suggestions  in  papers  which  have  appeared  from  time  to 
time  in  the  pages  of  Reviews,  and  to  some  of  these  I 
have  called  attention.  One  of  them  is  an  article  by  Leslie 
Stephen  on  *  Browning's  Casuistry  '  ;  another  is  the  report 
of  a  lecture  by  Henry  James  on  *  The  Novel  in  The  Ring 
and  tlie  Book ' 1 ;  a  third,  the  most  valuable  of  them  all,  is  a 
notice  of  the  poem  2,  written  immediately  after  the  comple- 
tion of  its  publication,  by  that  sometime  editor  of  the 
Fortnightly  Review  who  is  now  Lord  Morley. 

IV.  At  the  beginning  of  this  Preface  I  spoke  of  source - 
study  as  something  separable  from  literary  appreciation, 
but  of  course  the  two  things  are  very  closely  linked  ;  the 
former  is  only  occasionally  an  end  in  itself,  normally  it  is 
but  a  preliminary  to  the  latter.  If  a  poem  has  sources 
external  to  the  poet's  mind — and  what  great  epic  or  drama 
has  not  ? — literary  appreciation  must  be  incomplete  if 
these  sources  have  not  been  examined  ;  such  examination 
is  indeed  usually  not  merely  a  preliminary  to  criticism, 
but  an  almost  indispensable  preliminary.  My  reason  for 
speaking  of  the  two  things  as  separable  is  that  they  have 
in  fact  been  separated  ;  all  or  nearly  all  the  criticisms  of 
English  critics  upon  The  Ring  and  the  Book  have  been 
made  without  source-study.  The  circumstance  detracts, 
not  indeed  from  the  excellence  of  these  criticisms,  but 
from  their  adequacy  ;  it  must  not  be  imputed  as  blame 
to  the  critics,  for  the  main  source  3  of  the  poem  was  still 
hidden  when  they  wrote.  It  was  not  till  after  the  poet's 
death  in  1889  that  the  collection  of  papers  known  as  the 
Yellow  Book,  upon  which  his  poem  was  based,  passed 
from  his  son's  hands  into  the  semi-publicity  of  a  college 
library  ;  it  was  not  till  1908  that  its  contents  became 

1  Reprinted  in  Xotes  on  Novelists. 

;it<''l  in  Studies  in  Literature, 

:i  What  is  known  as  the  '  Secondary  Source '  (see  p.  xix)  was  reprinted  as  early 
as  18RO. 


xii  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

generally  accessible.  The  appearance  in  this  latter  year 
of  the  monumental  volume  which  reproduced  the  Book 
was  an  event  of  the  greatest  importance  ;  it  placed  students 
of  English  literature  under  a  load  of  debt  to  an  American 
Society  and  to  an  American  man  of  letters — to  the  enter- 
prise of  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington  and  to 
the  energy  and  enthusiasm  of  Professor  Charles  W.  Hodell. 
If  the  possession  of  this  volume,  cheap  as  it  is  at  its  price, 
may  seem  to  some  of  us  in  these  days  a  luxury  which  must 
be  regretfully  postponed,  the  Professor  has  made  the  post- 
ponement endurable  ;  for  he  has  published  his  translation 
of  the  documents  in  '  Everyman's  Library ',  and  has  thus 
made  it  possible  for  everybody  to  do  much  source -study 
at  a  cost  not  seriously  exceeding  the  '  eightpence  English 
just '  which  Browning  paid  for  his  Book  to  the  Florentine 
stall-keeper x.  The  poet  found  its  leaves  '  medicinable  '  ; 
he  drank  greedily  of  its  waters  long  before  he  knew  that 
it  was  to  be  a  '  source '.  Few  other  people,  probably,  if 
they  read  the  documents  as  a  thing  apart,  will  find  in  them 
healing  or  refreshment ;  read  them  in  close  connection 
with  the  poem,  and  you  will  have  your  reward.  They 
give  a  piquant  interest  to  many  of  the  poet's  details  ; 
reveal  the  adroitness  of  the  workmanship  with  which  he 
fits  odd  pieces  into  his  mosaic  ;  enhance  our  enjoyment 
of  the  copiousness  of  his  invention  and  the  subtlety  of 
his  wit ;  invite  us  to  the  investigation  of  intriguing  by- 
problems  ;  set  in  a  new  perspective  sections  of  the  poem 
which  may  have  seemed  tedious  but  will  never  seem 
tedious  again.  Source-study,  as  Professor  Hodell  notes, 
L  cannot  lay  bare  the  mystery  of  artistic  creation  ;  but  as 
we  make  our  way  through  the  Yellow  Book  we  are  on  the 

1  When  I  began  to  write  this  commentary  the  Professor's  larger  book  was 
not  procurable,  and  I  pursued  my  source-study  in  '  Everyman's  Library'.  The 
results  of  the  Professor's  researches  are  recorded  in  an  essay  and  notes  which 
are  not  printed  in  his  smaller  book  ;  having  long  worked  without  their  help, 
but  having  now  examined  them,  I  give  myself  the  pleasure  of  expressing  my 
admiration  for  their  scholarly  thoroughness. 


PREFACE  xiii 

master's  very  track,  we  follow  with  a  keener  perception 
the  workings  of  his  mind  ;  above  all  we  admire  with  a 
constantly  growing  admiration  what  he  preferred  to  call 
the  resuscitation — it  was  in  fact  the  creation — of  the 
outstanding  personae  of  his  drama,  his  Guido,  his  Pompilia, 
his  Caponsacchi. 

Many  good  lovers  of  Browning  will  look  askance, 
perhaps,  at  the  intrusion  of  a  commentator  ;  I  can  only 
urge  as  a  plea  for  their  forgiveness  that  I  too  multum 
amavi.  From  other  students  a  pioneer  who  has  com- 
mented continuously  on  a  not  always  easy  poem  of 
more  than  twenty  thousand  lines,  and  has  often,  no  doubt, 
commented  ill,  may  fairly  ask  for  indulgence  ;  I  ask  also 
for  correction  and  instruction.  For  these  and  other  boons 
I  am  already  in  debt  to  several  friends.  Dr.  Thomas 
Ashby  has  favoured  me  with  a  memorandum  on  some 
points  relating  to  the  city  of  Rome  ;  Canon  Cruickshank 
has  allowed  me  to  draw  upon  his  varied  erudition  and  has 
also  supplied  me  with  a  valuable  note  on  what  Browning 
called  the  posy  of  his  ring  ;  Mr.  C.  B.  Phillips  has  had  the 
patience  to  read  and  has  greatly  improved  my  notes  on 
three  of  the  poet's  twelve  books  ;  the  insight  of  Mr.  A.  H. 
Smith  (who,  like  Canon  Cruickshank,  has  helped  me  with 
the  '  posy  ')  has  prevented  some  serious  mistakes  from 
appearing  in  print,  has  enabled  me  to  interpret  more  than 
one  locus  pane  desperatus,  and  has  led  me  to  appreciate 
at  its  true  value  a  very  important  section  of  the  poem. 

A.  K.  C. 

1,  1919. 


CONTENTS 


DEDICATION 

PREFACE        

NOTE  ON  THE  SOUBCES  OF  THE  POEM 
NOTE  ON  REFERENCES  . 


BOOK 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 


INTRODUCTIONS  AND  NOTES 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK  . 

HALF-ROME 

THE  OTHER  HALF-ROME 

TERTIUM  QUID 

COUNT  GUIDO  FEANCESCHINI      .... 

GIUSEPPE  CAPONSACCHI 

POMPILIA 

DOMINUS  HYACINTHUS  DE  ARCHANOELIS  . 
JURIS  DOCTOR  JOHANNES-BAPTISTA  BOTTINIUS  . 

THE  POPE 

GUIDO ' 


Vll 

xvii 
xxiii 


1 

30 

53 

72 

91 

112 

139 

160 

179 

198 

233 


TIIK  H"»K   AM-    1111:   l; 

\v 


xvi  THE  RINa  AND  THE  BOOK 

APPENDICES 

PAGE 

I.  CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  POEM      .        .  275 

II.  THE  HOME  OR  HOMES  OF  THE  COMPARINI         .        .        .  279 

III.  WHEN  WERE  THE  COMPARINI  AT  AREZZO  ?  283 

IV.  COULD  POMPILIA  WRITE? 285 

V.  THE  MONOLOGUES  AND  THE  DEPOSITIONS  OF  CAPONSACCHI 

AND  POMPILIA 290 

VI.  THE  INFLICTION  OF  TORTURE 295 

VII.  POPE  INNOCENT  XII .        .301 

VIII.    MOLINOS   AND    THE    MOLINISTS 306 

IX.  THE  POSY  OF  BROWNING'S  RING         .....  312 

X.   '  POMPILIA,  WILL  YOU  LET  THEM  MURDER  ME  ? '         .        .  316 

XI.  REVISIONS  OF  THE  TEXT  OF  THE  POEM      ....  319 

INDEX  327 


NOTE  ON  THE  SOURCES  OF  THE 


FOR  a  reason  stated  in  the  Introduction  to  Book  1. 1  have  not  given 
in  these  pages  a  full  narrative  of  the  events  with  which  The  Ring 
and  the  Book  is  concerned  ;  but  a  bare  outline,  in  which  much  that 
is  important  is  ignored,  may  be  a  help  to  reader**  of  this  note. 

A  certain  Guido  Franceschini  was  married  at  Rome  in  1093  to  a 
certain  Pompilia  who  had  been  brought  up  as  the  daughter  of  one 
Pietro  Comparini  and  his  wife.  He  took  her  soon  afterwards  to  his 
home  at  Arezzo,  where  they  lived  unhappily  together  for  more  than 
three  years  :  Pompilia,  according  to  her  husband,  was  an  intractable 
and  unfaithful  wife  ;  Guido,  according  to  his  wife,  was  a  cruel — 
indeed  an  infamous — husband.  Suddenly,  in  April  1697,  under  the 
escort  of  a  young  priest  called  (.'aponsacchi,  Pompilia  tied  from 
Arezzo  Rome-wards,  to  rejoin — so  she  said — her  (putative)  parent.-. 
Guido  pursued  the  fugitives,  came  up  with  them  at  the  last  stage  of 
their  journey,  had  them  arrested  on  a  charge  of  adultery  and  of 
flight  or  complicity  in  flight.  They  were  taken  to  Rome  and  put 
upon  their  trial  before  'the  Tribunal  of  the  Governor',  which  tri- 
bunal, after  long  delays,  pronounced  in  September  1697  a  somewhat 
indecisive  judgment;  Caponsacchi  was  'relegated'  for  a  time  to 
Civita  Vecchia,  Pompilia,  pending  yet  further  inquiry,  was  detained 
in  a  nunnery,  from  which,  however,  she  was  soon  dismissed  to 
quasi-detention  in  the  Comparini's  home.  There,  on  December  18, 
I(>'.)7,  she  gave  birth  to  a  child  ;  and  there,  on  January  2,  1698, 
Guido  appeared  with  four  retainers,  killed  the  Comparini,  husband 
and  wife,  and  left  Pompilia  for  dead ;  she  survived,  by  a  miracle, 
till  January  6.  Meanwhile  the  assassins  made  off  for  Arezzo,  but 
they  were  overtaken  on  their  way,  conveyed  back  to  Rome,  and 
accused  of  murder  before  the  above-mentioned  Court.  That  the 
killing  was  their  act  was  established  by  most  convincing  proofs  ; 
the  i-sues  raised  at  the  trial  were  more  perplexing.  Should  a 
confession  !•••  forced  by  torture  from  the  prisoners  ?  Did  they  kill 
their  vietims  to  avenge  (iuido's  outraged  honour,  and  wa.-  that  an 
:i  nation,  if  not  a  just  ilicat  ion,  of  the  killing?  Had  Guide's  honour 
been,  in  fact,  outraged  ''.  \\asthe  killing  attended, or  not  attended. 
by  aggravating  circumstances  ?  Such  were  the  questions  discus 

xvii 


xviii  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

in  a  series  of  pleadings,  by  the  state  officials  who  appeared  in 
the  case  ;  on  these  questions  '  wrangled,  brangled,  jangled  they  a 
month '  or  rather  more.  At  last,  on  February  18,  the  Court  gave 
judgment ;  it  condemned  the  accused,  and  after  an  appeal  to  the 
Pope,  promptly  dismissed,  they  were  executed  on  February  22. 

The  Yellow  Book  which  Browning  picked  up  at  Florence  in  1860 x, 
and  which  was  the  primary  source  of  his  poem,  is  for  the  most  part 
a  collection  of  documents  relating  to  this  murder-trial;  of  its 
twenty-two  pieces  only  the  first,  the  last  but  one,  and  the  last  have 
to  do  with  other  matters.  The  first  is  the  confirmation,  by  '  the 
Criminal  Ruota  of  Florence ',  of  a  sentence  pronounced  upon  Pompilia 
and  others  by  'the  Commissary  of  Arezzo'.  The  last  two  are 

(1)  a  'memorial  of  fact'  in  which  'the  Procurator  of  Charity'., 
Lamparelli,  applied  to  the  Roman  Court,  after  Guide's  death,  for 
'  the  re -integration  of  the  fame  and  reputation '  of  Pompilia,  and 

(2)  an  Instrumentum  Sententice  Definitivce  which  granted  the  applica- 
tion.    Of  these  three  pieces  I  need  say  no  more  at  present. 

Of  the  nineteen  papers  which  relate  to  the  murder-trial  fourteen 
are  official  documents.  The  other  five  are  (1)  two  anonymous 
pamphlets,  printed  at  Rome  during  the  course  of  the  trial  in  the 
interests  of  the  defence  and  the  prosecution  respectively  ;  they  were 
addressed  to  the  general  public,  but,  though  more  popular  in  style 
and  substance  than  the  pleadings,  were  probably  the  work  of  the 
advocates  engaged ;  they  seem  to  have  suggested  to  Browning  his 
Books  II.  and  III. ;  and  (2)  three  letters  sent  immediately  after  the 
executions  by  Roman  lawyers  to  a  lawyer  at  Florence,  one  Cencini ; 
of  these  letters  I  shall  speak  in  the  Introduction  to  Book  XII. 

The  fourteen  official  documents  are  also  of  two  kinds.  (1)  Three 
of  them  are  styled  '  Summaries ' ;  they  are  selections  from  evidence 
which  was  either  given  in  the  trial  for  adultery  and  put  in  to  prove 
or  disprove  contentions  of  the  rival  advocates  in  the  murder- trial, 
or  else  given  in  the  course  of  the  murder-trial  itself.  Among  these 
depositions  the  most  important  are  those  of  Pompilia  and  Capon- 
sacchi 2.  (2)  The  eleven  other  documents  are  pleadings,  five  of  them 
by  counsel  for  the  prosecution,  the  '  Advocate  '  or  the  '  Procurator  ' 
of  the  Fisc  (Bottini  or  Gambi),  six  by  counsel  for  the  defence,  the 
'  Procurator  '  or  the  '  Advocate  '  of  the  Poor  (Arcangeli  or  Spreti). 
No  speeches  were  made  in  Court ;  the  pleadings  were  '  memorials ', 
written  by  the  lawyers,  printed  '  in  the  type  of  the  Reverend  Apos- 
tolic Chamber'  and  distributed  among  the  judges  and  others  officially 
concerned  ;  they  were  often  written  hurriedly  3  and  always  printed 
carelessly.  Their  general  character  is  described  very  faithfully  in 
the  poet's  Book  I. ;  he  quotes  from  them  largely  and  parodies  them 
brilliantly  in  his  Books  VIII.  and  IX. 

i  See  Appendix  I.  2  See  Appendices  IV.  and  V. 

3  See  O.Y.B.  xxiii.,  clxi.,  cxcv.,  E.L.  23,  168,  199. 


NOTE  ON  THE  SOURCES  OF  THE  POEM    xix 

Thirteen  of  the  twenty  two  pieces — the  pleadings  in  the  murder- 
t  rial,  Lamparelli'a  application,  the  Definitive  Sentence — are  in 
Latin,  '  a  Latin  cramp  enough ',  as  Browning  says.  The  Latin  is 
'  intertilloted  with  Italian  streaks'  ;  these  streaks  are  the  Arezzo 
•nee  with  its  confirmation,  the  summaries,  the  anonymous 
pamphlets,  and  the  letters.  The  poet  says,  very  inaccurately,  that 
only  three-fifths  of  his  Yellow  Book  is  in  print ;  he  should  have  said 
seventeen-eighteenths  or  thereabouts  !  The  only  unprinted  portions 
are  the  Arezzo  sentence  and  the  letters,  together  with  a  title-page 
and  an  *  index  *  which  the  collector  added. — From  both  the  Italian 
and  the  Latin,  from  both  the  printed  and  the  unprinted  pieces, 
Browning  squeezed  almost  every  drop  of  fact  or  alleged  fact  that 
they  could  yield. 

The  collector  was  no  doubt  the  Cencini  to  whom  the  letters  were 
addressed — a  lawyer  professionally  interested  in  the  fortunes  of 
Quido  and  his  family,  and  in  close  relations  with  at  least  one  of  the 
advocates  who  defended  the  accused.  He  arranged  the  pieces  that 
had  reached  him  in  chronological  order1,  adding,  as  I  have  said,  a 
title-page  and  an  'index'.  His  title-page,  translated  by  Browning 
in  I.  121-31,  reveals  the  standpoint  from  which  he  viewed  the  case  ; 
his  '  index  '  (indice)  is  a  useful  table  of  contents. 

The  poet  speaks  of  the  Yellow  Book  as  if  it  was  not  merely  his 
primary,  but  his  one  and  only  source  ;  there  was  however  another. 
In  or  about  the  year  1864  a  copy,  perhaps  the  only  copy  in  existence, 
of  an  Italian  pamphlet  which  tells  the  whole  story  was  found  in 
London  and  sent  him  by  a  friend.  Written  probably  a  few,  but 
only  a  few,  years  after  the  events  which  it  records,  it  records  them  in 
most  lively  fashion,  supplementing  the  Yellow  Book  with  a  mass  of 
interesting  detail ;  it  became,  what  Professor  Hodell  calls  it,  the 
poet's  '  Secondary  Source '.  It  may,  indeed,  have  set  him  definitely 
to  the  task  of  composition  ;  facts  which  it  alone  gives  are  freely  used 
in  those  parts  of  the  poem  which  were  written  first,  and  for  this  and 
other  reasons  it  is  certain  that  the  poem  was  begun  after  the  date  of 
the  new  find.  Post  hoc  need  not  of  course  mean  propter  hoc ;  but 
see  Appendix  I. 

I  have  spoken  in  the  Preface  of  the  '  complete  photo-reproduction' 
of  the  Yellow  Book  which  Professor  Hodell  published  in  1908.  To 
that  reproduction  ho  added  other  valuable  matter:  a  translation 
of  the  Book  ;  a  translation  of  the  Secondary  Source  ;  a  translation 
of  another  account  of  the  tragedy  of  which  I  have  still  to  speak  ; 
an  Essay  on  '  the  Making  of  a  great  Poem  '  ;  and,  lastly,  a  *  Corpus 
of  Topical  Notes '.  His  translations,  which  have  been  reprinted  for 
m's  Library',  are  not  always  correct1,  but  he  has  dis- 

< ide  one  mistake,  however,  in  his  arrangement ;  see  Appendix  VI. 
-  A  few  mistranslations  which  throw  the  reader  rather  seriously  out  have 
been  noticed  in  Appendices  111.,  IV.,  V.     I  may  add  that  lotrix  does  not  mean 


xx  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

charged  with  no  little  skill  the  hard  task  of  interpreting  the  lawyers' 
confused  and  often  ungrammatical  periods  ;  his  essay  contains, 
inter  alia,  a  masterly  statement  of  reasons  which  give  a  unique 
interest  to  the  study  of  the  sources  of  The  Ring  and  the  Book  ; 
of  his  notes,  which  deal  almost  exclusively  with  the  corre- 
spondence and  the  variations  between  the  sources  and  the  poem, 
I  have  spoken  in  the  Preface.  '  I  find  a  charm ',  wrote  the  late  Lord 
Courtney  of  Penwith,  '  in  the  mere  possession  of  this  volume.  I 
finger  and  turn  over  its  pages  .  .  .  with  subdued  delight '  *.  Every 
other  possessor  of  Professor  Hodell's  volume  will  understand  the 
delight  and  wonder  why  it  was  subdued. 

Only  a  few  words  need  be  added  about  that  other  account  of  the 
tragedy  which  I  mentioned  in  the  last  paragraph  ;  though  trans- 
lated in  the  American  book  it  is  not  a  source  of  the  poem,  for  it  was 
not  discovered  till  after  the  poet's  death.  In  the  Royal  Casana- 
tense  Library  at  Rome  there  is  a  collection  of  manuscript  pamphlets 
entitled  Varii  successi  curiosi  e  degni  di  esser  considerate,  and  one 
of  these  pamphlets  deals  with  the  successo  curioso  which  it  calls  the 
'Trial  and  Death  of  Franceschini  and  his  Companions'.  It  came 
to  light  in  the  year  1900,  and  Professor  Hall  Griffin  translated  it 
in  the  Monthly  Review  for  the  November  of  that  year 2 ;  he  regarded 
it  as  '  the  best  prose  account  of  the  whole  case  which  is  known  to 
exist ' — a  judgment  with  which  few  readers  of  the  Secondary  Source 
will  agree.  It  contains  much  new  information,  but  its  special 
feature  is  its  note  of  edification  ;  the  author  dwells  with  pious  and 
prolix  satisfaction  on  the  '  Death  of  Franceschini ',  for  he  '  made  a 
good  end '.  For  students  of  The  Ring  and  the  Book  the  chief  im- 
portance of  the  pamphlet  is  that  it  confirms  one  or  two  guesses  at 
fact  which  Browning  hazarded. 


The  Yellow  Book  was  given  to  the  library  of  Balliol  College,  soon 
after  the  poet's  death,  by  Mr.  R.  Barrett  Browning  ;  it  is  a  (some- 
what blackened)  vellum-bound  volume  of  about  10  by  7|  inches. 
On  the  fly-leaf  Browning  wrote  his  name  and,  underneath  it,  the 
motto  from  Pindar  on  which  I  shall  comment  in  the  note  to  I.  40  : 
£/nol  fj.£t>  &v  M(H<ra  Kaprep^rarov  /3Aos  dX/c$  rptyei.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  book,  on  the  inside  of  the  cover,  he  pasted  in  a  small 
water-colour  drawing  (reproduced  in  Professor  Hodell's  volume) 
described  as  Arme  Franceschini  Famiglia  Aretina  and  stated  to  have 

'strumpet'  (O.Y.B.  10,  E.L.  11),  that  scissw  in  frusta  does  not  mean  'useless 
mutilation  '  (O.Y.B.  28,  E.L.  34),  that  absque  excessu  legis  does  not  mean  '  without 
excess  of  law',  nor  verecundia  'truthfulness'  (O.Y.B.  52,  103,  E.L.  68,  130),  that 
conductos  as  used  in  O.Y.B.  ccxliii.  means  'hired'  not  'led'  (O.Y.B.  192,  E.L. 
241).  Col  soldo  cannot  mean  '  without  a  soldo  '  (O.Y.B.  169,  E.L.  210)  ;  by  con- 
fusing attesa  with  attesta  the  Professor  makes  havoc  of  the  meaning  of  a  sentence 
in  O.Y.B.  116,  E.L.  145-6  ;  his  translation  of  Note  A  in  E.L.  92  is  also  impossible. 
(O.F.B.-the  Professor's  larger,  E.L.  his  smaller  book.) 

1  The  Times,  Literary  Supplement,  February  25,  1909. 

2  His  translation  is  reprinted  in  Appendix  B  of  his  Life  of  Robert  Browning. 


NOTE  ON  THE  SOURCES  OF  THE  POEM     xxi 

I ii  copied  Da  un  MS  Priorista  Aretino  esistenle  presso  lafamiglia 

.\lhi- ft/nil il ;  it  is  dated  Arezzo  Luylio  /A'/.V.  Plow  he  obtained  it  is 
told  in  a  note  written  above  it:  '  (From  Seymour  Kirkup, 
Florence)' ;  the  sender  was  the  'My  Kirkup'  to  whom  he  alludes 
in  Pacchiarofto,  n.,  and  to  whom  I  shall  refer  in  my  note  on  XII. 
222-4.  Browning  makes  use  of  this  drawing  in  XI.  2161-6  and  XII. 
821-4  ;  as  its  date  was  July  1868  and  the  poem  was  published  in 
November  1868-February  1869  we  see  that  the  interval  between 
the  completion  of  the  poem  and  its  publication  was  short. 

In  the  same  case  as  the  Yellow  Book  are  kept  (1 )  the  ring  described 
in  the  opening  lines  of  the  poem  (see  note  on  I.  1),  and  (2)  a  pen- 
sketch  of  Guido,  said  to  have  been  made  shortly  before  or  on 
the  very  day  of  his  execution ;  a  reproduction  of  it  serves  as  the 
frontispiece  to  this  Commentary.  Tin-  sketch  'was  sent  to  the 
Poet  by  a  stranger,  who  found  it  in  a  bundle  of  drawings,  etc. 
which  he  bought  at  a  sale  in  England  '  (0.  Y.B.  298).  For  Guide's 
personal  appearance,  and  for  his  dress  on  the  day  of  his  death,  see 
O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  266  (Secondary  Source);  cf.  I.  782-4,  IV.  717-19, 
VII.  396,  and  especially  XII.  190-204. 

.Mr.  Pickard-Cam bridge,  the  librarian  of  Balliol,  whom  I  have  to 
thank  for  much  kindness,  including  permission  to  photograph  the 
sketch,  was  unable,  when  he  showed  me  the  treasures  of  his  library, 
to  tell  me  what  has  become  of  the  '  Secondary  Source '. 

1  An  oxtrart  from  a  letter  to  Pietro,  written  by  one  of  this  family  evidently 
friendly  to  the  Knmceschini,  will  be  found  in  the  first  'Summary'  in  the  Yellow 
Book  (O.Y.li.  liv.,  E.L.  55). 


NOTE   ON   REFERENCES 


0.  Y.B.=The  Old  Yellow  Book,  Source  of  Browning's  The  Ring  and 
the  Book,  in  complete  Photo-reproduction  with  Translation,  Essay,  and 
Notes  by  Charles  W.  Hodell  (Second  Edition,  Carnegie  Institute  of 
Washington,  1916). 

E.L.l  =  The  Old  Yellow  Book :  Source  of  Robert  Brouming's  The 
Ring  and  tlic  Book  [Professor  Hodell's  translation,  with  short  notes  : 
published  in  '  Everyman's  Library']  (London,  undated). 

The  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet = Notiz ie  di  fatto  e  di  ragioni 
per  la  Causa  Franceschini  [O.  Y.B.  cxli.-cliv.,  116-126 ;  E.L.  145-156]. 

The  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet  =  Risposta  Alle  notizie  di  fatto 
e  di  ragioni  nella  Causa  Franceschini  [O.Y.B.  ccvii.-ccxxv.,  168- 
183 ;  E.L.  209-226]. 

The  Secondary  Source  =  The  Death  of  tiie  Wife-Murderer  Guido 
Franceschini,  by  Beheading  [O.Y.B.  209-213,  E.L.  259-266.  See 
above,  p.  xix]. 

The  post-Browning  Pamphlet  =  Trial  and  Death  of  Franceschini 
and  his  Companions,  etc.  [0.  Y.B.  217-225,  E.  L.  269-281.  See  above, 
p.  xx.  The  inaccurately  phrased  reference  may  remind  the  reader 
that  this  pamphlet  was  not  one  of  Browning's  sources,  having  been 
discovered  after  his  death]. 

The  Process  of  Flight = the  trial  of  Pompilia  and  Caponsacchi  for 
adultery  and  flight  or  complicity  in  flight,  often  described  in  the 
records" as  processes  fugw. 

B.  and  H.  Notes  =  '  Biographical  and  Historical  Notes',  appended 
to  the  supplementary  volume  (Asolando)  added  to  the  sixteen- 
volume  edition  of  the  poet's  collected  works. 

N.E.D.=Neto  English  Dictionary. 


Other  references  are  unabridged,  except  in  a  few  cases  where 
abridgment  seems  to  need  no  explanation. 

>  When  referring  to  passages  in  O.Y.B.  I  have  noted  the  pages  in  E.L.  on  which 
they  are  translated,  but  Professor  Hodell  is  not  responsible  for  the  translations 
which  I  have  sometimes  given. 


XXI II 


1 


BOOK  I.— THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

INTRODUCTION 

IN  Book  I.  the  poet  defines  his  purpose  and  describes  his 
method.  He  defines  his  pprpnae  chiefly  by  disclosing  the 
full  meaning  and  significance  of  the  title  which  the  Book 
shares  with  the  whole  poem  ;  he  describes  his  method 
both  by  a  direct  statement  and  by  a  survey  of  the  ground 
which  the  other  Books  are  to  cover.  Except  so  far  as  his 
twofold  aim  is  thereby  subserved  it  is  not  a  part  of  the 
plan  of  Book  I.  to  tell  the  story  with  which  the  poem 
is  concerned  ;  but  unsystematically,  incidentally,  and  by 
« -usual  instalments  it  is  so  far  told  there  that  when  the 
reader  turns  to  Book  II.  he  is  already  at  home  with  it ; 
what  he  does  not  then  know  he  will  learn  before  long.  It 
is  not  true,  though  it  is  often  said,  that  the  story  is  given 
in  full  ten  or  twelve  times  in  the  poem  ;  it  is  true  that 
the  reader's  mind  is  saturated  with  it  before  he  has  read 
very  far.  Even  if  he  reads  no  farther  than  to  the  end  of 
Book  I.  he  will  say  that  a  narrative  by  a  commentator 
would  be  superfluous. 

The  poet's  statement  of  his  purpose  involved,  as  has 
been  said,  a  disclosure  of  the  meaning  of  his  title,  and  that 
disclosure  involved  in  its  turn  a  description  of  the  source 
and  origin  of  his  poem.  He  tells  us  how  one  summer  day, 
by  accident  or  rather  by  'predestination',  he  picked  up 
from  a  Florence  book-stall  an  old  yellow  volume  of  docu- 
mente  relating  to  a  Roman  cause  ceUbre  of  1698.  He  saw 
jiam-e',  as  he  somewhere  says  of  a  less  notable  find, 
tin-  Mil>ject's  crowd  of  capabilities',  but  the  facts  as  he 
found  them  were  'dead'  and  'inert';  if  he  was  to  use 

1  B 


2  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

them  he  must  give  them  life,  he  must  breathe  his  spirit 
into  them.  At  a  later  date  it  occurred  to  him  to  employ 
another  metaphor.  He  wore  upon  his  watch-chain  a 
ring,  once  his  wife's1,  which  had  been  fashioned  in  imita- 
tion of  old  Etruscan  work  ;  the  firm  of  artists  who  had 
fashioned  it  had  described  to  him  the  delicate  process 
by  which  the  ore  had  been  worked  into  it,  how  the  necessary 
hammering  and  fingering  had  only  been  possible  when  the 
ore  had  been  mixed  with  an  alloy.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
the  process  by  which  the  facts  of  his  Yellow  Book  were 
being,  or  were  to  be,  worked  into  his  poem  was  one  of 
the  same  kind;  he  could  only  give  them  artistic  form  by 
mixing  them  with  his  fancy.  The  facts  of  the  book  were 
the  jeweller's  ore  ;  the  poet's  fancy  was  the  jeweller's 
alloy  ;  his  fancy  mixed  with  the  facts — the  poet's  poem — 
was  the  jeweller's  ring.  Perhaps  the  admirable  metaphor 
was  pressed  too  hard.  Browning  tells  us  repeatedly  that 
just  as,  when  the  jeweller's  art  has  been  exercised  upon 
his  ring,  he  disengages  the  alloy,  so,  when  the  poet  has 
fashioned  his  poem,  he  will  disengage  his  fancy  from  it. 
But  he  does  not  disengage  it,  there  is  no  '  repristination  '  ; 
unlike  the  jeweller's  alloy,  the  poet's  fancy  does  not  '  fly 
in  fume ',  it  cannot  (happily)  be  '  unfastened  '  from  the 
\  facts. 

The  niethod  adopted  in  The  Ring  and  the  Book,  and 
describedand  justified  in  the  second  half  of  Book  L^  is 
that  of  a  series  of  dramatic  monologues.  The  single 
dramatic  monologue  was  of  course  with  Browning  a 
constant,  and  it  was  his  most  characteristic,  mode  of 
literary  expression  ;  but  the  series  of  monologues  in  which 
a  succession  of  speakers  say  at  length  what  they,  know 
and  think,  or  think  that  they  know  and  think,  or  would 
have  it  thought  that  they  know  and  think,  about  a  set 
of  facts  was  a  new  departure,  on  which  he  did  not  venture 
a  second  time.^  The_  method  has  the  obvious  drawback 
that  it  involves  repetition,  but  though  repetition  is  frequent 
it  is  rarely  wearisome  in  The  Ring  and  the  Book  ;  it  is 
often  very  dexterously  avoided,  the  poet's  resourcefulness 
gives  to  sameness  the  adroitest  touches  of  variety2. — Mr. 

1  See  the  note  on  I.  1. 
2  See  further  in  the  Introductions  to  Books  II.  and  IX. 


BOOK  I.— THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK     3 

Chostorton  says  that  its  method  makes  the  poem  *  the  epic 
of  free  speech  ' 1,  and  that  the  use  of  the  method  means 
that  truth  being  many-sided  it  can  only  be  rightly  appre- 
hended when  its  many  sides  have  been  presented  to  our 
view.  Now  the  poet's  language  shows  that  he  had  in 
mind  this  advantage  of  free  speech  2,  but  he  did  not  forget 
attendant  disadvantage,  that  it  urvolves  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  many  sides  of  falsehood  as  well  as  of  those  of 
truth.  If,  as  in  the  records  upon  which  his  poem  is  founded, 
the  evidence  which  free  speech  supplies  is  as  often  false 
as  true,  if  it  is  conflicting  and  nicely  balanced3,  it  may 
baffle  our  judgment ;  it  may  prevent  us  from  pronouncing 
'  a  sentence  absolute  for  shine  or  shade  '  ;  it  may  make 
us  doubtful  about  the  heroism  of  heroes  and  the  knavery 
of  knaves.  In  our  perplexity  we  shall  welcome  help  from 
an  expert,  but  he  must  not  offer  it  until  all  the  evidence 
has  been  heard  ;  if  he  offers  it  before,  we  shall  give  some 
of  it  no  fair  hearing,  the  advantage  of  free  speech  will  be 
lost.  It  detracts  from  the  claim  of  The  Ring  and  the  Book 
to  be  what  Mr.  Chesterton  calls  it  that  Browning  appears 
as  expert  at  the  start ;  before  he  has  summoned  a  single 
witness  he  tells  us  quite  plainly  what  our  '  ultimate  judg- 
ment '  is  to  be 4.  When  he  wrote  Sordello  he  declared 
that  he  would  have  preferred  to  adopt  a  purely  dramatic 
method,  to  keep  out  of  sight,  and  to  let  his  hero  say  his 
own  say  ;  but  reflection  convinced  him  that 

Your  setters-forth  of  unexampled  themes, 
Makers  of  quite  new  men,  producing  them, 
Would  best  chalk  broadly  on  each  vesture's  hem 
The  wearer's  quality  ;  "or  take  their  stand, 
Motley  on  back  and  pointing-polo  in  hand, 
!<lo  him. 

In  The  Ring  and  the  Book  his  theme  is  not  so  unexampled, 
his  men  are  not  quite  so  new.  They  speak  for  themselves, 
but  he  does  not  '  leave  you  to  say  the  rest  for  them  '  ; 
before  they  *  emerge ',  he  chalks  their  quality  on  their  vesture 

l    1348-78. 

;  Bni\v  to  W.  M.  !:<><•!. -Hi  of  'the  mass  of  almost  equally  balanced 

evidence  '  which  (h,-  n-ronh  contain  (/,'  •«,  p.  401). 

"''•  Whi-M  •!;  'irst  nuhlU'i  >n  was  taken  to  the  early  dis- 

1  m  ami  plot  :    to  tint  ohj.-.-tion  Mr.  John  Morley  supplied 
;'/'/  Review,  March  1, 1860,  pp.  383-4).    The  objection 
taken  above  is  di 


4  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

and  takes  his  stand  with  his  pointing-pole 1. — How  far, 
when  after  forestalling  our  verdict  he  lets  his  witnesses 
give  their  evidence,  he  makes  them  say  what  they  would 
themselves  have  said  or  actually  did  say  is  another  question 
— one  of  much  interest  hi  connection  with  his  reiterated 
declaration  that  he  adhered  to  his  documents  most  scrupu- 
lously. I  have  attempted  to  answer  it,  so  far  as  the  hero 
and  heroine  are  concerned,  in  Appendix  V. 

Among  the  most  arresting  passages  in  Book  I.  are 
those  which  describe  how  immediately  after  he  had 
bought  it  Browning's  attention  was  riveted  to  his  Yellow 
Book  ;  how  as  he  picked  his  way  through  the  crowded 
streets  he  read  it  through,  from  its  first  to  its  last  page ; 
how  before  reaching  home  he  had  '  mastered  the  contents  '  ; 
how  when  at  home  in  Casa  Guidi  he  '  read  and  read  it ' 
till  far  on  into  the  night.  As  the  hours  passed  he  no  doubt 
became  obsessed  by  the  psychological  problems  which  it 
presented  and,  it  may  be,  by  a  first  suggestion  of  the 
spiritual  romance  which  his  imagination  was  in  the  fulness 
of  time  to  body  forth.  All  students  of  his  works  are 
familiar  with  certain  often-quoted  words  which  he  used 
in  the  letter  which  serves  as  a  preface  to  Sordello  :  '  My 
stress  lay  on  the  incidents  in  the  development  of  a  soul : 
little  else  is  worth  study.  I,  at  least,  always  thought  so  '. 
It  is  right  that  the  words  should  be  often  quoted ;  but  as 
used  by  the  critics  they  sometimes  suggest  an  unduly 
restricted  conception  of  the  [range)  of  the  poet'r  interests. 
His  first  concern  as  he  perusecTfhe  Yellow  Book  was,  we 
may  safely  conjecture,  with  the  story  as  such.  For,  let 
the  psychologists  say  what  they  will,  such  stories  as  mere 
stories  had  the  strongest  fascination  for  him.  Whether 
the  Yellow  Book  provides  materials  for  a  good  detective 
novel  has  been  disputed  ;  it  has  been  described  as  too 
'  trumpery  ',  and  in  some  respects  it  deserves  that  epithet ; 
many  readers  agree  with  the  judgment  of  Carlyle,  who, 
when  congratulating  Browning  on  his  '  wonderful  poem ', 
declared  with  Carlylese  politeness  that  it  is  '  all  made  out 
of  an  Old  Bailey  story  that  might  have  been  told  in  ten 
lines  and  only  wants  forgetting ' 2.  Be  that  as  it  may,  we 

A  Sordello,  I.  11-31. 

2  Letters  of  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  to  William  AllingTiam,  pp.  284-5.     Hossetti, 


BOOK  L—THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK          5 

must  remember  that  the  poet's  interest  in  the  develop- 
ment of  souls  never  blunted  the  keenness  of  his  vision  for 
much  that  in  comparison  with  it  may  be  mean  and  trivial 
and  trumpery.  He  stored  in  his  memory  what  his  observant 
eye  had  told  him  of  '  the  cobbler  at  his  trade ',  *  the  man 
who  slices  lemons  into  drink ',  the  laundress  '  at  the  cistern 
by  Citorio  ',  '  the  puppets  of  Place  Navona '  ;  he  could 
re  over  the  weediest  and  scrubbiest  vegetable  growths, 
most  repulsive  varieties  of  vermin.  His  interest  in 
the  details  of  crimes  and  criminal  trials  however  sordid — 
an  interest  which,  we  are  told,  was  hereditary  1 — never 
flagged2,  and,  though  it  was  heightened  by  his  sense  of 
their  possible  implications,  it  was  primarily  that  un- 
sophisticated interest  which  the  humblest  of  us  share 
and  many  of  the  most  eminent  avow.  Evidence  of  this 
interest  in  Browning,  as  of  his  extensive  and  peculiar 
knowledge  of  the  annals  of  crime,  will  be  found  in  many 
books  3 ;  no  such  evidence,  perhaps,  is  more  convincing 
than  that  of  an  entry  in  the  diary  of  Alfred  Domett  (the 
poet's  *  Waring  ') :  '  He  [Browning]  had  been  present 
during  the  whole  of  his  [Cockburn's]  Humming  up  on  the 
Tichborne  case  '  1  The  Lord  Chief  Justice  summed  up 
in  masterly  style,  but  the  performance  took  twenty  days, 
and  even  Browning  can  hardly  have  cared  to  study  very 
closely  the  development  of  the  soul  of  Arthur  Orton ; 
he  had  no  use  for  a  stupid  knave  4. — The  poet's  absorption 
in  the  minutest  details  of  the  Old  Bailey  story  of  his  Old 
Yellow  Book  should  convince  his  readers  that  if  they  are 
to  understand  and  to  share  the  zest  with  which  he  wrote 

we  are  told, '  seemed  himself  to  lean  a  little  to  thia  view '.  Mr.  John  Morley  wrote 
in  1869  that  when  the  first  instalment  of  the  poem  was  published  *  it  was  pro- 
nounced a  murky  subject,  sordid,  unlovely,  morally  sterile '  (Fortnightly  Review, 
i».  331). — Carlyle's  compliment  might  have  been  retorted  on  his 
ow  11  brilliant  ami  elaborate  study  of  the  Old  Bailey  story  of  the  Diamond  .Necklace, 
in  which  In-  declares  Unit  he  found  romance  (as  Browning  did  in  the  story  of  Pom- 
piliu;  <i<nt<  .ip.irt  irom  its  connection  with  Marie  Antoinette.  See  The  Diamond 
Necklace,  c.  1. 

up,  Life  of  Robert  Browning,  p.  21. 

1  In  ins  «ld  age,  he  shows  traces  of  being  so  bizarre  a  thing  as  an  abstract 
police  detective,  writing  at  length  in  letters  and  diaries  his  views  of  certain  criminal 
cases  in  an  Italian  town  '  (Chesterton,  Browning,  p.  85). 

llo.kll  in  o.l'./;.  -17  ;  Chesterton,  Browning,  p.  85  ;  Dowden,  Browning, 
p.  26  :iilin,  Lijf,  p.  L..VI  ;   Kegan  Paul,  Memories,  p.  338. 

I  wrote  as  above  1  liave  discovered  that,  if  the  date  given  by  Professor 
Hall  liriilin  for  the  entry  in  the  diary  is  correct,  Domett's  statement  is  misleading. 
..-b.  3,  1874  '  ;   but  the  summing-up,  which  began  on  January  2u, 
did  not  end  till  February  28. 


6  THE  RING  AND  'THE  BOOK 

they  must  not  only  rise  (so  far  as  they  can)  as  he  rose  ; 
they  must  stoop  as  he  stooped. 

The  Ming  and  the  Booh,  says  M.  Pierre  Berger,  is  of  all 
Browning's  works  celle  qui  represente  le  mieux  toute  la 
puissance,  toute  la  variete  de  son  esprit.  Of  the  poet's 
power  Book  I.  provides  many  striking  examples  ;  take 
for  instance  the  lines  which  describe  the  extent  and  the 
limitations  of  the  possibilities  of  artistic  creation.  His 
variety  is  felt,  not  only  when  we  compare  one  section  of 
the  poem  with  another,  but  within  the  limits  of  particular 
sections — nowhere  more,  perhaps,  than  in  Book  I.  The 
passages  to  which  reference  was  made  at  the  beginning 
of  the  last  paragraph  are  a  good  proof  of  this  variety.  The 
first,  like  some  other  passages  in  Browning,  is  Browningized 
Dickens.  '  We  have  heard ',  wrote  Bagehot,  '  that  Mr. 
Dickens  can  go  down  a  crowded  street  and  tell  you  all 
that  is  in  it,  what  each  shop  was,  what  the  grocer's  name 
was,  how  many  scraps  of  orange  peel  there  were  upon  the 
pavement ' x.  Browning  could  do  the  same,  and  here  he 

X  does  it.  And  then  from  the  life  and  colour  of  central 
Florence,  from  '  buzzing  and  blaze,  noontide  and  market- 
time  ',  from  the  first  rapid  but  absorbing  search  through 
the  pages  of  the  mere  detective  story,  ne  takes  us  into 
'  the  blackness ',  '  the  beauty  and  the  tearfulness  of  night ', 
and,  as  we  stand  beside  him  on  the  Casa  Guidi  balcony, 
reveals  to  us  the  significance  and  the  impressiveness  of 
what  has  become  for  him  '  the  tragic  piece '. 

^  Book  I.  ends  with  the  best-known  passage  in  the  poem, 
•the  dedication  to  the  poet's  dead  wife.  All  readers  of 
poetry  are  haunted  by  its  beauty,  perhaps  also  by  its 
occasional  elusiveness  ;  many  who  have  loved  and  lost 
have  felt  its  poignant  appeal.  As  a  dedication  to  The 
Ring  and  the  Booh  it  is  particularly  appropriate.  Critics 
tell  us  that  Browning's  direct  influence  on  Mrs.  Browning's 
poetry  was  small,  and  that  hers  on  his  was  perhaps  smaller 
still  * ;  we  know  that  it  was  not  their  habit  to  consult 

1  Literary  Studies,  ii.  p.  138. 

2  See  e.g.  P.  Berger,  Robert  Browning,  p.  40.     It  has,  however,  been  supposed 
that  Mrs.  Browning's  direct  influence  can  be  traced  in  tne  poet's  attitude  towards 

—  Christianity  in  Christmas- Eve  and  Easter-Day,  written  at  .Florence  in  1850. — The 
dedication  of  The  Ring  and  the  Book  is  oniy  one  of  many  proofs  that  he  regarded 

—  her  indirect  influence  on  his  poetry  as  immeasurably  great ;    he  felt  that,  as  he 
tells  her,  God  '  best  taught  song  by  gift  of  thee '.    iSee  btopford  Brooke,  Browning, 
p.  354. 


one  ai 


BOOK  L—THE  liINO  AND  THE  BOOK 


one  another  about  poeins  on  which  they  were  engaged, 
ven  to  show  them  to  one  another  x  till  they  were  ready 
to  go  to  press.  The  Yellow  Book  had  been  found,  and 
had  moved  the  poet  most  deeply,  twelve  months  before 
.Mr>.  Browning's  death;  during  those  months  she  wrote 
freely  to  ultimate  friends  about  her  husband's  concerns  ; 
but  she  did  not  allude  to  the  great  find,  possibly  she  had 
barely  heard  of  it2.  For  all  that  her  influence  on  The 
Ring  and  the  Boole,  though  it  was  written  many  years  later, 
was  most  profound  ;  without  her  inspiration,  as  Mrs.  Orr 
has  convincingly  argued,  he  could  never  have  created 
his  Pompilia  3. 

NOTES 

1.  Do  you,  see  this  Ring  ?}  '  Mr.  R.  Barrett  Browning  has  written 
as  follows :  "  The  ring  was  a  ring  of  Etruscan  shape  made  by 
Castellani,  which  my  mother  wore.  On  it  are  the  letters  A  E  1. 

after  her  death  my  father  wore  it  on  his  watch  chain  " 
(Hodell  in  O.  Y.B.  337-8,  note  539).    This  ring  is  now  in  the  Balliol 
College  Library. 

3.  Castellani.]  The  famous  Roman  artist-jewellers,  a  visit  to 
whom,  on  an  interesting  occasion,  Mrs.  Browning  describes  in  a 
letter  (Life  of  Mrs.  Browning,  ii.  p.  354).  Part  of  a  Castellani 
collection  was  purchased  by  the  British  Museum  in  1872-3  ;  another 
part,  including  (says  Ruakin)  '  quite  marvellous  Etruscan  gold  ',  it 
declined  to  purchase  (Ruskin's  Works,  Library  Edition,  xxxvii. 
p.  lUoj.  On  the  delicate  workmanship  required  for  the  reproduction 
of  Etruscan  jewellery  by  the  firm  see  E.  T.  Cook,  Handbook  to  the 
British  Museum,  p.  571. 

-'.'>.  r':i*ri.-<iinn:i:>n.\    See  Introduction  to  Book  I. 

-7.  rond tire ]= circle :  cf.  the  Asolando  volume,  pp.  96,  137. 
Shakespeare,  who  seems  to  have  imported  the  word,  has  both 
'  ronduiv  '  and  '  rounduro'. 

32.  now  for  the  thing  signified.}  What  is  signified  begins  to  appear 
in  141  seqq. 

40.  Mark  the  predestination.]    '  Browning  dedicated  himself  to 

the  picturing  of  humanity  ;    and  he  came  to  think  that  a  Power 

ml  ours  had  accepted  this  dedication,  and  directed  his  work. 

...  He  believed  that  he  had  certain  God-given  qualities  which 


ning  wrote  in  1853 :    '  Robert  is  working  at  a  volume  of  lyrics, 

oi  \vliii-h  1  imv«  seen  but  u  ie\\.  .  .  .  N\  o  neither  of  us  show  our  work  to  one 
-lied    vMrs.  Orr.  Life,  p.  187). 

\i'l>L'ii<li\  1. 
•  rro.lurtion  to  Hook  VII. 


8  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

fitted  him  '  for  the  task  (Stopford  Brooke,  Browning,  p.  402).  His 
sense  of  this  in  relation  to  The  Ring  and  the  Book  appears  again  in 
such  passages  as  520-21,  760-79  below.— In  his  Old  Yellow  Book 
the  poet  wrote  below  his  name :  e/xoi  /mw  &v  Moiva  Kaprepwrarov 
jSAos  d\Kq.  rp£(j>ei  ('for  me  the  Muse  in  her  might  hath  in  store  her 
strongest  shaft '  ;  Pindar,  01.  i.  112).  His  son  wrote  :  '  I  know  he 
thought  The  Ring  and  the  Book  was  going  to  be  his  greatest  work  long 
before  he  had  finished  it '  (Hodell  in  0.  Y.B.  230). 

42.  One  day  still  fierce.]    A  June  day  (see  92  below). 
43-116.]    See  Introduction  to  this  Book. 

43.  Across  a  Square  in  Florence.]    The  Piazza  San  Lorenzo  (line 
92).     On  the  west  side  of  this  Piazza  is  the  ugly  unfinished  fa9ade 
of  the  church  which  gives  it  its  name  ;  east  of  the  church  is  '  Baccio's 
marble '  (line  45),  a  statue  by  Baccio  Bandinelli  of  Giovanni  delle 
Bande  Nere,  the  father  of  Cosimo  I.     The  Riccardi  Palace  (line  48), 
a  corner  of  which  touches  the  Piazza  on  the  N.E.,  was  originally  the 
palace  of  the  Medici  (line  51) ;  it  was  sold  to  the  Riccardi  in  1659, 
and  became  a  Government  office  in  1814.     (The  Riccardi  Palace  of 
The  Statue  and  the  Bust  is  elsewhere.) 

65.  Treading  the  chill  scagliola  bedward.]    Scagliola  is  properly 
'  a  local  name  in  the  Italian  Alps  for  limestones  of  various  colours  * 
(N.E.D.),  but  the  word  is  used  loosely  for  compositions  made  for 
tables,  pillars,  floorings,  and  so  forth.     Mrs.  Browning,  describing 
her  Casa  Guidi  home  in  a  letter,  says  that  the  arms  of  the  last  count 
of  the  Guidi  '  are  in  scagliola  on  the  floor  of  my  bedroom  '  (Life  and 
Letters  of  Robert  Browning,  p.  149). 

66.  two  crazie]  =  l%d.    See  note  on  324  below. 
69.]    See  below,  369. 

73.  that  Joconde.]  Lionardo  da  Vinci's  portrait  of  Mona  Lisa,  La 
Gioconda  (wife  of  the  artist's  friend  Francesco  del  Giocondo).  The 
story  of  the  recent  theft  of  this  masterpiece  from  the  Louvre  and  of 
its  subsequent  recovery  is  well  known. 

77.  Spicikgium.]    Italian  spicilegio,  collection  of  extracts  (by 
derivation,  gleaning  of  ears  of  corn). 

78.  the  Frail  One  of  the  Flower.]    La  Dame  aux  Camellias,  by 
Alexandre  Dumas  the  younger,  first  published  in  1850. 

92.  June  was  the  month],  and  1860  was  (probably  or  perhaps 
certainly)  the  year  ;  see  Appendix  I. 

110-11.  from  written  title-page  To  iwitten  index.}  The  title-page 
and  the  '  index '  (indice,  i.e.  table  of  contents)  of  the  Yellow  Book 
were  written,  no  doubt,  by  Cencini,  the  collector  of  the  documents  ; 
a  translation  of  the  title-page  is  given,  more  or  less  '  word  for  word  ' 
(132),  by  the  poet  below.  He  evidently  wrote  these  lines  without 
referring  to  the  Yellow  Book,  for  the  '  index '  will  be  found  there, 
not  at  the  end,  but  immediately  after  the  title-page  ;  see  the  note  on 
119  below. 

112.]    Browning's  walk  home  to  Casa  Guidi  from  the  Piazza  San 


BOOK  I. —THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK          9 

Lorrn/o  may  he  followed  OH  the  map.     'The  Pillar'  is  in  the  Piazza 
of  bh  I  ilnita,  do-    to  'the  Bridge'  of  the  same  name;   it 

was  taken  from  tin-  Hat  hs  of  Caracalla  at  Rome  to  commemorate  t  h< 
victories  of  Cosimo  I.  (c.  1565). 

119.  Print  three -fifths,  tvritten  supplement  the  rest.]  A  very 
strange  inaccuracy  ;  of  the  262  pages  of  the  Yellow  Book  not  more 
than  14  are  written.  See  the  note  on  110-11. 

122.  Position.]    Italian  Posizione,  i.e.  setting-forth. 

129-31.  Wherein  it  is  disputed,  etc.]  This  summary  of  the 
'  criminal  cause '  shows  the  bias  of  the  writer  of  the  title-page  (see 
note  on  1 10- 1 1 ),  who  was  a  Florentine  lawyer  professionally  interested 
in  Guido's  affairs  (see  the  letters  in  O.  Y.B.  ccxxxv.-xli.,  E.L.  235-8). 

136.  a  Latin  cramp  enough.]  For  'cramp'  see  Pippa  Passes,  I. : 
'  instead  of  cramp  couplets,  each  like  a  knife  in  your  entrails,  he 
should  write  both  classically  and  intelligibly ' ;  Aristophanes' 
Apology,  p.  130,  '  cramp  phrase,  uncouth  song  '.  Ruskin  speaks  of 
'  the  cramp  Thucydides ',  of  '  much  cramp  mathematics  and  useless 
chemistry  ',  of  '  a  lot  of  work  in  cramp  perspective '. 

138.  interfilleted  with  Italian  streaks.]  The  Italian  parts  of  the 
Yellow  Book  arc  the  title-page  and  '  index ',  the  depositions  of 
witnesses,  three  letters,  and  two  pamphlets. 

141-4.]  See  458  seqq.  below  and  cf.  The  Two  Poets  of  Croisic, 
cm.: — 

But  truth,  truth,  that's  the  gold  !  and  all  the  good 

I  find  in  fancy  is,  it  serves  to  set 
Gold's  inmost  glint  free,  gold  which  comes  up  rude 

And  rayless  from  the  mine.     All  fume  and  fret 
Of  artistry  beyond  this  point  pursued 

Brings  out  another  kind  of  burnish  :  yet 
Always  the  ingot  has  its  very  own 
Value,  a  sparkle  struck  from  truth  alone. 

146.  summed -up  circumstance.]  The  Yellow  Book  contains 
three  Summaria,  consisting  of  depositions  and  the  like  ; '  two  of  these 
were  produced  by  the  prosecution,  one  by  the  defence. 

154.  nowise  out  of  it.]  Incorrect.  The  advocates  often  refer  to 
evidence  which  had,  apparently,  been  printed  but  is  not  to  be  found 
in  the  Yellow  Book. 

Hi.").  'Twas  the  so-styled  Fisc  began.]    Criminal  prosecutions  were 

conducted  by  the  Advocate  and  the  Procurator  of  the  Fisc  (often 

called  'tin-  Fiso1  in  the  records),  who  at  the  time  of  the  trial  were 

iiii  and  Gambi.    For  the  distinction  between  Advocate  and 

Procurator  see  note  on  VIII.  276. 

Browning  appears  to  be  mistaken  in  supposing  that  the  Fisc 
pleadings  ;  see  note  on  VIII.  68.  But  some  passages 
in  the  defending  advocate's  'Argument  the  First'  suggest  that  the 
rosecution  had  already  been  outlined. 


10  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

169.  jive  .  .  .  what  we  call  qualities  of  bad.]  Six  qualitates  (i.e. 
aggravating  circumstances)  of  Guide's  crime  were  alleged  by  the 
prosecution  ;  see  note  on  VIII.  1108-1455. 

173.  Count  Guido  Franceschini.]  Very  likely  Guido  was  a  Count, 
as  Browning  and  Professor  Hodell  say,  but  the  records  do  not  so 
describe  him.  The  word  which  Hodell  translates  '  Count '  is  in- 
variably dominus,  which  is  applied  in  the  Yellow  Book  to  men  of 
all  sorts  and  conditions,  e.g.  to  Caponsacchi  and  to  Pietro  (0.  Y.B. 
civ.). 

177.  Patron  of  the  Poor.]  Guido  was  defended  by  Arcangeli, 
Procurator  (or  Patron)  of  the  Poor  (of.  VIII.  1529),  and  Spreti, 
Advocate  of  the  Poor. 

178-9.  Official  mouthpiece  —  to  fee  a  better.]  Spreti  remarks 
of  himself  and  of  the  Advocate  of  the  Fisc  :  '  He,  like  myself  also, 
ought  solely  to  seek  the  truth  and  to  be  its  advocates,  as  being  both 
of  us  officials  of  the  Prince'  (O.Y.B.  cxxxviii.,  E.L.  143-4).  Sir 
F.  Treves  (The  Country  of  '  The  Ring  and  the  Book ',  p.  80)  quotes 
from  a  contemporary  Relatione  della  Corte  di  Roma  :  '  The  Advocate 
of  the  Poor  has  charge  to  write  free  of  cost  for  all  poor  and  needy 
persons '.  The  same  thing  was  evidently  true  of  the  Procurator  of 
the  Poor. 

It  does  not  follow  that,  as  Browning  says,  Arcangeli  only  appeared 
as  '  mouthpiece '  for  Guido  and  his  confederates  because  they  were 
'  too  poor  to  fee  a  better '.  Both  he  and  his  colleague  Spreti  were 
considered  to  have  shown  '  much  erudition  '  in  the  trial  (0.  Y.B.  213, 
E.L.  265);  the  poet  makes  Guido  admit  that  his  advocates  were 
'  capital  o'  the  cursed  kind'  (XI.  72) — '  Look  at  my  lawyers ',  he  says, 
'  lacked  they  grace  of  law,  Latin  or  logic  ?  '  (XI.  1757-8) ;  and 
Arcangeli  (XII.  287) '  lowly  begs  the  next  commands  '  of  his  family. 
In  Browning's  Cenciaja  a  wealthy  noble,  accused  of  matricide,  is 
considered  fortunate  because  he  has  '  gained  for  his  defence  The 
Advocate  o'  the  Poor'. 

J  86.  Reward  him  rather  !]  Arcangeli  does  not  go  so  far  as  this  ; 
he  only  asks  for  a  mitigation  of  the  murder-penalty. 

205.  portentousest.]  Browning  uses  the  ^ugerlajave  inflec- 
tion more  freely  than  other  modern  writers  (except  perhaps 
Carlyle),  more  freely  even  than  Shakespeare.  He  affects  it  especi- 
ally in  adjectives  ending  in  '  -ous  '  ;  he  writes  for  instance  '  atro- 
ciousest',  '  beauteousest ',  '  deliciousest ',  'dubiousest ',  'famousest' 
(so  Milton),  'heinousest',  'hideousest',  'irreligiousest',  'preciousest', 
'sagaciousest',  '  strenuousest '.  Shakespeare  gives  the  inflection 
to  participles,  e.g. '  lyingest ', '  daring' st ',  '  willing' st ',  and  Browning 
writes  '  rnovingest ',  '  whimperingest',  '  sneaking' st '  ('the  sneak  - 
ing'st  crew  I  e'er  despised ' — Colombe's  Birthday,  Act  III.). 

215-16.  a  firebrand  at  each  fox's  tail,  etc.]    Judges  xv.  4,  5. 

222.  Solon  and,  his  Athenians.]  O.Y.B.  x.,  Ixxvii.,  E.L.  12.  84  ; 
cf.  VIII.  570-71. 


BOOK  l.—THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK         11 

!'_>:;.  I  he  code  Of  Romulus  and  Rome.}  O.Y.B.  x.,  E.L.  12;  cf. 
VI 11.  572-3. 

221.  modem    l'><d<l<\   Hurtolo.}     Eminent   Italian  jurists  of  the 
fourteenth  eeiitury  ;  O.Y.B.  xiv.,  xxxviii.,  clxxxi.,  E.L.  16,  36, 187. 
In  Xll.  3til  Arcanguli  is  represented  as  'straining  every  mi 
to  make  his  son  '  a  Bartolus-cum-Baldo  for  next  age '. 

220-7. 1     E.g.  O.Y.B.  x.,  xiv.,  E.L.  12,  15  ;  cf.  VIII.  574. 

227  -S.  do  tiomething-or-other.]  DeAdulteriis.  See  note  on  VIII. 
570-74. 

230.  That  nice  decision  of  Dolabella.]    O.  Y.B.  xxii.,  E.L.  22.     In 
VIII.  914-49  Browning  quotes  Arcangeli's  account   of   the  case 
which  Dolabella  decided. 

231.  That  pregnant  instance  of  Theodoric.]    O.Y.B.  xxvii.,  E.L. 
28.     Sri-  note  on  VIII.  482-7. 

232.  Ifiat  choice  example  Mian  gives.]     O.Y.B.  cxiv.,  E.L.  149  ; 
cf.  VIII.  511-18 ;  the  example  is  (I  think)  given  only  once  (not 
'  much  insisted  on ' )  in  the  records.     It  comes  from  ^Elian's  treatise 
wepi  iVwv  idi6rT7Tos  (cited  as  Hisloria  Animalium),  xi.  15. 

241.  wrangled,  brangled,  jangled.]  See  note  on  IX.  1039-40.  '  To 
brangle  ',  which  properly  means  *  to  shake  ',  has  been  used  for  '  to 
quarrel '  since  the  sixteenth  century,  through  the  influence  perhaps 
of  '  brabble  '  (see  note  on  IV.  10)  and  k  wrangle  '  (N.E.D.). 

— .  a  month.  J  The  proceedings  began,  according  to  the  records, 
'  in  the  current  month  of  January '  ;  according  to  Browning,  on 
January  5,  before  Pompilia's  death.  Judgment  was  given  on 
February  18. 

248-9.]  The  court  was  not  called  upon  to  make,  and  did  not  in 
fact  make,  any  such  pronouncement  when  it  declared  Guido  guilty. 
It  was  only  after  his  execution,  when  Pompilia's  representative 
wished  to  give  effect  to  her  will,  that,  by  an  Instrumentum  Xententice 
Definitives  (August-September  1698),  it  restored  *  the  good  name 
and  reputation  of  Francesca  Pompilia '. 

257-8. J  O.Y.B.  ccxxxv.-xl.,  E.L.  235-8;  see  Introduction  to 
Book  Xll. 

201-5.]  What  *  minor  orders '  Guido  had  taken  is  not  stated  in 
the  records.  The  '  nrst  tonsure  '  was  not  an  order,  but  a  necessary 
sign  am  destinationis  ad  ordinem ;  it  was  given  to  mere  boys  who 
thncby  became  'clerks'  but  not  ecclesiastics.  The  four  minor 
:a'(ot  porters,  readers,  exorcists,  acolytes)  conteried  the  hem-lit 
of  clergy,  but  did  not  impose  celibacy  ;  cf.  what  Guido  says  in  V. 
20U-73  :— 

I  assumed 
Three  or  four  orders  of  no  con 

v  cast  out  evil  spirits  and  exor« 
example ;  bind  a  man  to  nothing  more, 
al  flavour  to  hia  layman's-aalt. 

,n;ij.»i    .M  .   subdeacou,  deacon,   pi 


12  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

the  Doctrina  de  Sacramento  Ordinis  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  c.  2 
(Mirbt,  Quellen  zur  Geschichte  des  Papstthums,  p.  246). 

Browning's  '  presbyter,  Primce  tonsurce,  subdiaconus,  Sacerdos ' 
is  a  strange  jumble  ;  he  makes  a  lawyer,  arguing  to  an  ecclesiastical 
court,  mix  up  the  first  tonsure  with  the  major  orders,  and  speak  as 
though  a  presbyter  were  not  a  sacerdos.  What  the  lawyer  should 
here  have  named,  with  (and  after)  the  first  tonsure,  was  of  course 
the  minor  orders. 

271-5.]  The  '  zealous  orator '  was  Ugolinucci,  one  of  Cencini's 
correspondents  (see  Introduction  to  Book  XII.),  who  says  that 
when  the  court  determined  to  await  proofs  of  Guido's  chiericato 
his  '  good  friends  began  to  breathe  again '  (0.  Y.B.  ccxxxix.,  E.L. 
238). 

285.  the  Emperor's  envoy.]  Martinez  ;  see  XII.  94-9  and  note 
on  XI.  2279. 

287.  Civility.]    See  note  on  II.  1473. 

295.  how  short  of  shine.]    See  note  on  1373  below. 

297.  nay,  read  Herodotus.]  He  will  tell  you  that  nemesis 
attends  great  prosperity  and  great  expectations,  e.g.  in  his  stories  of 
Croesus,  Xerxes,  Polycrates. 

300-3.]    See  Appendix  VII.  and  the  note  on  X.  384-7. 

301.]    On  the  Pope's  age  see  note  on  X.  166. 

307.  Those  Jansenists,  re -nicknamed  Molinists l.]  For  the 
Molinists,  to  whom  there  are  over  thirty  references  in  the  poem,  see 
Appendix  VIII.  The  Jansenists,  named  after  Cornelius  Jansen 
(1585-1638),  Bishop  of  Ypres,  held  semi-Calvinistic  opinions  con- 
cerning Free  Will,  and  hinted  at  limits  to  papal  infallibility  ;  their 
doctrines,  as  stated  in  their  founder's  Augustinus,  were  pronounced 
heretical  and  abominable  by  Innocent  X.,  at  the  instance  of  the 
Jesuits,  in  1653  (see  Mirbt,  Quellen,  pp.  295-6),  and  were  also  con- 
demned by  his  successors  ;  hence  Guido  in  XI.  1781  calls  Jansen  to 
witness  ('Ask  Jansenius  else!')  that  papal  pretensions  have 
'grown  beyond  Earth's  bearing'.  There  were  affinities  between 

1  The  Molinists  of  The  Ring  and  the  Book,  who,  says  Browning,  were  merely 
Jansenists  re-named,  must  not  be  confused  with  the  more  famous  Molinists  who 
were  bitter  enemies  9f  the  French  Jansenists  in  the  eighteenth  century ;  their 
quarrels,  wrote  Voltaire,  '  have  done  more  harm  to  the  Christian  religion  than 
could  have  been  done  by  four  emperors  like  Julian '  (see  Morley's  Voltaire,  c.  v. 
§  1;  cf.  Cambridge  Modern  History,  viii.  pp.  9,  12).  These  latter  Molinists 
adhered  to  _the  tenets  of  the  Spanish.- J.esuit  Molina,  refecting  the  Jansienist 
doctrine  of  predestinatlSSTas  appears  from  an  epigram  quoted  by  Boswell  in  his 
Life  of  Dr.  Johnson  (year  1778).  During  the  free-will  controversy  between  the 
sects  a  charming  young  lady  'appeared  at  a  masquerade  habiltte  en  Jesuite', 
and  the  epigrammatist  remarked : 

On  s'&onne  id  que  Caliste 
Ait  pris  I'habit  de  Moliniste. 

Puisque  cette  jeune  beaute 

dte  a  chacun  sa  liberte", 
N'est-ce  pas  une  Jansdniste  ? 


BOOK  T.—THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK         13 

their  temper  of  mind  and  Molinist  passivity,  but  it  is  rather,  perhaps, 
because  the  Papacy  adopted  the  same  attitude  towards  them  both 
th  it  the  Molinists  are  here  spoken  of  as  Jansenists  under  a  new 
name. 

309-14.]  In  the  intervals  of  leisure  between  one  task  and  the 
next  people  like  to  have  something  to  find  fault  with.  But  why 
are  such  intervals  described  as  '  'twixt  work  and  whistling -while  *  ? 
'  Whistling -while ',  one  would  have  supposed,  would  itself  be  a  time 
of  leisure,  but  it  seems  to  be  a  tertium  quid. 

318.  he  peeled  off,  etc.]    See  ITI.  1475  and  Appendix  VII. 

324.  His  wen  meal  costs,  etc.]  If  this  was  so,  he  was  almost  as 
abstemious  as  his  most  abstemious  predecessor.  When  Burnet, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  visited  Rome  during  the  reign  of 
Innocent  XL,  in  1685, '  one  assured  me  *,  he  wrote, '  that  the  expence 
of  his  [Innocent  XL's]  Table  did  not  amount  to  a  Crown  a  Day  ; 
tho'  this  is  indeed  short  of  Sisto  V.,  who  gave  Order  to  his  Steward, 
never  to  exceed  five  and  twenty  Bajokes,  that  is,  eighteen  pence  a 
Day,  for  his  Diet '  (Some  Letters,  pp.  248-9). 

— .  fivecarlines.]  The  carlino  was  a  small  Neapolitan  silver  coin, 
worth  about  4d. ;  it  is  said  to  owe  its  name  to  Charles  of  Anjou, 
.kin?  of  the  two  Sicilies  (1266-85). 

Before  the  Union  of  Italy  the  coins  of  different  Italian  govern- 
ments were  current  throughout  the  peninsula.  Browning  mentions 
as  current  at  Rome  during  the  reign  of  Innocent  XII.,  besides  the 
Papal  scudo  (=5  francs),  paolo  and  baiocco  (fa  and  ^  of  a  scudo 
respectively),  the  Venetian  zecchino,  the  Neapolitan  carlino  and  the 
Tuscan  (?)  crazia ;  his  persons  also  talk  of  ducats  (Neapolitan), 
dollars  (=thalers,  originally  Bohemian)  and  doits  (Dutch);  the 
doit  is  with  them,  as  with  Shakespeare,  a  conventional  expression 
for  a  sum  of  negligible  value.  The  poet  also  speaks  of  the  Tuscan 
>  (the  equivalent  of  the  Papal  baiocco)  and  of  the  Piedmontese 
lira  as  current  at  Florence  in  1860. 

346.  with  his  particular  chirograph.]  0.7.5.  ccxxxv.,  E.L.  235  : 
con  Chirographo  particolare,  i.e.  by  a  special  order  in  his  own  hand- 
writing. 

350-60.]  Browning  lays  much  stress  on  this  alleged  *  substitu- 
tion *  of  the  Piazza  del  Popolo  for  the  '  bridge-foot  close  by  Castle 
'lo  *  as  the  place  of  the  execution  of  Guido  and  his  companions  ; 
cf.  X.  2108-14,  XII.  106-9,  147-9,  310-13.  His  Pope  says  that  he 
makes  tho  change  from  an  unfashionable  to  a  fashionable  quarter 
in  order  that  Guide's  peers, '  the  quality ',  may '  see,  fear,  and  learn ' ; 
his  Venetian  of  rank  regards  it  '  as  a  conciliatory  sop  to  the  mob ', 
a  'in  malice  *  ;  his  Arcangeli  stigmatizes  it  as  *  indecent  *  and 
due  to  spite '. 

The  poet  learnt  that  the  executions  took  place  in  the  Piazza  del 

Popolo  from  the  Secondary  Source  (O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  265 ;   cf.  the 

Browning  pamphlet,  O.Y.B.  '2'2\.  /.'./,.  280),  but  no  one  in  the 


14  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Yellow  Book  speaks  of  an  *  indecent  change '  or  of  any  change  at 
all ;  the  place  of  the  executions  is  not  even  mentioned  in  any  of  the 
three  letters  written  immediately  after  them  to  Cencini. 

In  his  Cenciaja  Browning  records  that  just  a  century  before 
Guido  the  unfortunate  Marchese  dell'  Oriolo 

had  his  head  cut  off 

In  Place  Saint  Angelo,  beside  the  Bridge, 
With  Rome  to  see,  a  concourse  infinite. 

350.  head-and-hanging-place.]  Cf.  V.  84,  86 ;  Measure  for 
Measure,  2.  1.  250-51,  *  heading  and  hanging',  'head  and  hang'. 

351.]  The  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian,  which  became  a  fortress  in 
A.D.  423,  and  got  its  name  of  St.  Angelo  from  an  incident  in  the  life 
of  Gregory  the  Great  (see  note  on  X.  1011),  is  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Tiber.  You  cross  to  it  by  Hadrian's  Pons  Aelius  (Ponte 
S.  Angelo). 

357.]  '  The  gate '  is  the  Porta  del  Popolo,  the  northern  gate  of 
Rome  ;  '  the  church  '  adjacent  to  it  is  S.  Maria  del  Popolo. 

358.  the  Pincian  gardens  green  with  spring. ]  An  anachronism. 
The  Pincian  Hill,  which  rises  steeply  behind  the  east  side  of  the 
Piazza  del  Popolo,  is  now  laid  out  in  beautiful  gardens,  but '  all  that 
land  was  but  a  grass-grown  hillside,  crowned  by  a  few  small  and 
scattered  villas  and  scantily  furnished  with  trees,  until  the  beginning 
of  the  present  [i.e.  the  nineteenth]  century'  (Marion  Crawford, 
Ave  Roma  Immortalis,  i.  p.  259).  '  Till  c.  1840  a  deserted  waste  ' 
(Hare,  Walks  in  Rome,  i.  p.  27). 

There  is  a  further  anachronism,  as  Sir  F.  Treves  shows  (pp.  148-9  ; 
see  also  his  Plate  24),  in  Browning's  description  of  the  Piazza  as  a 
gay  '  cavalcading  promenading  place '  (line  356)  in  1698  ;  it  was 
then  '  emphatically  a  Piazza  of  the  People  '.  Bishop  Burnet,  who 
visited  Rome  in  1685,  mentions  the  '  Noble  Obelisk '  and  '  a  Vast 
Fountain '  (Some  Letters,  p.  237) ;  Browning's  fountains  (line  359) 
are  of  later  date. 

361-2.  my  writer  adds,  etc.]  '  Pitied  by  all  men  of  honour  and  by 
good  men  ',  says  Arcangeli ;  *  pitied  by  every  galanV  uomo  ',  says 
del  Torto  (Letters  to  Cencini). 

370-72.]    See  66  above. 

39-1.  a  lone  villa.]    See  Appendix  "II. 

410.  British  Public,  ye  who  like  me  not.]  Cf.  1379  below,  and 
contrast  XII.  835,  '  British  Public,  who  may  like  me  yet '. — In  the 
winter  of  1860-61,  a  few  months  before  her  death,  Mrs.  Browning 
wrote  bitterly  of  the  treatment  of  her  husband  by  the  British  Public, 
which  she  called  an  '  infamy '  ;  its  '  blindness,  deafness  and  stupidity 
to  Robert  are  ',  she  said, '  amazing  '  ;  and  she  added, '  it  affects  him, 
naturally  '  (Mrs.  Orr,  Life  of  Robert  Browning,  pp.  233-4).  In  1864, 
when  Book  I.  of  the  poem  was  probably  written,  the  public  was  still 
in  much  the  same  mood — it  still  '  liked  him  not '  ;  but  Dramatis 


BOOK  I.— THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK          I .", 


Persona,  published  in  that  year,  widened  the  circle  of  his  admirers 
— a  second  «lition  of  the  book  was  soon  called  for1.  In  1868  the 
hope  which  lie  in  Hook  XTT.  that  the  public  might  Mike 

him  yet  '  was  evidently  shared  by  his  publishers  ;  the  appearance  in 
that  year  of  the  well-known  six-volume  edition  of  his  collected 
poems  enhanced  his  nascent  popularity.  After  the  generally 
enthusiast  ie  reception  of  his  magnum  opus  in  the  winter  of  1868-9 
hi-*  reputation  was  firmly  established  ;  no  one  with  any  claims  to 
bo  literary  could  any  longer  pass  him  by. 

423.  I  took  my  book  to  Rome  first.]  See  the  second  paragraph  of 
Appendix  I. 

429.  Everyone  snickered.']  Everyone  in  Browning,  I  think, 
*  snickers '  (see  e.g.  VII.  1277,  The  Two  Poets  of  Croisic,  CXLII., 
F 'Hippo  Baldinucci),  except  Mr.  Hiram  H.  Horsefall,  who  '  sniggers  ' 
like  other  people  (Mr.  Sludge,  ad  fin.). 

433.  The  rap-and-rending  nation.]  The  occupation  of  Rome  by 
the  French  lasted  (with  a  short  break  in  1867)  from  their  successful 
siege  of  the  city  in  1849  till  1870  ;  their  garrison  was  withdrawn  after 
the  battle  of  Sedan  in  the  September  of  that  year.  I  don't  know  that 
there  is  any  ground  for  the  suggestion  that  they  burnt  records  either 
during  the  siege  or  afterwards.— For  '  rap  and  rend ',  which  the 
N.E.D.s&ys  was  'common  in  the  16th  and  17th  centuries',  cf. 
Fifine  at  the  Fair,  Epilogue  :  '  make  and  mend,  or  rap  and  rend '. 

433-5.]  Browning  was  naturally  suspect  to  papal  officials.  He 
professed  to  be  unconscious  of  hostility  to  the  Roman  Church  as 
such  (see  Chesterton,  Browning,  pp.  187-8),  but  'some  traces  of 
something  like  a  subconscious  hostility',  to  say  the  least,  may  be 
found  in  his  poetry  (e.g.  '  Rome's  gross  yoke',  Christmas-Eve,  XT.), 
and  many  a  *  gird  at  the  Temporality '  (e.g.  the  damning  sentence 
which  ends  his  Cenciaja). 

437-8.  Clean  for  the  Church  .  .  .  does  it  tell  for  once.]  The 
result  of  the  trial  of  Guido  justifies  Browning's  '  submission ',  but 
much  of  the  poem  which  he  was  to  write  about  it  (much  e.g.  of 
Books  VI.  and  X.)  was  to  prove  by  no  means  '  clean  for  the  Church '. 

444-6.]  The  Roman  authorities,  before  allowing  Browning  to 
'  rove  and  rummage '  (427)  among  their  records,  required,  he  says, 
that  he  should  '  mend  his  ways ',  that  he  should  be  *  manned ', '  new- 
manned',  or  'wise-manned',  i.e.  that  he  should  become  a  convert. 
It  was  not  enough  that  one  of  the  eminent  Catholic  priests  upon 
whose  names  he  puns  should  certify  that  he  was  a  genuine  student. 
or  even  that  he  should  promise  to  refrain  from  attacks  upon  the 
Church. 

With  Manning  Browning  was  on  friendly  terms  (Mrs.  Orr,  Life, 

1  Yet  Browning  could  in  1867  still  describe  himself  aa  'the  m.-t  unpopular 
poet  that  ever  was'  (see  Hall  Oritltn.  l.if>,  p.  2^0).  If  i  to  find  him 

writin  Liter  that    'flii-  readers   I   am  :it    I.i-t    |>ri\  ilf_'c>l  \<>  export. 

me  fully  h:ilf-\v:iy  '  .-tii'l  timli'  ith  in  flic  attention  and  sympathy 

I  gratefully  a  'ions,  1872). 


16  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

p.  229).  The  poet  admitted  that  the  career  of  Wiseman  had  sug- 
gested Bishop  Blougraris  Apology  (published  in  1855),  but  insisted 
that  there  was  '  nothing  hostile  in  it '  (Gavan  Duffy,  M y  Life  in 
Two  Hemispheres,  ii.  p.  258 ;  of.  Chesterton,  Browning,  p.  188). 
The  Cardinal,  anyhow,  was  not  seriously  aggrieved ;  he  wrote  a 
'  quite  good-natured '  review  of  Men  and  Women  in  1856,  though  it 
ended  with  the  sentence :  *  If  Mr.  Browning  is  a  man  of  will  and 
action,  and  not  a  mere  dreamer  and  talker,  we  should  never  feel 
surprise  at  his  conversion '  (Hall  Griffin,  Life,  p.  202). 

453.  the  loose  and  large.~\  Cf.  e.g.  506,  '  the  hot  and  dense '. 
{""Browning  carries  the  substantival  use  of  adjectives  further  than 
L  other  poets  ;  he  even  makes  '  gloomy  '  a  substantive. 

459.  lingot.]  Whatever  may  be  the  etymology  of  *  ingot ',  the 
I  of  the  French  lingot,  which  Browning  uses  for  '  ingot '  only  here, 
represents  the  definite  article  as  in  lendemain,  lierre. 

463.]  Cf.  15,  16  above. 

467.  the  djereed]  is  a  wooden  javelin  about  5  ft.  long,  also  the 
game,  '  analogous  to  tilting  at  a  ring  '  (Kenyon),  in  which  it  is  used. 
N.E.D.  quotes  from  Layard ;  '  they  played  the  Jerid  with  their 
long  spears,  galloping  to  and  fro  on  their  well- trained  horses '. 

480.  Over  the  street  and  opposite  the  church.'}  Casa  Guidi,  the 
Brownings'  home  at  Florence,  is  at  the  point  where  the  converging 
Via  Maggio  and  Via  Mazzetta  join  the  Via  Romana,  almost  exactly 
opposite  the  Pitti  Palace.  Browning's  '  terrace  '  or  balcony,  over 
the  Via  Mazzetta,  faces  the  side  of  San  Felice  church  and  gives  a  view 
down  the  Via  Romana  in  the  direction  of  the  Porta  Romana  (499), 
which  is  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away  ('a  bowshot ',  says  Browning, 
498).  There  is  an  interesting  mention  of  this  balcony  in  Phelps, 
Browning :  How  to  know  him,  p.  23.  A  voice  which  reached  Mrs. 
Browning's  ear  through  Casa  Guidi  windows  rose  '  'twixt  church  and 
palace  of  a  Florence  street'  (Casa  Guidi  Windows,  ad  init.). 

It  should  have  been  impossible  for  writers  to  say  that  Browning 
found  his  Yellow  Book  in  1865  (see  Appendix  I.),  for  Browning  never 
lived  at  Casa  Guidi  (or  at  Florence)  after  the  summer  of  1861,  when 
his  wife  died  there. 

490.  that  gold  snow  Jove  rained  on  Rhodes.]    Kenyon  explains  : 

'  the  shower  of  gold  in  which  Jove  visited  Danae ',  but  the  Danae 

legend  (see  III.  439,  note)  has  nothing  to  do  with  Rhodes.     The 

reference  is  to  Iliad,  2.  670  .    '  Kronion  [  =  Zeus]  poured  upon  them 

[the  Rhodians]  marvellous  wealth ' ;    and  more  particularly  to 

Pindar  (01.  7.  34) :  ftp^x6  de&v  pa<n\evs  6  [Jityas  xpuo^cus  VL<f>ddecr<j-i  irb\iv, 

/  *  the  great  king  of  the  gods  rained  golden  snow  upon  the  city ' — 

v.a  legendary  explanation  of  the  wealth  of  Rhodes. 

497-501.]  As  I  understand,  Browning  as  he  stood  on  his  balcony 
on  that  dark  night  cast  his  eyes  W.S.W.  towards  the  Porta  Romana, 
which  leads  to  the  direct  road  from  Florence  to  Rome  ;  then  north- 
wards across  the  Arno  till  in  imagination  he  identified  ('felt ')  the 


BOOK  I.— THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK        17 

AIM  iiiiini  ;  thru  eastwards,  and  then  south-eastwards  towards 
id  Rome. — But  I  am  far  from  certain  that  I  understand  the 
lines  ritjli- 

508.  Castelnuovo.]  The  last  halting-place,  15  miles  from  Rome  ; 
see  note  on  VI.  1398.  At  the  Castelnuovo  inn  Guido  overtook  the 
fugitives. 

511-15.]  'These  lines  can  mean  nothing  else',  wrote  Lord 
Courtney  of  Pen  with  in  The  Times  (February  25,  1909),  '  than  that 
the  three  met  face  to  face  in  the  evening '  at  Castelnuovo  ;  and  he 
proceeded  to  charge  the  poet  with  inconsistency,  because  they  all 
agree  in  saying  (V.  1044-7,  1057  ;  VI.  1514-20  ;  VII.  1580-85)  that 
they  met  there  face  to  face  at  dawn. 

There  is  however  no  inconsistency,  as  Professor  Verrall  pointed 
out ;  the  lines  do  mean  something  else.  Browning  saw  the  place  in 
imagination,  not  at  the  tim<  \\licn  the  three  met,  but  at  sunset  on 
the  previous  evening — at  the  fateful  moment  when  the  two  fugitives 
reached  the  Castelnuovo  inn  and  were  forced  by  Pompilia's  ex- 
haustion to  pass  the  night  there. 

Lord  Courtney  had  called  Browning's  attention  (in  1881)  to  the 
alleged  inconsistency  ;  the  poet  had  answered  politely,  but  when  he 
revised  the  poem  later  (in  1888-9)  he  wisely  left  unaltered  what  Lord 
Courtney  called  his  '  error  '. 

I  rofer  elsewhere  (in  the  note  to  III.  1065-6  and  in  Appendix  XI.) 
to  other  points  in  Browning's  answer  to  Lord  Courtney. 

521.  Deep  calling  unto  deep.]    Psalm  xlii.  7. 

542-3.]    Luke  ii.  29,  30. 

549.  fox-faced  this.]    Cf.  X.  880-81  :— 

This  fox -faced  horrible  priest,  this  brother-brute 
The  Abate. 

~>~)'2.  making  as  they  were  priests.]  Cf.  VI.  1940,  '  makes  as  it 
were  love '. 

Canon  Oirolamo.]    See  note  on  II.  500-503. 
554-5.]     It  docs  not  appear  from  the  records  that  it  was  at  the 
instance  of  bis  brothers  that  Guido  pushed  his  fortunes  at  Rome. 
564.  what  foul  rite.]    See  below,  573-4. 

">t)T.  the  Prince  o'  the  Power  of  the  Air.]  A  designation  of  Satan 
in  Ephesians  ii.  2  ;  see  below,  597,  and  The  Inn  Album,  pp.  Ill,  126. 
'  It  was  the  general  belief  of  St.  Paul's  time  that  through  the  Fall 
the  whole  world  had  become  subject  to  evil  spirits,  who  had  their 
dwelling  in  the  air,  and  were  under  the  control  of  Satan  as  the  ir 

«> '  (Dean  Robinson,  Ephesians,  p.  49). 

~>1'1.  Mopping  and  mowing.]    Both  words  mean  the  same  thing, 
kinir  mouths  ',  *  grimacing  '  ;   they  are  found  together  again  in 
VI.  1940:— 

their  hate 
That  mops  and  mows  and  makes  as  it  were  love, 

0 


18  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

and  in  Aristophanes'  Apology,  p.  8.  So  in  Shakespeare,  Tempest, 
4.  1.  47  (of  Ariel's  '  meaner  spirits '),  King  Lear,  4. 1.  64  (of  Flibberti- 
gibbet). Carlyle  (French  Revolution,  1.  1.  4)  says  of  Louis  XV.'s 
courtiers  during  the  king's  last  illness  that  '  like  mimes  they  mope 
and  mowl '. 

582.  what  of  God  ?]     See  note  on  VII.  300-301. 

585.  like  Saint  George.']  On  the  comparison  of  Caponsacchi  to 
St.  George  see  note  on  III.  1065-6. 

593.  dusk.]  For  *  dusk '  as  adjective  (common  in  poetry)  of. 
Sordello,  I.  391,  III.  122  ;  in  Paracelsus  Browning  has  '  duskest '. 

593  seqq.~\  For  an  interesting  use  of  this  passage  see  Professor 
Raleigh's  Shakespeare,  p.  16. 

593-600.]  Satan,  '  the  Prince  o'  the  Power  of  the  Air '  (cf.  567), 
aims  at  confining  human  life  beneath  a  roof  or  grate  which  will 
prevent  *  God-glimpses ' ;  it  is  the  function  of  his  messenger,  '  the 
angel  of  this  life',  to  see  to  it  that  his  master's  aim  is  realized. 
'  Earth's  roof ',  however,  proves  also  to  be  '  heaven's  floor '  ;  there 
is  in  that  roof  an  outlet  through  which,  in  spite  of  Satan,  we  may 
(with  effort)  reach  that  floor.  (Cf.  The  Inn  Album,  p.  126  :  '  prison- 
roof  Shall  break  one  day  and  Heaven  beam  overhead!') — In 
Browning's  view,  though  there  is  but  a  hint  of  the  thought  here, 
Satan  and  his  messenger  subserve  God's  purpose  ;  if  our  life  was  not 
roofed  over,  if  aspiration  involved  no  striving,  life  would  not  be 
'probation'.  See  note  on  X.  1375  seqq. 

604  seqq.]  All  this  about  the  *  solitary  villa '  and  the  '  lone 
garden- quarter '  is  a  mistake  ;  see  Appendix  II. — On  many  of  the 
incidents  described  here  and  elsewhere  in  Book  I.  I  reserve  comment 
until  we  come  to  fuller  accounts  of  them  in  later  Books. 

611.  were-wolves.]  '  Were  -wolf  '=  German  wahrwolf;  wer  (wdhr) 
=  'man  '  ;  cf.  '  weregild',  money  paid  for  a  man  killed.  There  was 
a  widespread  superstition  that  men  of  ravenous  appetite  might 
prowl  at  night  in  wolfish  form.  Cf.  Greek  Xvnavdpu-n-os,  French 
loup-garou.  See  further  in  Shakespeare's  England,  i.  p.  519. 

631-4.]  Note  in  this  simile  the  splendid  line  633. — Detailed  illustra- 
tions from  Nature  are  infrequent  in  The  Ring  and  the  Book ;  '  the 
human  passion  of  the  matter  is  so  great  that  it  swallows  up 
all  Browning's  interest '  (Stopford  Brooke,  Browning,  p.  105) ;  as 
Landor  somewhere  says,  '  similes ' — he  means  formal  elaborated 
similes — 'sadly  interfere  with  passion'.  Mr.  Brooke  notes  that 
Caponsacchi,  for  instance,  does  not  use  a  single  (detailed)  illustration 
from  nature,  and  that  the  only  person  who  uses  such  illustrations 
is  the  meditative  Pope  ;  for  whose  similes  see  note  on  X.  620  seqq. 

638.  over  Tophet.]  For  Tophet  see  e.g.  Isaiah  xxx.  38.— The 
'  ray  '  of  line  635  transfixed  the  criminals  like  a  spear  ;  it  held  them 
suspended  and  quivering  over  the  mouth  of  the  burning  pit  (653-4) 
until  the  Pope  (648)  decreed  their  doom.  For  the  use  of  '  palpitat- 
ing '  see  III.  1166. 


BOOK  I.— THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK        19 

'ill.  love  as  well  as  make  a  lie.]    But  in  847,  852,  883  the  '  by- 

1  M-S'  of  (H2  ('Half-Rome,'  and  'The  Other  Half-Rome')  are 

said  nicr  aftri  truth*;  theyare  *  honest  enough*  (848,851). 

»>i:,.    / ' ^coursed  the  right  and  wrong.]    Cf.  XI.  243,  'discoursed 
this   platter*.    The  transitive  use  of  the  verb  is  'now  archaic* 
'./>.). 

667  seqq.]    Cf.  417  seqq. 

670.  entablature.}    The  word,  which  in  strictness  means  all  that 

on  the  columns  in  classical  architecture,  including  architrave, 

frieze,  and  cornice,  here  denotes  the  abacus  (see  next  note).     In 

The  Bishop  orders  his  Tomb  the  entablature  is  the  slab  on  which  the 

bishop  is  to  lie  in  effigy.  ,. 

676.  this  abacus.]  The  abacus  is  the  uppermost  member  of  theA 
capital  of  a  column  ;  in  the  Greek  orders,  as  generally  in  Norman  \ 
architecture,  it  is  square  like  the  Old  Yellow  Book  (677).  * 

678.  the  style],  i.e.  the  pillar  (664). 

684.]  Cf.  14-17  above.  'Favoured*  means  ornamented  as 
described  in  16. 

685.  the  re.novating  wash  0'  the  water]  which  effects  the  '  repris- 
ion  '  of  lino  23,  where,  however,  the  agent  in  repristination  is 
'  a  spirt  O'  the  proper  fiery  acid '. 

691.  And  these  are  letters.]  O.Y.B.  ccxxxv.-xli.,  E.L.  235-8  ;  see 
Introduction  to  Book  XII. 

702.  matteolable.]       Malleus  =  '  hammer ',     malleolus  =  '  little 
hammer '  ;    '  malleolable  '  (coined  by  Browning)  is  therefore  more 

ble  here  than  the  usual  'malleable',  the  workmanship  of  the 
poet's  fancy  being  delicate  like  that  required  in  fashioning  an 
Etruscan  ring. 

703.  /  • .« not  mine],  i.e. '  which  was  not  mine '.     In  modern 
sh  the  relative  pronoun  is  of  course  often  omitted  when  it 

would  be  the  object  of  its  clause,  but  rarely  wh^nTt  would  be  its 
subject.     In   Shakespeare   this   latter  omission  is  frequent   (e.g. 
Sonnets  4.  4, '  being  frank  she  lends  to  those  are  free '),  in  Browning  H 
if  i<  perpetual :  it  occurs  for  instance  six  times  in  the  first  75  lines  J 
<>f  Book  IX.    The  reader  will  often  find  in  this  omission  the  solution 
of  his  difficulties  in  long  and  involved  sentences. 

706.  thishow.]    Cf.  '  thiswise  '  (Epilogue  to  Parleyings). 

720-21.]    God's  high  prerogative  of  creating  what  he  conceives 
't  be  delegated  to  man. 

730.  with  too  much  life],  i.e.  with  so  much  fire  in  it  that  it  has 
l>  irnt  itself  out.  The  thought  is  illustrated  by  the  first  paragraph 
of  Book  XII. 

737.  Stationed  for  temple-service.]    The  metaphor  was,  I  suppose, 

suggested  by  *  the  lamp  of  God  in  the  temple  of  the  Lord '  of 

iii'-l  iii.  3,  Exodus  xxvii.  20, 21,  which  was  relighted  daily. — The 

it  forgotten  <>r  Inlf-forirottrn  facts  of  the  past  wliidi 

have  a  value  for  the  present  should  be  revivified. 


20  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

741.  portioned  in  the  scale.]     Cf.  718  above. 

747.  More  insight  and  more  outsight.]  For  the  very  useful  but 
now  disused  word  '  outsight '  N.E.D.  quotes  from  a  writer  of  the 
year  1605 :  '  If  a  man  have  not  both  his  Insight  and  his  Outsight, 
he  may  pay  home  for  his  blindnesse '. 

755-6.  put  old  powers  to  play,  etc.],  i.e.  rouse  to  its  old  activity  the 
now  half -lifeless  matter,  extend  to  their  old  limits  the  outlines  of  the 
now  shrunken  mass,  upon  which  I  '  chance  '  in  my  '  pilgrimage '. 
With  '  to  the  limit '  cf.  X.  484. 

760.  why  Faust  ?  Was  not  Elisha  once  ?]  The  '  mage  '  or  poet 
is  more  fitly  compared  with  Elisha  (2  Kings  iv.  8-37)  than  with 
Faust,  for  it  is  God  who  helps  him. 

769.  to  and  fro  the  house.}  '  Fro '  was  a  preposition  in  Shake- 
speare's time,  but  he  does  not,  I  think,  use  '  to  and  fro  '  preposition- 
ally. 

774.  medicinable.]  Used  actively,  as  in  Othello  (5.  2.  351)  and 
in  Troilus  and  Cressida  (1,  3.  91) :  '  whose  [the  sun's]  medicinable 
eye  Corrects  the  ill  aspects  of  planets  evil'. 

782-4.]  The  description  is  taken,  almost  word  for  word,  from 
the  Secondary  Source,  O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  266:  '  Franceschini  was 
low  of  stature,  thin  and  pallid,  with  prominent  nose,  black  hair,  and 
a  heavy  beard,  and  was  fifty  years  of  age'.  The  last  statement  is 
disproved  by  the  baptismal  records  of  Arezzo,  which  show  that  he 
>  was  just  forty  at  the  time  of  his  execution  (born  in  January  1658). 
See  further  in  the  note  to  II.  291. 

792.  eight  months  earlier],  i.e.  at  the  end  of  April  169tf  ;  the 
murders  took  place  on  January  2,  1698. 

798.  Aged,  they,  seventy  each],  according  to  the  inaccurate 
statement  in  the  Secondary  Source  (0.  Y.B.  213,  E.L.  265) ;  see  note 
on  II.  576. 

806.  Injury  to  his  honour.]    See  note  on  VIII.  424-5. 

816.  crime  coiled  with  connivancy  at  crime.]  The  sentence  is  ill- 
expressed.  The  '  monster '  which  curled  from  Guido's  heart  was 
his  scheme  to  drive  Pompilia  into  misconduct  with  Caponsacchi 
('  connivancy  at  crime '),  and  to  make  the  misconduct  a  pretext  for 
killing  her  ('crime')  on  the  plea  of  injured  honour.  But  the 
'  monster '  which  Guido  alleged  that  Pompilia  '  hatched  and  reared  ' 
was  not,  of  course,  this  ;  it  was  a  resolve  on  her  part  to  be  guilty  of 
the  misconduct. 

819.  a  month.]    See  note  on  241  above. 

832.  he  may  get  to  bear.]    See  note  on  IV.  1541. 

833.  by  voices.]    The  words  depend  on  *  to  judge  '  (825). 

836.  to  all  we  seem  to  hear],  i.e.  apparently,  to  all  that,  when 
we  hear  it,  seems  to  us  to  be  true. 

838-1329.]  Summaries  of  Books  II. -XL  Note  that  each 
summary  is  itself  summarized  in  its  concluding  line  or  lines. 

841.  plump.]    So  in  the  illustrated  edition  ;  probably  a  misprint 


BOOK  I. —THE  RINQ  AND  THE  BOOK        21 

for  '  plumb ',  of  which  '  plump  '  in  the  sense  which  it  has  here  is  a 

in.  ic  modern  softening.     Milton  has  'plumb-down  he  drops/   in  /  *c 

Paradise  Lost,  2.  933.  £x  •  /  >***-  A^y^ 

842-82.]     Summary  of  Book  II. 

844.  Then,  by  vibrations.]    'Then'  is  not  antithetical  to  the 
t  '  of  line  839.     The  world  guesses  (1)  by  the  '  splash ',  (2)  *  by 
vibrations '. 

866.  toith  his  previous  hint.]    See  Introduction  to  Book  II. 

868.  JSacus]  was  in  his  lifetime,  as  king  of  ^Egina,  renowned  for 
his  justice,  and  after  his  death  he  became  one  of  the  three  judges  in 
Hades  (Minos  and  Rhadamanthus  were  the  other  two).  He  is  '  a 
type  of  impartiality '. 

873.  a  certain  spectacle],  viz.  that  described  at  the  beginning  of 
Book  II.,  the  exposure  of  the  bodies  of  Pietro  and  Violante. 

874.  the  church  Lorenzo.]    See  note  on  II.  6. 

875.  the  street],  i.e.  the  small  Piazza  in  Lucina,  which  narrows 
towards  the  Corso ;    its  '  mouth '  is  flanked  by  the  two  palaces 
mentioned.     It  is  *  a  favourite  place  for  the  lounger,  since  it  forms  a 
placid  backwater  to  the  rushing  stream  of  the  Corso '  (Treves,  p.  118). 

883-909.]    Summary  of  Book  III. 

897-903.]    See  notes  on  III.  118  and  462. 

902.  caritellas.]  The  word  might,  I  suppose,  mean  small  figures 
of  the  Graces  (Cariti  =  the  Graces),  but  are  there  any  such  figures 
about  the  Triton-fountain  or  near  it  ?  May  Browning's  «  caritellas  ' 
be  a  misprint  for  *  carretellas ',  the  vehicles  in  which  '  the  motley 
merchandizing  multitude '  of  lino  903  has  come  to  market  ?  * 

904.  three  days  ago.]    See  Introduction  to  Book  III. 

905.  The  frost  is  over  and  gone.]    Browning  pictures  the  murders 
as  occurring  on  a  night  which  was  'oh,  so  cold',  with  snow  falling 
(above,  606-9). 

910-42.]    Summary  of  Book  IV. 
911.  prelusive  still  of  novelty.]    See  above,  894-5. 
925.  clarity  of  candour.]    Beware  of  the  misprint  *  charity  '  in 
the  illustrated  edition  of  the  poem. 

929.  breathing  musk  from  lace-work,  etc.}  Cf.  II.  825,  *  the  musk 
o'  the  gallant ',  VI.  1877.  The  contemporary  Dowager  Lady  Castle- 
wood  shakes  the  rich  aroma  of  musk  out  of  her  garments  whenever 
she  movec  I  i.  3,  ii.  3). 

tndole],  i.e.  branched  chandelier. 

».  for  observance'  sake.]    Does  this  mean  'to  pay  respect  to 
r ',  or  '  to  note  what  he  says ',  or  (as  is  more  probable)  '  to 
observe  the  custom  of  quitting  the  card-table  so  that  others  may 
take  a  hand  '  ? 

1  Since  I  wrote  as  above  Dr.  Ashby  has  referred  me  to  Thomas,  Un  An  d  Rome, 

;>.  39 :  ' let  •  ines  connue*  tout  le nom  de  caratelle '.     Plate 

Hr.  A>hl'.v  trIN  n,f.  >ii,,w.s  tluit  a  ctiratrlla  was  'a  sort  of  p;iir- 


22  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

943-1015.]  Summary  of  Book  V.,  with  a  digression  (981-1014) 
on  the  use  of  torture. 

945-7.]  Browning  has  a  charming  passage  on  the  '  appropriate 
tinge  '  of  tongues  of  flame  '  according  to  its  food  '  in  The  Two  Poets 
o/Croisic  (stanzas  v.-vin.). 

952.  Tommali,  Venturini  and  the  rest.]  Hodell  says  that  'the 
usual  custom  in  the  criminal  law  of  that  day  was  to  try  before  a 
single  judge',  but  admits  that  the  presiding  judge  at  Guido's  trial 
may  '  possibly '  have  been  '  assisted  by  a  board  of  judges '.  This, 
however,  was  certainly  the  case,  for,  though  the  advocates  begin 
their  pleadings  with  the  vocative  singular  lllustrissime  et  Reverendis- 
sime  Domine  (the  Dominus  in  question  is  described  as  Urbis  Guber- 
nator  in  Criminalibus),  they  address  themselves  as  they  proceed  to  a 
board  of  judges  (see  O.Y.B.  xxxvii.,  Ixi.,  clxiv.,  E.L.  37,  65,  172) ; 
cf.  0.  Y.B.  ccxlv.,  E.L.  242,  where,  as  Hodell  notes,  the  sentence  of  the 
Court  is  called '  the  judgment  of  this  Most  Illustrious  Congregation  '. 

Browning  speaks  throughout  of  three  judges  (see  e.g.  VI.  8), 
sitting  with  the  Governor  as  assessors.  For  Tomati  and  Venturini 
see  note  on  IV.  1308-16. 

954  seqq.]    See  Appendix  VI. 

962-8.]  Most  readers,  at  any  rate  at  first  sight,  would  say  that 
the  'fools'  of  962-3  are  the  Comparini,  though  Guido  might  be 
expected  to  call  them  criminals  in  this  context  rather  than  fools. 
They  poured  the  blame  of  their  wrongdoing  upon  Guido,  alleging 
that  his  fraud,  and  not  theirs,  was  the  cause  of  all  the  subsequent 
trouble.  But  the  '  folly  '  of  968,  which  '  calls  black  white ',  seems 
to  be  that  of  the  judges,  who  in  the  Process  of  Flight  practically 
whitewashed  the  defendants  by  imposing  on  them  what  in  Guido's 
view  were  absurdly  inadequate  penalties.  They  thereby  made  it 
necessary  for  him  to  avenge  his  own  honour,  while  yet  they  blame 
him  for  avenging  it.  Since  the  '  folly '  of  968  ought  to  be  that  of 
the  '  fools '  of  962-3,  it  is  possible  that  Guido  is  speaking  of  the 
judges  throughout. — For  some  '  incisive '  (965)  comments  by 
Guido  on  the  judges  see  V.  1852-66. 

963.  Satan-like.]  Satan  blames  Job  in  the  Bible  (Job  ii.),  but 
he  does  not  pour  the  blame  of  his  own  wrongdoing  upon  him. 

979.  the  Cord.]  For  the  Cord,  the  Vigil,  and  other  matters 
relating  to  torture  with  which  the  poem  is  concerned  see  Appendix 
VI. 

98.5.  Religion  .  .  .  Humanity.]  '  Humanity '  here  is  human 
nature,  prompted  by  its  instincts,  but  sanctioned  or  checked  in  its 
actions  by  the  Church  ('  Religion'). 

991.  slave.]    He  was  Religion's  slave  (985-6). 

997.  Let  eye  give  notice,  etc.],  i.e.  allowed  his  eye  to  show  a  flash 
which  suggested  that  there  was  a  soul  behind  it. 

1002-12.]  When  lay  opinion  at  last  denounced  the  use  of  torture 
as  both  vile  and  foolish,  and  '  broke  the  rack  ',  the  Church,  says  the 


BOOK  I.—  THE  KING  AND  THE  BOOK        23 


,  profiled,  haltingly  and  unconvincingly,  that,  though  she 
ini^ht  have  '  forgotten  "^abrogate  it,  she  had  long  since  condemned 
it.  She  was,  howeve^unwilling-^perhapB  she  was  unable  —  to  cite 
chapter  and  verse  to  proTe"ttiat  this  was  so  ;  she  preferred  to  leave 
the  book  of  her  records  closed.  See  further  in  Appendix  VI. 

1016-75.]    Summary  of  Book  VI. 

1017.  the  coil],  i.e.  the  entanglement  caused  by  combining  the 
two  rdles. 

1024-32.]    See  Introduction  to  Book  VI. 

1034.  at.]  'To'  (as  in  III.  1688)  or  'against'  would  be  more 
usual  after  *  excepted  '. 

1040.  To  a  short  distance  for  a  little  time.]  To  Civita  Vecchia  ('  a 
half  dozen  hours'  ride  off  '  —  V.  1339)  for  three  years. 

1052.]    See  note  on  IV.  1308-16. 

1054.  \oaived  recognition],  i.e.  virtually  but  not  expressly  con- 
doned ;  cf.  VI.  9-24. 

1063.  eight  months  since],  i.e.  since  May  1697  ;  Browning  calls 
the  interval  '  six  months  '  in  VI.  7. 

1076-1104.]    Summary  of  Book  VII. 

1081.  the  hireling  and  the  alien.]  Doctors,  lawyers  (1087), 
ecclesiastics,  and  merely  inquisitive  sympathizers  —  '  too  many  by 
half  '  ;  see  III.  39-65.  Attestations  by  various  persons  who 

*  assisted  '  at  Pompilia's  death-bed  were  produced  at  the  trial  (0.  Y.B. 
lvii.-lx.,  E.L.  59-61). 

1085.]  Browning  was  mistaken  about  the  place  of  Pompilia's 
death  ;  see  Appendix  II. 

1105-1219.]  Summary  of  Books  VIII.  and  IX.  ;  of  Book  VIII. 
in  particular  in  1124-61,  of  Book  IX.  in  1162-1219. 

1118.  puissance]  is  here  trisyllabic,  just  as  '  impuissance  '  is 
quadrisyllable  in  Saul,  xvni.,  and  at  least  twice  in  Ferishtah's 
Fancies  ;  but  in  XI.  1007— 

Sire,  you  are  regal,  puissant  and  so  forth  — 

*  puissant  '  is  dissyllabic. 

Shakespeare  has  *  puissant'  dissyllabic  in  Richard  III.  4.  4.  434 
and  in  King  Lear,  5.  3.  216,  and  *  puissance  '  dissyllabic  in  Henry  V. 
3,  Chorus  :  hut  in  the  same  play,  1,  Chorus,  ami  in  King  John,  3.  1. 
339,  the  latter  word  is  trisyllabic. 

N.E.D.  notes  that  both  words  are  always  dissyllabic  in  Milton, 
but  often  trisyllabic  in  other  poets  ;  '  puissance  '  trisyllabic  is 
especially  common  in  Spenser  (who  however  has  '  puissant  '  dis- 
"<•  in  Faery  Queene,  4.  15)  and  occurs  in  Tennyson. 

1  122.  too  immense  an  odds]  against  the  '  helplessness  '  of  '  common 
sense'  (1107). 

1128-59.1  A  long  but  easy  sentence.  The  'how'  of  1128  is 
"ird  in  1  !:•>,  and  in  1  147,  iu  which  latter  line  it  finds  a  verb  at 
tot, 


24  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1139.  efficacious  personage],  i.e.  cardinal ;  see  note  on  III.  1471, 
'  the  efficacious  purple  '. 

1151.  whiffles],  i.e.  puffs  forth  ;  the  word  is  used  for  the  allitera- 
tion ('wheezes  law  .  .  .  whiffles. Latin'). 

1153.  levigate.]  The  Latin  levigare,  like  the  English  verb,  has  the 
two  senses  of  (1)  'to  make  smooth '  and  (2),  in  chemistry,  ' to  reduce 
to  powder'.  N.E.D.  quotes  the  present  passage  as  a  solitary  in- 
stance of  the  figurative  use  in  sense  (2).  In  Christmas-Eve,  xvin. 
'  levigable  '  is  similarly  used  : 

when  the  Critic  had  done  his  best, 
And  the  pearl  of  price,  at  reason's  test, 
Lay  dust  and  ashes  levigable 
On  the  Professor's  lecture-table. 

1159.  As  he  had.]  The  use  of  '  as '  for  '  as  if ',  common  in  poetry, 
is  specially  common  in  Browning,  where  it  sometimes  causes  a 
difficulty  in  long  sentences.  The  choice  between  the  two  is  simply 
dictated  by  convenience,  as  in  Shelley,  The  Cenci,  Act  I.  Sc.  2  : 

you  look  on  me 

As  you  were  not  my  friend,  and  as  if  you 
Discovered  that  I  thought  so. 

See  note  on  III.  754. 

1163.  Leaving  yourselves  fill  up].  For  the  omission  of  '  to  '  after 
'  leaving  '  cf.  XL  342,  646. 

1165.  clap  we  to  the  close.]  'Clap  we'  =  'let  us  pass  straight 
away '  ;  cf.  Measure  for  Measure,  4.  3.  43  ('  Truly,  Sir,  I  would 
desire  you  to  clap  into  your  prayers  ;  for,  look  you,  the  warrant's 
come  '),  As  you  like  it,  5.  3.  11,  Much  Ado,  3.  4.  44. 

1174.  To-morrow  her  persecutor.]  See  XII.  664-735.  The 
'  Fisc ',  which  prosecuted  Guido  in  the  murder- trial,  afterwards 
supported  the  claim  of  the  Convertites  to  inherit  Pompilia's  property, 
made  on  the  ground  that  she  had  been  a  loose  woman.  But  there 
is  no  evidence  that  Bottini  took  part  in  these  latter  proceedings ; 
it  appears  from  the  legal  documents  (O.Y.B.  cclx.,  E.L.  253)  that 
in  them  the  Fisc  was  represented  by  Gambi,  its  Procurator. 

1182-95.]  On  Browning's  characterization  of  Bottini  see  Intro- 
duction to  Book  IX.  The  present  passage  is  perplexing.  How 
did  Bottini  combine  caution  and  rashness  ?  In  what  respects  did 
he  resemble  the  wrecker  to  whom  he  is  compared  ?  How,  precisely, 
is  the  supposed  wrecker  supposed  to  act  ? — 'Caution',  it  will  be 
observed,  commends  '  Rashness '  for  being  cautious. 

1201.  scrannel  pipe.]  'Scrannel',  in  the  sense  of  'strident', 
occurs  again  in  VI.  1000.  The  word  is  familiar  from  its  use  in 
Lycidas  (line  124,  '  their  scrannel  pipes  of  wretched  straw '),  where 
Milton  imitates  Virgil's  stridenti  stipula ;  its  origin  is  uncertain. 


BOOK  L—THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK        25 

1202.  studio.]  The  Italian  word,  like  the  French  tiude,  is  used  of 
a  lawyer's  ofli< 

1207.  Forum  and  Mars'  Hill]  His  'studio'  is  his  only  audi- 
torium- his  Forum  and  Areopagus. 

IL'U'.I.  Olctveciniet],  i.e.  harpsichord-player. 

1214-15.  From  old  Corelli  to  young  Haendel.]  Corelli,  the  famous 
violinist  and  composer,  was  born  in  1653,  Handel  in  1684.  Handel 
was  not  '  i'  the  flesh  at  Rome  '  in  1698.  He  had  wished  as  a  boy  to 
go  to  Italy,  but  '  could  not  find  the  means ' ;  he  first  went  there, 
and  became  intimate  with  Corelli  at  Rome,  in  1706.  See  Hubert 
Parry,  Studies  of  Great  Composers,  pp.  27-33. — Having  adopted 
1  lundel  we  have  long  ceased  to  modify  his  '  a  '  ;  to  his  contemporary 
Addison  he  was  '  Minheer  Hendel '  (Spectator,  No.  5). 

1219.  vindicates  Pompilid1 s  fame.]    See  Introduction  to  Book  IX. 
1220-71.]    Summary  of  Book  X. 
1222.]    See  X.  236  and  Appendix  VII. 
1225.]    On  the  pope's  age  see  note  on  X.  166. 
1250.  a  huge  tome,  etc.]   The  tome  is  a  MS.  history  of  the  Popes  ; 
see  the  opening  lines  of  Book  X. 

1272-1329.]    Summary  of  Book  XI. 

1273-4.  skin  for  skin,  etc.]  Job  ii.  4.  '  The  meaning  apparently 
is  :  a  man  will  sacrifice  one  part  of  his  body  to  save  another,  an  arm, 
for  instance,  to  save  his  head  ;  and  he  will  similarly  give  all  that  he 
has  to  save  his  life  '  (Driver). 

1275-6.  gainable,  And  bird -like  buzzed.]  An  improvement  in 
two  respects  on  the  '  gainable,  free  To  bird-like  buzz  '  of  the  earlier 
editions ;  as,  for  another  reason,  *  shone '  is  an  improvement  on 
1  come '  in  1281. 

1279.  rivelled]= shrivelled:  in  Troilus  and  Cressida  (5.  1.  26)  it 
means  '  wrinkled '. 

1284.  that  New  Prison.]    See  note  on  V.  324-5. 
PJ'.iT.  pried  and  tried.]    See  note  on  IX.  1039-40. 
1311.  the  frightful  Brotherhood  of  Death]  is  mentioned  again  in 
XI.  2414-15  and  XII.  129.     We  learn  from  the  records  that  the 
Brethren  arrived  at  the  prison  in  the  early  afternoon  (O.Y.B.  213, 
E.L.  265)  of  the  day  of  execution  and  accompanied  the  condemned 
to  the  scaffold  (0.  Y.B.  224,  E.L.  280).     Story  (Roba  di  Roma,  pp. 
."» 1  l  - 1 ."» )  1 1'  •-  -ribes  certain  Roman  Confraternita  della  Morte  concerned 
with  hurld!*;    their  dress  and  standard  resemble  those  of   '  tin- 
frightful  Brotherhood  '  of  which  Browning  speaks. 
i::il».J     Psalm  cxxx.  i. 

1  :;•_'.">.  by  the  longest  way.}  So  as  to  make  a  deeper  impression  on 
the  populace  ;  see  note  on  XII.  139. 

1328.  Munmiin]  a  kind  of  guillotine,  the  'certain  novel  springe  ' 
described  in  XI.  I7'.»  L>f>8. 

1:;:;<>-47.J  After  the  aen>unt>  L'i\eii  in  lines  838-1329  of  the 
content-  d  the  '  finally  ' 


26  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

v  of  line  1330  suggests,  that  the  new  paragraph  will  give  us  a  corre- 
)  sponding  account  of  Book  XII.  But  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  do  so  ; 
Book  XII.  cannot  well  be  described  as  leading  us  back,  '  by  step  and 
step ',  to  mother-earth  from  the  sublimities  (and  the  depths 1,  for  we 
have  been  far  away  from  '  heaven '  at  times,  e.g.  in  Book  XI. )  of 
previous  Books.  Perhaps  the  paragraph  is  no  more  than  the 
anticipatory  dismissal  of  the  reader  at  the  end  of  the  whole  poem, 
but  on  that  view  the  '  by  like  steps  '  of  line  1334  is  still  a  difficulty. 

Professor  Dowden  (Browning,  pp.  258-9)  uses  the  metaphors  of 
the  passage  when  contrasting  the  noble  monologues  of  Books  VI., 
VII.,  X.,  with  the  worldly  voices  to  which  we  listen  e.g.  in  Books  II. 
and  III.  '  For  the  valuation ',  he  writes, '  of  this  loftier  testimony 
[that  of  VI.,  VII.,  X.]  we  require  a  sense  of  the  level  ground,  even 
if  it  be  the  fen- country.  .  .  .  The  plain  is  where  we  ordinarily  live 
and  move  ;  it  has  its  rights,  and  is  worth  understanding  for  its  own 
sake.  Therefore  we  shall  mix  our  mind  with  that  of  "  Half -Rome  " 
and  "  The  Other  Half -Rome  "  [II.,  III.]  before  we  climb  any  mounts 
of  transfiguration  or  enter  any  city  set  upon  a  hill '. 

1342-5.]  The  lines  suggest  that  the  eagle,  who,  as  Tennyson 
says; 

clasps  the  crag  with  hooked  hands 
Close  to  the  sun  in  lonely  lands, 
Ring'd  with  the  azure  world, 

would  fain,  on  the  return  of  spring,  soar  yet  higher  and  confront  the 
sun  yet  more  closely  with  his  homy  eyes ;  but  he  dies  with  his 
aspiration  unachieved. 

1348-73.]  Developing  what  has  been  suggested  in  the  previous 
paragraph  the  poet  explains  and  justifies  his  scheme  and  method. 
He  might  have  selected  ('  saved ')  one  aspect  of  his  subject- master  /• 
and  ignored  all  others,  but  he  preferred  to  present  it  unde^alj/its 
aspects  ;  from  these  various  aspects,  he  says,  a  unity  will  eventually 
be  evolved.  Because  jjuido's  action  was  alive  it  could  be  variously 
judged ;  a  man's  activities"  may  sometimes  reveal,  but  they  often] 
conceal,  the  motives  which  prompted  them.  Shift  your  point  01 
view  ever  so  little,  they  may  have  quite  another  appearance,  and  may 
perplex  your  judgment. — The  paragraph  might  be  expected  to  end 
with  a  further  reference  to  the  '  eventual  unity  '  of  line  1363 — with 
an  assurance  that  by  viewing  Guide's  action  in  various  lights  we  shall 
eventually  be  able  to  give  a  confident  judgment  upon  it,  just  as 
Browning  by  so  viewing  it  was  himself  able  to  give  his  '  sentence 
absolute  for  shade  '  ;  but  it  ends  on  another  note. 

1  Mr.  John  Morley,  in  an  article  in  the  Fortnightly  Review  (March  1,  1869)  to 
which  I  have  often  referred,  aptly  applied  to  The  Ring  and  the  Book  what  Virgil 
(Qeorg.  2.  291-2)  says  of  the  tree  which  he  calls  aesculus  : — 

quantum  vertice  ad  auras 
Aetherias,  tantum  radice  in  Tartara  tendit 
('  pushes  its  roots  as  far  towards  hell  as  it  rears  its  top  to  the  airs  of  heaven  '). 


BOOK  I.— THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK        27 


;-7.J  Note  the  startlingly  brilliant  pictures,  painted  with 
one  Mveep  of  the  brush,  of  summer  and  winter. 

1307  sery/.J  Whatever  may  be  the  literal  meaning  of  the  simile 
employed,  its  significance  is  clear  enough. 

1373.  shine  or  shade.]  No  trick  of  language  is  employed  more 
constantly  by  Browning  than  the  antithesis  of  *  shine '  and  '  shade  ', 
both  in  literal  and  in  figurative  senses.  Here  are  some  examples  : — 

The  clock  is  vigilant, 

And  cares  not  whether  it  be  shade  or  shine, 
Doling  out  day  and  night. 

(X.  457-9.) 

There's  a  fountain  to  spout  and  splash  ! 

In  the  shade  it  sings  and  springs  ;  in  the  shine  such  foam-bows  Hash,  etc. 

(Up  at  a  Villa,  Stanza  vn.) 

In  the  core  of  one  pearl  all  the  shade  and  the  shine  of  the  sea. 

(Summum  Bonum.) 

The  facts  abound  and  superabound  : 
And  nothing  hinders  that  we  lift  the  case 
Out  of  the  shade  into  the  shine. 

(IV.  5-7.) 

Dark,  difficult  enough 

The  human  sphere,  yet  eyes  grow  sharp  by  use, 
I  find  the  truth,  dispart  the  shine  from  shade. 

(X.  1241-3.) 

What  though  it  [Goldoni's  verse]  just  reflect  the  shade  and  shine 
Of  common  life  ? 

(Sonnet  to  Goldoni.) 

Must  the  rose  sigh  "  Pluck — I  perish  !  "  must  the  eve  weep  "  Gaze — I 

fade  !  " 
— Every  sweet  warn  "  'Ware  my  bitter  !  "  every  shine  bid  "  WTait  my 

shade  "  ? 
Can  we  love  but  on  condition,  that  the  thing  we  love  must  die  ? 

(La  Suisiaz,  lines  309-11.) 

Well,  the  result  was  something  of  a  shade 
On  the  parties  thus  accused, — how  otherwise  ? 
Shade,  but  with  shine  as  unmistakable. 
Each  had  a  prompt  defence. 

(111.  1340-43.)      • 
Judge  this,  bishop  that, 
Dispensers  of  the  shine  and  shade  o'  the  place. 

(III.  981-2.) 

A  good  thing  or  a  bad  thing — Life  is  which  ? 
Shine  and  shade,  happiness  and  misery 
Battle  it  out  there. 

(Ferishtah's  Fancies:  A  Bean-Stripe.) 

(Two  other  examples  occur  in  the  same  poem.) 


28  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Foiled  by  my  senses  I  dreamed  ;  I  doubtless  awaken  in  wonder  : 
This  proves  shine,  that — shade  ?     Good  was  the  evil  that  seemed  ? 

(Ixion.) 

So  also  '  shine  '  alone  :  I.  295  ('  human  promise,  oh  !  how  short 
of  shine  ! '),  VII.  1529  ('  that  heart  burst  out  in  shine '),  II.  1194, 
VII.  1570. 

1379.]  See  410  above.  When  Browning  was  offered  the  editor- 
ship of  the  Cornhill  in  1862  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Story :  '  They 
count  on  my  attracting  writers — I  who  can  never  muster  English 
readers  enough  to  pay  for  salt  and  bread  ! '  (H.  James,  W .  W. 
Story  and  his  Friends,  ii.  p.  116).  But  in  the  same  letter  he  admits, 
apropos  of  a  Selection  then  printing,  that '  people  are  getting  good- 
natured  to  my  poems '. 

1381-5.]  '  Whoso  runs  may  read '  is  from  Habakkuk  ii.  2  : 
'  The  Lord  answered  me,  and  said,  Write  the  vision,  and  make  it 
plain  upon  tables,  that  he  may  run  that  readeth  it'. — The  poet 
pokes  fun  incidentally  both  at  himself  and  at  the  literary  world. 
In  the  old  days  (say  of  Paracelsus  or  Sordello),  when  his  public  was 
fit  but  small — indeed  it  was  sometimes  himself  only — ,  it  was  not 
\  necessary  for  him  to  atrajn  after  bim'rh't.y  ;  now,  when  a  larger  public 
/takes  account  of  him,  it  is  necessary.  Meanwhile,  if,  in  view  of  this 
larger  public,  he  must  take  more  pains  to  be  lucid  than  of  old,  he  is 
perhaps  not  so  anxious  to  secure  its  approval  as  he  was  (and  is)  to 
secure  the  approval  of  the  smaller  ;  his  desire  was  (and  is)  to  secure 
this  latter  approval  by  discharging  a  poet's  true  function,  not  to  win 
popularity. 

1386.  Such  labour  had  such  issue.}  '  Such  labour '  as  is  described 
in  1380-85  had  its  issue  in  The  Ring  and  the  Book. 

1391-1416.]  This  famous  invocation  of  the  poet's  dead  wife,  for 
all  its  tenderness  and  pathos,  is  what  Dr.  Furnivall  called  it,  'gnarly' ; 
and,  though  Dr.  Berdoe  dispensed  with  explanations  on  the  ground 
that '  there  is  no  difficulty  about  the  lines  till  we  come  to  parse  them ', 
its  gnarliness  is  not  confined  to  its  grammar.  A  careful  '  Gram- 
matical Analysis '  by  Furnivall  will  be  f oundx  in  the  Browning 
Society's  Papers,  Part  IX. ;  a  loose  translation  into  French  prose  is 
given  in  La  Vie  et  le  (Euvre  d' Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning,  by  G.-M. 
Merlette  (Paris,  1905),  pp.  344-5. 

I  have  permission  to  quote  the  following  passage  from  a  letter 
written  by  the  late  Canon  Scott  Holland  on  the  death  of  a  friend  : — 

'  Poetry  wakes  up  at  her  touch,  and  it  is  hardly  possible  but  that 
those  who  remember  her  will  not  know  a  little  more  of  what  is  to  be 
felt  moving  under  the  great  lines,  "  O  Lyric  Love,  half  angel  and  half 
bird  ".  The  fluttering  passion  of  the  bird  with  the  white  flashing 
purity  of  the  angel — the  wonder,  the  strangeness,  the  delight  of  a 
visitant  presence,  caught  and  held  in  the  body  for  a  space,  for  our 
joy,  and  released  to  fly  back  in  a  rush  to  the  home  that  was  hers  all 


BOOK  I.— THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


29 


along,  leaving  to  us  the  sense  of  swift  passage,  as  of  a  bird,  through 
a  world  that  could  not  hold  her,  so  that  we  are  left  startled  out  of  our 
humdrum  selves,  knowing  that  we  have  entertained  an  angel  un- 
awares '  (Some  Hawarden  Letters,  pp.  185-6). 

'  When  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  visited  the  Brownings  in  1858  he 
<  I*  scribed  Mrs.  Browning  as  "  a  pale  small  person,  scarcely  embodied 
at  all "...  "  Sweetly  disposed  towards  the  human  race,  though 
only  remotely  akin  to  it "  '  (Hall  Griffin,  Life  of  Robert  Browning, 
p.  229 ;  he  is  quoting  from  Italian  Notebooks,  pp.  11-13). 

1395.  a  kindred  soul.]  A  soul  as  divine  as  the  sun — *  as  life- 
giving,  as  pure,  as  bright '  (Furnivall). 

1397-9.]  The  long  temporal  clause  qualifies  line  1396;  the 
humanity  of  the  poetess  at  the  call  of  any  earthly  need  is  contrasted 
with  her  lofty  spiritual  nature  as  pictured  in  the  opening  lines 
(Furnivall). 

1398.  thy  chambers],  i.e.,  of  course,  her  *  sanctuary  within  the 
holier  blue '. 

1399-1400.  to  drop  down,  etc.]  Furnivall  had  Browning's 
authority  for  connecting  these  infinitives,  not  with  'summons',  but 
with  '  human'. 

1401.  This  is  the  same  voice.]  The  poet  identifies  his  voice  with 
that  which  summoned  her  before — the  voice  of  humanity  praying 
for  the  help.  It  is  not  possible  to  give  a  narrower  interpretation 
to  1397-9. 

1403-4.  my  due  To  God.}  For  Browning's  conviction  of  his  high 
function,  by  the  discharge  of  which  he  must  *  save  his  soul ',  see  the 
notes  I.  40  and  XII.  867. 

1407.  some  interchange.}  *  Interchange '  is  loosely  used  for 
*  transfer  '  ;  Browning  is  speaking  of  the  help  given  by  the  poetess 
to  the  poet.  The  thought  of  mutual  help  is  foreign  to  the  passage. 

1413.  so  blessing  back.]  *  So '  refers  back  to  *  raising ',  with  which 
'  blessing '  is  in  apposition. 

1415-16.]  See  Appendix  IX.  for  interpretations  of  this  difficult 
passage, 

1415.  which,  I  judge,  thy  face  makes  proud.]  Is  '  which  '  subject 
or  object  to  '  makes  proud  '  ?  In  view  of  the  interpretation  of  the 
passage  suggested  in  Appendix  IX.  I  prefer  to  take  it  as  subject ; 
so  Zampini-Salazar,  La  Vita  et  le  Opere,  p.  77  :  qualche  biancore  che 
a  me  sembri  f  illumini  d'  orgoglio  il  viso.  Merle tte  and  (I  think) 
Furnivall  take  it  as  object. 


BOOK  II.— HALF-ROME 

INTRODUCTION 

THE  speakers  of  the  ten  monologues  of  Books  II.  to  XI. 
are  nine  in  number  (for  one  of  them  speaks  twice),  and 
these  nine,,  as  Professor  Hodell  notes  *,  fall  into  three 
groups  of  three.  The  first  group  consists  of  outsiders — 
of  men  in  the  street  or  in  the  salon  ;  the  second  of  the 
chief  actors  in  the  tragedy  ;  the  third  of  representatives 
of  law — two  advocates  and  the  Pope  as  judge.  The 
members  of  all  the  groups  are  concerned  to  express  and 
to  justify  opinions  about  certain  events,  and  to  that  end 
they  must  often  narrate  them  ;  but  the  members  of  the 
first  group  are  narrators  primarily,  they  speak  to  people 
whose  knowledge  of  the  events  is  vague  and  who  want 
fuller  information.  They  give  them  what  they  want,  but 
they  give  them  opinions  and  arguments  as  well ;  so  that 
their  three  monologues,  like  the  two  Italian  pamphlets 
which  probably  suggested  Books  II.  and  III.  to  Browning, 
and  on  which  those  books  are  partly  based,  are  notizie, 
not  only  di  fatto,  but  also  di  ragioni  2.  Meanwhile  they  are, 
or  they  profess  to  be,  primarily  notizie  di  fatto,  and  as  such 
they  rightly  come  first  in  the  poem.  When  these  notices 
have  been  given  other  speakers  can  take  many  facts  for 
granted,  can  ignore  incidents  in  which  they  had  no  personal 
part  or  on  which,  for  one  reason  or  another,  they  do  not 
care  to  dwell ;  they  can  do  so  without  leaving  the  reader 
_  in  the  dark. 

1  O.Y.B.  252. 

2  These  pamphlets,  published  af  Rome — as  we  should  say,  in  flat  contempt 
of  courts—while  the  case  was  still  sub  judice,  are  entitled  respectively  Notizie  di 
fatto  e  di  ragioni  per  la  Causa  Franceschini  and  Risposta  alle  notizie  di  fatto  e  di 
ragioni  nella  Causa  Franceschini. 

30 


BOOK  1L— HALF-ROME  31 

The  relation  of  Book  IV. — the  third  of  tin-  first  group 
of  monologues — to  Books  II.  and  III.  is  in  one  respect 
analogous  to  that  of  Book  X. — the  third  of  the  third 
group — to  Books  VIII.  and  IX.  ;  just  as  the  Pope  (inter 
<il in)  weighs  the  cases  presented  by  the  contending  advocates 
t«>  the  Court,  so  the  superior  person  of  Book  IV.  sifts  and 
I  is  the  conflicting  opinions  of  the  street.  The  mono- 
logue  of  the  salon  wul  be  considered  separately  (Introduc- 
tion to  Book  IV.) ;  the  two  monologues  of  the  street  may 
conveniently  be  discussed  together. 

'  'Tis  a  very  excellent  piece  of  work  :  would  'twere 
done  !  '  says  Christopher  Sly  after  sitting  through  the  first 
scene  of  The  Taming  of  tlie  Shrew.  Much  the  same  judg- 
ment has  been  sometimes  passed,  not  at  quite  -so  early 
a  stage,  but  before  the  end  is  well  in  sight,  upon  The  Ring 
and  tfie  Book.  It  is  more  than  twice  as  long  as  the  Mneid, 
just  twice  as  long  as  Paradise  Lost,  nearly  twice  as  long  as 
the  Odyssey,  longer  by  one-third  than  the  Iliad,  shorter 
indrr'l.  but  only  by  one  third,  than  the  completed  part 
of  the  interminable  Faery  Queene l ;  many  critics,  even 
admiring  critics,  have  protested  against  what  Lord  Morley 
called  '  its  impossible  length  ' 2,  and  perhaps,  as  Dr.  Johnson 
said  of  the  much  shorter  Paradise  Lost,  '  none  ever  wished  it 
longer  than  it  is '.  Now  pruning  of  the  poem  in  detail 
might  certainly  have  been  effected  without  loss,  though 
probably  with  less  gain  than  some  of  us  think  ;  but  sugges- 
tions have  been  made  for  excisions  more  drastic  than  mere 
pruning.  Thus  it  has  been  maintained  (1)  that  Guido 
should  have  spoken  only  once  ;  (2)  that  the  Pope  should 
have  been  kept  off  irrelevant  theology;  (3)  that  one 
specimen  of  street  opinion  3,  and  one  of  lawyer's  advocacy, 
would  have  been  enough  ;  (4)  that  the  men  in  the  street 
ami  the  lawyers  should  have  l>ren  suppressed  altogether, 
hese  propositions  the  first  and  second  will  be  considered 
in  the  Introductions  to  Bo. .k-  X.  and  XL;  the  third  and 

.    the  Odyssey  12.1  K), 

th.-  /.  ter  editions)  21,134,  the  six 

completed  books  of  The  Faery  Queev  33,579. 

'  Professor  Dowden  went  further  ;  he  would  have  had  Books  II.  to  IV.  fused 
into  one. 


32  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

fourth,  so  far  as  they  concern  Books  II.  and  III.,  may 
be  considered  here. 

The  suggestion  that  the  opinions  of  the  streets  should 
have  been  voiced  by  a  single  speaker  is  surely  infelicitous. 
The  records  prove  that  public  opinion  at  Rome  was  sharply 
divided — you  were  Guidoite  or  anti-Guidoite  ;  if  but  one 
monologue  had  been  assigned  it,  either  half  the  city  would 
have  been  silent  or  the  views  of  both  halves  would  have 
been  more  or  less  impartially  expressed,  with  more  or  less 
lack  of  colour,  by  some  neutral  and  therefore  unrepre- 
sentative  bourgeois.  In  the  former  case  the  principle  of 
Browning's  method  would  have  been  abandoned,  for  it 
requires  that  when  there  are  two  sides  both  shouldjbe  heard  ; 
in  the  latter  tEe^  method  would  have  been  employeoT  to 
little  purpose,  for  each  side  can  only  be  effectively  re- 
presented by  a  staunch  adherent.  Browning's  clever- 
ness was  equal  to  most  tasks,  and  he  could  give  interest 
to  a  monologue  by  a  wobbler  ;  but  how  pale  and  tame  a 
wobbler's  monologue  might  have  been  in  comparison 
with  those  of  the  stalwarts  of  Books  II.  and  III.1 ! 

The  more  drastic  suggestion  that  neither  half -Rome 
should  have  been  given  a  hearing  is  less  inconsistent, 
perhaps,  with  the  principle  of  the  poet's  method,  and  it 
has  found  many  supporters.  Few  of  them,  I  imagine, 
would  go  so  far  as  Professor  Hugh  Walker,  who  says  in 
his  decisive  way  that  '  nearly  half  the  poem  ' — he  includes 
in  that  half  Books  II.  and  III.  (as  well  as  VIII.  and  IX.) 
— '  is  hardly  worth  reading '  2  !  But  it  has  often  been 
argued  that  the  secondary  Books  weight  the  poem  heavily, 
and  that  the  monologues  of  Guido,  Caponsacchi,  Pompilia 
and  the  Pope,  with  the  prologue,  would  stand  out  in  bolder 
relief  if  the  others  were  excised3.  Now  it  was  of  course 

i  It  may  be  objected  that  the  speaker  of  Book  IV.  (Tertium  Quid)  is  a  neutral, 
and  that  nevertheless  his  speech  is  full  of  colour.  But  the  neutrality  (so  far  as 
he  is  a  neutral)  of  the  person  of  quality  who  there  '  dissertates  on  the  case  '  (I. 
942)  is  dramatically  appropriate,  and  owes  much  of  its  effectiveness  to  the  non- 
neutrality  of  the  two  preceding  speakers  ;  the  colour  of  the  speech,  while  partly 
perhaps  due  to  that  very  fact,  comes  chiefly  from  a  different  source.  See  Intro- 
duction to  Book  IV. 

a  The  Age  of  Tennyson,  p.  229. 

3  Thus  Mr.  Sharp  (Life  of  Browning,  p.  127)  wishes  that  the  poem  was  of  six 
books  only,  comprising  '  but  the  Prologue,  the  Plea  of  Guido,  "  Caponsacchi ", 
"Pompilia",  "The  Pope",  and  Guide's  last  Defence'.  'Thus  circumscribed', 
he  adds,  '-it  seems  to  me  to  be  rounded  and  complete,  a  great  work  of  art  void  of 
the  dross,  the  mere  debris  which  the  true  artist  discards'. 


BOOK  II.—  HALF-ROM  i:  33 

the  jHK-t's  main  concern  to  lay  bare  the  very  souls  of  his 
chief  actors,  hut  it  was  his  bye-concern  to  give  thenQi 
'TTyiiitr  eiujfoliliiuiit  —  luTrraiKe  hissuborHmate  actors  more 
fllan  nu'i'o  lay  'figures*  —  and  to  give  his  drama  a  vivid 
mise  en  scene,  that  of  the  social  and  ecclesiastical  Rome  of 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  To  that  end  he 
lavished  the  resources  of  his  art,  his  humour,  his  know- 
ledge, his  gem'  us  ;  so  that  quite  apart  from  his  tragedy 
of  souls  his  picture  is  priceless  2.  But  just  as  his  scenery 
never  diverts  the  minds  of  his  readers  from  the  great  issues 
of  his  drama,  so  his  secondary  characters  never  stand  in 
the  way  of  his  protagonists  ;  Guido,  Pompilia,  Caponsacchi 
are  more  real  to  us  from  the  lively  presentation  of  the 
conditions  and  the  persons  that  helped  or  hindered  their 
doings,  heightened  or  assuaged  their  sufferings  ;  and  this 
fact  is,  not  indeed  the  only,  but  the  chief  and  the  sufficient 
justification  of  such  Books  as  II.  and  III.3 

Meanwhile  most  readers  will  be  ready  with  their  pruning- 
knives,  for  it  cannot  reasonably  be  disputed  that  repetition 
is  a  feature,  and  a  blemish,  of  the  poem  ;  but  it  is  a  less 
prominent  feature,  and  a  less  disfiguring  blemish,  than 
might  be  inferred  from  the  current  but  misleading  assertion 
that  the  poet  tells  the  whole  story  at  least  ten  times.  In 
the  Introduction  to  Book  I.  it  has  been  urged  as  an  extenu- 
ating circumstance  that  some  repetition  is  necessitated 
by  the  multiple-monologue  method  ;  accept  the  method, 
and  you  must  bear  with  the  repetition.  You  can  ask  no 
more  than  that  it  shall  be  kept  in  check  and  counter- 
balanced by  variety.  Now  nothing  could  stale  the  variety 
of  Browning,  and,  if  he  does  not  reduce  repetition  to  a 
mini  in  u  in,  he  keeps  it  down  with  extraordinary  skill. 
He  makes  a  fresh  speaker  give  freshness  to  a  familiar/ 
incident  by  supplying  some  striking  new  detail,  or  by  finding^ 
significance  in  an  old  detail  which  to  an  earlier  speaker  / 
had  none,  or  again,  by  distorting  such  a  detail  so  as  / 

1  Tn  some  of  his  plays  (e.g.  in  Colombe'a  Birthday)  Browning  fails  to  do  this. 
'  '  Another  force  pushes  its  way  through  the  waste  and  rules  the  scene  .  .  . 
that  bnttb  of  Browning*!  own  particular  matchless  Italy  which  takes  us  full 

in  tlir  fan-  aid  remains  from  tin-  tir.-t  tin-  lelt.  rich,  coloured,  air  in  which  we  live 


(M-.  Henry  .lames  in  tin-  (}n<ir1i'rln  /iVnV"'.  -July   11UJ.  ]>.  7'.»). 

;    Xnot  her  function  which  they  discharge  has  been  noticed  in  the  first  para- 
graph of  this  Introduction  :    for  a  third  —  that  of  relieving  the  strain  of  the  tragedy 

the  Introduction  to  Hook  VIII. 


J    , 

34  TEE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

to  draw  from  it  a  new  conclusion.  Of  his  devices  to  secure 
variety  many  examples  will  be  found  if  you  compare 
Books  II.  and  III.  They  both  necessarily  contain  a  full 
narrative  of  the  story  ;  the  speakers  belong  to  the  same 
class  ;  they  both  speak  within  forty-eight  hours  of  the 
murders,  while  the  sensation  is  still  absorbing1.  All  this 
makes  for  repetition,  but  variety  at  once  asserts  itself. 
The  place-colour  of  Book  II.  is  given  by  *  the  mouth  of 
the  street '  by  San  Lorenzo  church,  in  which  the  bodies 
of  the  Comparini  were  exposed  ;  that  of  Book  III.  by  the 
fountain  and  market  of  the  Piazza  Barberini.  The  repre- 
sentative of  Half -Rome  is  a  married  man  whose  wife  needs 
the  marital  check — the  fact  is  his  '  source  of  swerving  ' 
in  his  search  for  truth  ;  the  Other  Half-Rome  finds  its 
mouthpiece  in  a  bachelor  who  is  prejudiced,  it  may  be, 
by  his  sympathy  with  outraged  beauty  2 ;  the  latter  speaker- 
exhibits  a  reflectiveness  and  a  sensibility  which  are  absent 
from  the  coarser  nature  of  the  former.  Their  information 
on  matters  of  fact,  again,  is  often  different.  Half-Rome 
has  heard  a  report  of  the  home-life  and  of  the  financial 
position  of  the  Comparini  which  does  not  agree  with  that 
which  has  reached  the  Other  Half.  Half-Rome  speaks  of 
the  substance,  the  Otliejijlalf  dwells  upon  the  circum- 
stances, of  Violante's  confession,  and  the  motives  which 
they  assign  for  it  are  not  the  same.  The  former  maintains 
that  it  was  Violante,  the  latter  that  it  was  Paolo,  who 
brought  about  the  ill-starred  marriage  which  only  one  of 
them  describes  in  detail.  The  sordid  quarrels  of  the 
Franceschini  and  the  Comparini  at  Arezzo,  summarized 
in  some  eight  lines  in  Book  III.,  occupy  some  sixty  in 
Book  II.  ;  Pompilia's  appeals  to  the  Arezzo  magnates 
and  the  Augustinian,  passed  over  lightly  in  II.,  are  a  care- 
fully developed  incident  in  III.  The  Guidoite  pictures 
Caponsacchi  as  a  coxcomb,  a  haunter  of  houses  of  ill-fame, 
a  Paris  and  so  forth  ;  to  Pompilia's  champion,  though 
'  courtly '  and  '  no  novice  to  the  taste  of  thyme  ',  he  is 
above  all  else  a  man  of  truth  and  of  rare  dignity  and 
resolution.  A  careful  reader  as  he  notes  such  differences 

1  The  murders  were  committed  on  the  evening  of  January  2  ;    '  Half-Rome  ' 
speaks  on  January  3,  '  the  other  Half-Rome  '  (probably  ;    see  Introduction  to 
Book  III.)  on  January  4. 

2  See,  however,  the  Introduction  to  Book  III. 


II.     II M.I-  BOMB 

hetueen    these    t \\ < i    '  >;i in | >l< •  -i  will   hardly   <,uarrel 

\\itli  tin-   judgment  ot   .Mr.  Syiiimo  that  '  no  contrast   could 
l»c  more  complete  '  than  that  v.hich  they  pi'cM-nt1. 

Three  passairrs  in  the  t  \\  o  Hooks  uill  probably  be  found 
specially  anv>tiiiLr:  they  all  support  the  argument  of  the 
urraph.  The  first  is  the  description  of  the  exposure 
,  t  the  liodi'-s  of  the  ( 'omparini.  the  hustling  crouds  in  the 
church,  the  doddering  '  Luca  Cini  on  his 'Staff',  the  brisk 
{to  \\ho  does  the  honours  of  his  exhibition  to  the 
Cardinal  :  to  all  this,  which  fills  2<M)  lines  at  the  beginnin<_r 
of  Honk  II..  then  is  but  a  bare  reterenec  in  Hook  III.^ 
The  second,  at  the  beginning  of  Book  III.,  sketches  the 
scene  at  1'ompilia's  bedside,  telling  us  of  her  visitors  'too 
many  by  half,  of  the  credulous  crone  who  'chatters  like 

\  '.of  the  great — the  once  great — Carlo  Maratta,  'who 
paints  Virgins  so'  and  must  paint  Pompilia  ;  Book  II  \ 

lent  about  this.  The  third  passage,  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  of  its  kind  in  the  poem  2 — it  makes  one  wish  that 
the  wily  ecclesiastic  had  been  given  a  whole  monologue — , 
is  t  he  <  )t  her  Half-Rome's  account  of  Paolo's  visit  to  Violante 
and  his  bid  for  Pompilia  ;  of  this  again  there  is  nothing 
in  Hook  II.,  for  according  to  Half-Rome  there  was  no  such 
\  i-it  and  at  any  rate  there  was  no  such  bid. 

In  the  Notes  on  this  and  the  two  following  Books, 
\\hich.  a>  we  have  seen,  are  very  specially  notizie  di  fatto, 
attention  i-  niH-tently  invited  to  the  relation  between 
im-nts  of  fact  by  Browning's  speakers  and  parallel 
Matement>  in  the  Yellow  Hook.  The  poet's  study  of  that 
hook  was  constant  and  most  searching.  He  read  it,  he 
told  somebody,  eight  times  through  ;  it  became  his  '  four- 
1  ;  he  found  a  use  for  even  its  most  trivial 
minuti.-i'  :  he  declared  that  the  story  as  he  told  it  was  the 
>torv  of  the  book,  and  maintained  that  the  facts  which  he 
found  there  entirely  justified  his  interpretations  of  conduct 
and  motive.  A  student  of  the  poem  must  therefore,  if 
he  means  to  grasp  its  full  significance,  be  also  a  student 

of  the    book   l 

i  //-/ 

ol.-i-rvo  in  tliN  )>:i-i:»'_-.  ned  a-.-  "f  imiircct  .•^•••.•rli.  mi  admirable 

l.'.  ;i*  Browning  iiMiiam-s  it,  i..r  l'.i»l»'-  -nl.ili-tv. 

Ml  face. 


36  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


NOTES 

6.  Lorenzo  in  Lucina.}  The  church  is  in  the  heart  of  Rome,  just 
off  the  Corso  on  your  right  as  you  walk  south.  Browning  found  no 
mention  of  it  in  his  Old  Yellow  Book,  except  in  Pompilia's  baptismal 
certificate  (0.  Y.B.  civ.,  E.L.  159) ;  but  in  the  Secondary  Source, 
which  reached  him  later,  it  is  important  as  the  scene  both  of  Pom- 
pilia's marriage  and  of  the  exposure  of  the  bodies  of  the  Comparini 
(0.  Y.B.  209,  213,  E.L.  259,  265).  It  therefore  aroused  his  interest 
and  he  wrote  to  Rome  for  particulars  about  it  (see  Appendix  I.). 
As  he  was  never  at  Rome  afterwards,  the  details  about  the  church 
which  are  mentioned  in  the  poem  were  no  doubt  supplied  by  his 
correspondent,  who  was  Frederic  Leighton  (afterwards  P.R.A.). 

14.]    Matthew  vii.  6. 

16.  The  right  man.}    Explained  by  1542-7  below. 

26-7.]  This  distinction  is  not  drawn  in  the  O.Y.B.,  where  it  is 
said  that  Guido  confessed  to  having  given  orders  for  stabbing  his 
wife  in  the  face  (O.Y.B.  xxii.,  E.L.  22). 

41.  Not  calm  .  .  .  as  murdered  faces  use.}  'To  use'  in  the  sense 
of  '  to  be  accustomed  to  do  something '  (cf.  Fifine  at  the  Fair,  cxxxn., 
'  you  do  not  use  to  apprehend  attack '),  now  found  only  in  the  past 
tense,  was  common  formerly  in  the  present  also,  as  in  Lycidas,  67  : 
'  Were  it  not  better  done,  as  others  use,  To  sport  with  Amaryllis  ?  ' 
Psalm  cxix.  132, '  as  thou  usest  to  do  unto  those  that  fear  thy  name ' ; 
but  is  the  verb  found  elsewhere  than  in  Browning  (cf.  I.  1133)  in 
the  sense  '  to  be  accustomed  to  be '  ? — Its  transitive  use  for  '  to 
accustom'  (IV.  39,  'we've  used  our  eyes  to  the  violent  hue')  is 
now  most  unusual. 

54-5.]  See  note  on  6  above.  The  baptismal  certificate  gives 
the  string  of  names  :  Francesca  Camilla  Vittoria  Angela  Pompilia 
(cf.  VII.  5-7).  She  is  often  called  Francesca  in  the  records. 

70.  clandestinely.}  An  extract  from  the  San  Lorenzo  Register, 
printed  in  Treves  (p.  299),  shows  that  Guido  and  Pompilia  were 
married  with  all  due  form,  in  the  presence  of  witnesses,  by  the 
curatus  of  San  Lorenzo,  on  the  morning  of  (Sunday)  September  6, 
1693  ;  and  that  the  banns  had  been  published,  without  any  declara- 
tion of  impediment,  on  three  Sundays  in  the  previous  July.  The 
long  interval  between  banns  and~mamage  suggests  a  hitch  ;  perhaps 
Pietro,  having  given  his  consent  in  July,  revoked  it  afterwards  ; 
but  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  marriage  took  place  in  the  manner 
which  the  Register  describes  without  his  having  finally  consented. 
Yet  three  of  the  pamphleteers  told  their  readers  that  he  did  not  do  so. 
Even  the  best  informed  of  them,  the  author  of  the  Second  Anony- 
mous Pamphlet,  wrote :  '  After  having  signed  the  said  articles 
[about  the  dowry]  Pietro  absolutely  refused  to  proceed  to  the 
effectuation  of  the  marriage  of  the  said  Francesca  Pompilia  with  the 


BOOK  II. --HALF '-ROME  37 

(iuido.  of  \\hom  ln>  had  had  te\\  <rood  accounts.  .  .  .  The  said 
( Juido.  M'orniiiL'  any  furt  her  consent  of  Pictro  and  without  his  know- 
ledge, contracted  the  marriage'  ;  and  t In-  Secondary  Source  and  the 
I  In  i \vnin<i  pamphleteer  say  the  same  (O.Y.B.  ccx.,  209,  218; 
A'./,.  L>IL>.  L>.V.t-C>0,  271). 

h  must  l>e  remembered  that  two  of  these  three  pamphleteers 
\\n>tr  Rome  time  after  the  event,  and  that  on  some  points  they  were 
i iily  misinformed  ;  but,  even  if  they  were  all  right  in  asserting 
t  hat .  so  far  as  Pietro  was  concerned,  the  marriage  was  '  clandestine ', 
the  Register  disproves  some  of  the  clandestine  incidents  introduced 
into  the  poem,  such  as  the  'dim  end  of  a  December  day',  'the 
unpleasant  pi  iest '  who  was  '  not  our  parish  friend  ',  but  was,  or  was 
perhaps,  the  Abate  Paolo  (see  III.  449  seqq.,  VII.  425  seqq.). 

83-5.]  In  his  letter  to  Leigh  ton  (see  note  on  6  above)  Browning 
spoke  of  this  '  famous  Crucifixion  by  Guido  '.  Most  modern  critics 
do  not  greatly  admire  it  (see  however  Hare,  Walks  in  Rome,  i.  45) ; 
it  is  certainly  '  second '  by  a  long  interval  to  the  same  artist's 
Aurora,  '  observable  '  on  the  ceiling  of  the  Rospigliosi  Palace. 

104.  No  stinginess  in  wax.]    Such  as  there  was,  according  to  the  < 
poem,  when  Pompilia  was  married  ;  see  360  below,  VII.  440. 

1 1"».  liarbers  and  blear-eyed.]  The  shops  of  barbers  and  apothe- 
caries (tonstrinae  and  medicinae)  were  proverbially  places  for  gossip  ; 
the  blear-eyed  would  be  found  in  the  latter.  Hence  Horace  ('the 
ancient')  opines  that  a  particular  bit  of  gossip  is  'well  known  to 
every  blear-eyed  man  and  barber  '  (Sat.  1.  7.  3) ;  cf.  IV.  437. 

1:22.]    Cf.  XII.  333  seqq.,  where  Arcangeli  says  that  he  sent  his 
year-old  son,  as  a  treat,  to  witness  the  executions  in  the 
Piazza  del  Popolo. 

1  .">.">.  She  can't  outlive  night.]  She  did  live,  'by  a  miracle '^  for 
three  days  more. 

147.  Triangular  »'  the  blade,  etc.]  From  the  Secondary  Source, 
O.Y.B.  212,  E.L.  264:  '  Franceschini's  knife  was  of  a  Genoese 
pattern  (alia  Genovese)  and  triangular,  with  certain  hooks  so  made 
t  hat  in  wounding  they  could  not  be  withdrawn  without  such  lacera- 
tion as  to  render  the  wound  incurable  '.  Cf.  VIII.  1170,  X.  743. 

154.  the  Cardinal.]  Browning  meant  Cardinal  Lauria,  who  was 
Paolo's  patron  and  is  said  to  have  helped  in  '  making  the  match  '  ; 
lint  Lauria  died  in  November  1693,  two  months  after  the  marriage 
(Hodell,  O.  Y.B.  299).  It  appears  from  the  post-Browning  pamphlet 
that  Cuido  had  served  another  Cardinal  —  Nerli  (O.Y.B.  217,  E.L. 

Curate],  i.e.  I'urnln.  parish-priest. 

U'i-4.  |  The  speaker  professes  to  know  that  Pompilia  has  already 
•  confessed  her  crime',  hut  iii  lino  1447-9  he  only  hopes  that  she  may 
live  lon^f  enoiiL'h  to  do  so. 

17s.  '/..  /,/,//.,.syi/<///r.x-///.|    See  in.  96  and  Appendix  VIIL 

ITU.  I     Cardinal  d'Kstrees,  the  J'Yenrh  ambassador  at    Koine,  who 


38  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

first  championed  Molinos  and  afterwards  spied  upon  and  betrayed 
him  (see  Appendix  VIII.),  '  book-made  '  on  Molinism. 

188.  the  Ruspoli.]     See  I.  876. 

190.  A  certain  cousin  of  yours.]     See  below,  937  and  1542-7. 

192.  the  handsel],  i.e.  the  first  use.  The  word  is  used  as  verb 
in  Holy-Cross  Day,  n. : — 

Shame,  man  !  greedy  beyond  your  years 
To  handsel  the  bishop's  shaving -shears  ? 

202.  smiled.]    Substituted  on  the  second  revision  for  '  were '  : 
so  in  1338  below  '  soothe '  for  '  be ',  in  III.  963  '  chanced  '  for  '  was  ', 
in  XII.  527  '  brood  '  for  '  be  ',  in  XII.  537  '  lies  '  for  '  is  '. 

203.  Via  Vittoria.]     Connects  the  Corso  with  the  Via  del  Babuinc 
(III.  391-2) ;    described  in  Treves,  pp.  97-100  :    '  It  was  quite  a 
fashionable,  well-to-do  street.  ...  Some  of  the  houses  are  so  large 
as  to  be  almost  mansions  '  ;  Half -Rome  calls  it  '  aspectable  '.    That 
adjective  is  now  practically  obsolete,  but  Mrs.  Browning  uses  it 
both  in  its  proper  sense,  '  visible  '  (The  Soul's  Travelling  :  '  the  ocean 
grandeur  which  Is  aspectable  from  the  place'),  and  in  the  sense 
which  it  has  here,  '  worthy  to  be  seen  '  (Aurora  Leigh,  p.  203). 

206-7.  The  villa — /'  the  Pauline  district]  had  no  existence  ; 
see  Appendix  II.  The  house  in  the  Via  Vittoria  was  the  Comparini's 
only  home  and  was  the  scene  of  the  murders. 

257.  Pietrd's  estate  was  dwindling.]     See  note  on  IV.  97  seqq. 

260.  caf  s-cradle.]  '  A  children's  game  in  which  two  players 
alternately  take  from  each  other's  fingers  an  intertwined  cord,  so 
as  always  to  produce  a  symmetrical  figure'  (N.E.D.).  Charles 
Lamb  says  in  his  essay  on  Christ's  Hospital  that  he  and  his  school- 
fellows amused  themselves  by  '  weaving  those  ingenious  parentheses 
called  cat-cradles '. 

275.  bounty  of  black  hair.]     See  note  on  IV.  456. 

286.  Service  and  suit.]  The  rights  which  a  lord  could  claim  from 
his  feudatories  ;  a  very  favourite  phrase  of  Browning's,  used  again 
(not  very  appropriately)  in  386  below  ;  cf.  III.  1248,  V.  2019. 

291.  younger  .  .  .  brother.]  Browning  wrongly,  but  not  un- 
naturally, assumed  throughout  the  poem  that  Guido  was  the  eldest 
of  the  Franceschini  brothers  ;  this  is  not  stated  in  the  Yellow  Book, 
and  the  Arezzo  Register  proves  that  he  was  the  youngest  of  the  three, 
and  Paolo  the  eldest  (E.L.  289,  Treves,  p.  11).  Paolo  was  born  in 
October  1650,  Girolamo  in  August  1654,  Guido  in  January  1658. 
Their  sister  Porzia  was  born  in  January  1653. 

304.  thirty  years.]     A  mistake  ;  see  note  on  IV.  392. 

308.  concurrence],  i.e.  competition,  Italian  concorrenza,  French 
concurrence ;  '  competitors  and  concurrents '  says  Lord  Bacon. 
For  the  use  of  the  word  in  this  sense  ('  now  a  Gallicism ',  N.E.D.) 
cf.  Red  Cotton  Night-Cap  Country,  iv. 


BOOK  11.— HALF-HOME  39 

(THNlMd  ///'.•*  1'iniji  ami  <jirt  his  loins.}  From  Luke  xii.  .':.">, 
'  It-t  your  luins  be  girded  about  and  your  lights  burning'  ;  cf.  1  Peter 
i.  l.'J.  '_rird  up  the  loins  of  your  mind  ".  Browning  was  fond  of  these 
metaphors;  cf.  e.g.  IX.  :_".».  No  n-adei  will  forget  his  condemnation 
of  •  tin-  >in  '  of  '  tin-  unlit  lamp  and  the  ungirt  loin'  in  The  Statue 
ami 

/  -simile.]    Above,  270-4. 

<  f-hroih  >•/>/.]    See  note  on  291  above. 
•in  tknatetudfat*.]    Above,  263-5. 

•  IHC  l>litt<l  err.  i  See  note  on  70  ;  cf.  III.  449,  '  one  dim  end 
of  a  Deeember  day',  Vll.  420,  'dark  eve  of  December's  deadest 
day  '.  In  putting  the  marriage  in  December,  which  throws  out  the 
eln-onoloL'v  (see  Appendix  III.),  Browning  followed  the  Secondary 
Bonne  (</.  Y.H.  209,  E.L.  259) ;  for  putting  it  in  the  evening  he  had 
no  authority.  The  post- Browning  pamphlet  says  that  it  took  place 
'one  morning'  (O.Y.B.  218,  E.L.  271),  which  the  Register  con- 
firms. 

361.  some  priest-confederate.}  '  Perhaps  Abate  Paolo ',  says  the 
Other  Halt  1  tome  (111.  455),  'Paul',  says  Pompilia,  without  the 
4  perhaps  '  (VII.  437).  The  O.  Y.B.  does  not  identify  him,  but  the 
Register  shows  that  he  was  Ignatius  Bonechi,  the  curato  of  the 
parish  (Treves,  p.  299). 

382.]    See  Pompilia's  account  in  VII.  489  seqq. 
409.]    So  the  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  cxli.,  E.L. 
1  t.~>).  which  says  that  the  arrangement  was  advantageous  to  the 
I  Yaneesehini  ;    the  diligence  of  the  Abate,  and  some  temporary 
nditure  by  their  house,  .would  enable  them  to  gain   greatly 
by  it. 

\  1  \.  ii'ith  purple  flushing  him.]  Does  this  mean,  '  financed  by  a 
Cardinal ',  who  would  lend  the  money  necessary  for  the  '  temporary 
expenditure '  ? 

IL'V  Quoth  Solomon,  etc.}  Song  of  Solomon,  iv.  9,  '  thou  hast 
ravished  my  heart  with  one  of  thine  eyes'. 

\\'.\.\    I  can  offer  no  explanation  of  this  line;    where  do  the 
of  440  come  from  ? 

S.]    Song  of  Solomon,  ii.  5,  *  stay  me  with  flagons,  comfort 
me  with  apples '. 

wait  softly  all  his  days.]  Isaiah  xxxviii.  15  ;  used  again  in 
Vlll.  '.»'.» I  and  X.  715. 

171.  tibia  /'lurk  stone-heap.]    The  palace  of  the  Franceschini  at 

-tanding  and  the  family  is  extinct. 

i.J  The  meanness  of  the  fare  at  the  Franceschini' s  table 
i-  described  in  tlioworn  deposition  of  t  heir  ><-rv  ant  Angelica  Bat  tista 

(O.Y.B,  I...  /:./. 

IT  l .  (I  from  earthenware.]     Sour  wine  in  niggardly 

quantities   poured   from   earthenware  instead   of  silver.     Angelica 

depo>ed   tint    only  one  tl.i^k   appeared  at  table,  and  that  half  or 


7 


40  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

more  than  half  its  contents  was  water.     For  '  verjuice '  cf.  Dryden, 
Fourth  Satire  of  Persius,  73  : — 

himself,  for  saving  charges, 
A  peel'd  slic'd  onion  eats,  and  tipples  verjuice. 

490-91.]  See  the  servant's  evidence  (0.  Y.B.  xlix.-liii.,  E.L.  49-52). 
Bottini  describes  Beatrice  as  '  of  true  novercal  type ' — immitis  ac 
semper  vt  experientia  docet  implacabilis  socrus  (0.  Y.B.  clxxiv.,  E.L. 
181). 

493.  mumps],  i.e.  sulks,  ill-humour  ;  a  favourite  word  of  Charles 
Lamb's. 

500-503.]  Girolamo  Franceschini,  whom  the  poem  represents  as 
the  youngest  of  the  brothers  ('  the  boy  of  the  brood  ',  X.  897),  was 
in  fact,  as  we  have  seen  (note  on  291  above),  older  than  Guido.  He 
was,  like  Caponsacchi,  a  Canon  of  the  Pieve  church  at  Arezzo,  where 
he  lived  with  his  mother.  He  is  often  mentioned  in  the  records, 
where  evidence  is  produced  (1)  that  he  joined  with  his  mother  and 
brother  in  treating  the  Comparini  harshly,  kicking  the  servant  who 
protected  them,  offering  violence  to  Violante — the  Secondary  Source, 
probably  in  error,  says,  to  Pompilia — ,  and  even  threatening  her 
life  (O.Y.B.  xlix.,  1.,  209;  E.L.  50,  51,  260);  (2)  that  Pompilia 
told  the  Bishop  of  Arezzo  that  she  was  absolutely  unwilling  to  live 
with  him  and  his  mother  (0.  Y.B.  cv.,  E.L.  113) — Arcangeli,  un- 
supported by  evidence,  says  that  Pompilia  accused  him  of  having 
tried  to  poison  her  (0.  Y.B.  ix.,  E.L.  11) ;  (3)  that  he  declared  in  the 
Process  of  Flight  that  before  the  flight  the  Franceschini  had  no 
knowledge  of  any  intimacy  between  her  and  Caponsacchi  (0.  Y.B. 
Ixxv.,  E.L.  81-2).  But  the  most  important  passage  about  him 
occurs  in  a  faked  letter  to  the  Abate  Paolo  (see  684-725  below  and 
Appendix  IV. )  in  which  it  was  pretended  that  Pompilia  wrote  : 
'  My  mother  told  the  Bishop  and  Signer  Guido,  and  then  all  over 
the  town,  that  the  Signer  Canon  my  brother-in-law  had  made  dis- 
honourable advances  to  me,  a  thing  never  thought  of  by  the  same '. 
The  story  of  the  alleged  advances,  which  this  letter  was  intended 
to  discredit,  is  taken  as  fact  in  the  poem  and  emphasized  as  a  terrible 
addition  to  Pompilia's  troubles.  See  II.  1292-3  (where  they  are 
represented  as  prompted  by  Guido  and  his  mother),  VI.  842-6, 
VII.  808-14  (where  Guido  is  said  to  '  see  this,  know  this,  and  let 
be'),  X.  896-909. 

504.  Four  months.]  See  Appendix  III.  Of  the  'probation'  the 
fullest  if  not  the  most  accurate  account  in  the  records  is  that  of  the 
Franceschini' s  servant  Angelica  Battista  (0.  Y.B.  xlix.-liii.,  E.L. 
49-53). 

513.  gossip,  cater-cousin  and  sib.]  Cf.  Fust  and  his  Friends  (in 
Parleyings]  ad  fin.,  'thy  gossipry,  cousin  and  sib'.  For  'cater- 
cousin  '  see  Merchant  of  Venice,  2.  2.  139,  '  His  master  and  he 
[Shylock  and  Launcelot  Gobbo]  are  scarce  cater-cousins',  i.e., 


BOOK  1L— HALF -ROM  i:  41 

apparently,  an-  hardly  on  speaking  terms.     There  is  no  ground  for 
the  current  explanation.  '  four!  h  eousins '.    The  word  occurs  again  in 
I '  tin    Mn-iinii'l,  vm. 

.'•:M.  jln in/  irltnl  <lues,  etc.]  According  to  the  Guidoite  First 
Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  cxliii.,  E.L.  147),  with  which  the 
POM  Browning  Pamphlet  (0.  Y.B.  219,  E.L.  272)  agrees,  '  when  they 
derided  to  return  to  Rome,  as  soon  as  they  expressed  their  wishes, 
they  \vcn-  provided  [by  Guido  |  with  money  for  the  journey,  and  at 
Rome  with  furniture'.  The' Secondary  Source  says  that  Guido 
'scarcely  gave  them  what  was  necessary  for  the  journey'  (O.  Y.B.  210, 
/•:./,.  260). 

Cursed.]  Substituted  in  the  second  edition  for  *  And  the ' ; 
a  decided  improvement. 

A  tin  I  in 'I  his  eighty  years.]  This  is  not  quite  consistent 
either  with  X.  166,  where  the  Pope  speaks  of  himself  as  86  in 
February  1698,  or  with  fact,  for  he  was  born  in  March  1615. 

540.  held  Jubilee.]  It  is  stated  in  XII.  59-62  that  the  Pope 
proposed  '  to  hold  Jubilee  a  second  time  '  if  he  lived  till  the  December 
of  1698  ;  what  such  a  Jubilee  would  commemorate  we  are  not  told. 

From  the  time  of  Paul  II.  (1464-71)  ordinary  jubilees  have  been 
held  in  every  twenty-fifth  year  (the  last  was  held  in  1900).  Extra- 
ordinary jubilees  are  also  held  on  special  occasions,  e.g.  on  the 
accession  of  a  new  pope.  These,  it  is  explained,  are  not  jubilees 
in  the  full  sense,  but  only  indulgent  iaeplenariae  in  forma  iubilaei. 

All  this  is  described  more  fully  in  IV.  145-91  ;  see 
O.Y.B.  i.\.,  exliii.,  E.L.  11  (where  lotrix,  *  washer- wife  ',  is  wrongly 
translated),  147. 

::.]    Proverbs  xii.  4. 

576.  theJItujniHt  Jifhj  years.]  So  in  III.  192  Violante  is  said  to 
have  been  '  far  over  fifty ',  and  in  IV.  75  to  have  been  '  fifty  and 
over  ',  in  1680,  the  year  of  Pompilia's  birth  ;  in  I.  798  and  II.  195 
she  and  1  Metro  are  said  to  have  been  'aged  seventy  each'  when 
murdered  in  January  1698. 

The  poet  evidently  based  these  statements  on  the  Secondary 

iroe,  which  speaks  of  the  Comparini  vaguely  as  '  two  old  septua- 
genarians '  at  the  time  of  their  death  (O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  265) ;  he 
overlooked  or  ignored  the  more  exact  assertion  of  the  Second 
Anonymous  pamphleteer  that  Violante  was  48  in  1680  (O.Y.B. 
i..  E.L.  214) — which  agrees  with  the  San  Lorenzo  Register. 
when-  ~.\}{.  is  said  to  have  died  in  eta  dianni  nn  in  circa  (Treves, 
p.  :•«»«» >.  1'ietro  died,  says  this  Register,  /'//  tin  di  anni  'I'.i  in  circa. 

580-83.  ]    Bee  above,  20956??. 

7.  lniMt-HoJ]     Kven    the   Guidoite   pamphleteer   does   not 
i    olmimtuch  financial  (lisinten  for  Guido  ;  see  O.  Y.B.  cxliii. - 

iv..  /•;./..  I  17-8. 

i'.m;,o.  |     Cuido    is    not    repre>riit.-d    as    making    this    point    in 

.  V. 


42  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

658.  slanders  written,  printed,  published  wide.]  Cf.  IV.  640-43, 
V.  764  seqq.  The  records  often  refer  to  these  alleged  '  slanders  '  ; 
see  e.g.  O.Y.B.  cxliv.,  E.L.  148,  where  we  are  told  that  soon  after 
the  return  of  the  Comparini  there  was  '  a  copious  distribution  of 
scritture  throughout  Rome,  which  Pietro  had  had  printed  to  the  very 
serious  prejudice  of  the  honour  of  the  Franceschini '.  It  appears 
from  O.Y.B.  xxxiii.,  E.L.  32,  that  the  Comparini  circulated  '  most 
mordant  writings  '  against  Guido  in  Arezzo  also. 

672-3.]  See  the  deposition  of  the  servant  Angelica  Battista 
(O.Y.B.  li.-lii.,  E.L.  51-2),  and  above,  473-4. 

673.  six  clamorous  mouths],  her  own  and  those  of  Guido, 
Girolamo,  Pompilia,  Pietro,  and  Violante. 

676.  with  stale  fame  for  sauce.]  Has  much  more  point  than  the 
'  with  three  pauls'  worth'  sauce  '  of  the  earlier  editions. 

684-725.]  The  letter  here  described  is  given  in  full  in  O.Y.B. 
lv.,  Ixxxvii.,  (E.L.  56-7).  See  Appendix  IV. 

690.  qualified  the  couple  properly.]    The  letter  speaks  of  '  their 
perverse  commands,  contrary  to  law  human  and  divine ','  of  '  their 
express  command  to  murder  her  husband  and  poison  his  family', 
of  '  their  wicked  counsels '  generally.     Browning  originally  wrote 
'handsomely',  but  on  the  second  revision  substituted  'properly', 
a  favourite  word  of  his  in  the  same  sense  ;  cf.  e.g.  XII.  112, '  Cardinal 
Bouillon  triumphs  properly'. 

691.  hell,  she  said,  was  heaven.]     '  Now  that  I  have  not  her  who 
stirred  up  my  mind  I  enjoy  a  quiet  of  Paradise '. 

692.  peals.]    Cf.  Samson  Agonistes,  235,  '  vanquished  by  a  peal 
of  words  '  ;  Paradise  Lost,  2.  920,  '  nor  was  his  ear  less  pealed  with 
noises  loud  '. 

693.  Carmel  where   the   lilies   live.]    The   profusion   of   flowers 
upon  Mount  Carmel  is  proverbial ;    but  lilies   are  not  specially 
mentioned  in  the  Bible  in  connection  with  it. 

696.  to  this  very  end.]     Explained  by  what  follows. 

716.]  The  grammar  of  the  long  sentence  breaks  down  here. 
'  [Her  parents']  last  injunction  to  her  had  been  that  she  should  pick 
up  a  fresh  companion,  helped  by  whom  she  .  .  .  having  put  poison 
.  .  .  [having]  laid  hands  .  .  .  and  [having]  fired  the  house '  ought 
to  be  followed  by  '  should  scurry  off  '  ;  but  the  speaker  breaks  off, 
and  starts  afresh  with  '  one  would  finish.  .  .  .' 

723.  But  gave  all  Rome,  etc.]  The  letter,  which  is  dated  June  14, 
1694,  was  no  doubt  produced  by  Paolo  in  the  suit  for  the  nullification 
of  the  dowry-contract,  and  so  became  public  property. 

727-8.  the  Abate  had  no  choice,  etc.]  By  '  a  mandate  of  procura- 
tion', dated  October  7,  1694,  Guido  appointed  Paolo  to  act  for  him 
in  all  lawsuits  to  which  he  was  a  party  (0.  Y.B.  civil.,  E.L.  162). 

735-44.]  The  civil  suit  referred  to  was  brought  by  Pietro  against 
Guido  '  before  Monsignor  Tomati '  ;  its  object  was  to  procure  the 
nullification  of  the  dowry-contract,  on  the  ground  that  there  was 


BOOK  II.-  HALF-ROME  43 

conclusive  proof  that   Pompilia  was  not   1  Metro's  daughter  ;    but  in 
of  tin-  evidence  of  >i\  vritneeeec  to  that  eileet  Tomati  decided 


toli-avi-  Pompilia  in  <i/«i*i  fxixst  ssiini'  JillutiiHti*  and  left  t  h"  contract 
undi.-tuibed.  Against  this  decision  Pietro  appealed  'to  the  Sacred 
llota.  l>.  -ton-  Monsignor  Molines',  l.ut  tin-  a  ppeal  was  still  undecided 
when  Pompilia  died. 

The  fact-  are  Mated  as  above  in  many  places  in  the  records  (see 
e-peeially  u.  )  .11.  ooxu.,  /•,'./,.  "2\-\),  but  it  is  said  in  one  place  that  the 
original  hearing  was  '  before  the  Court  of  the  Sacred  Rota  '  (O.Y.B. 
L,    I\.L.    -1(>).    and    in    another    that   the  appeal  was  to  the 
iiu  a  di  C.iusti/ia  '  (O.Y.B.  cxliv.,  E.L.  148). 
.t  lu-r  retVrences  to  this  suit  in  the  poem,  see  III.  646-87,  IV. 
1308-16. 

7  I'.i.  tin  tlniihle  verdicts  favoured  here.]  Similarly  the  Other  Half- 
Koine  says  that 

the  Court,  its  customary  way, 
Inclined  to  the  middle  course  the  sage  affect. 

(III.  670-71  ;  cf.  III.  1379-80,  1395-7.) 

754.  Counter-appeal  on  Guide?  s.]  Cf.  III.  681-8  ;  but  Browning 
is  to  be  wrong  in  supposing  that  Guido  appealed  against  this 
judgment  or  had  any  motive  for  so  doing. 

776.  something  like  four  time*  her  mm.  \  Pompilia  was  13  at  the 
time  ;  Guido  was  46  according  to  Browning,  but  in  fact  only  36. 
See  note  on  291  above. 

787.  rwr/x  that  cindered  to  the  tonsure  quite..]    Cf.  1217,  where  the 
speaker  says  that  Caponsacchi  was  relegated  to  Civita  '  to  re-trim 
his  ton-un     ;   VII.  911,  '  whose  tonsure  the  rich  dark-brown  hides'. 
'Brother  Clout  and  Father  Slouch',  priests  of  another  type,  are 
described  as  '  bald  many  an  inch  beyond  the  tonsure's  need  '  (VI. 
379). 

788.  a  bishop  in  the  bud.]    Cf.   VI.   258,   where   Caponsacchi 
explains  how  it  was  that  he  was  *  bishop  in  the  egg  '. 

T'.iJ.  a  xninl  of  Caesar's  household.]  Philippians  iv.  22.  St. 
Paul's  '  saint-  that  are  of  Caesar's  household  '  were  '  probably  slaves 
and  freedmen  '  (Lightfoot),  but  Half-Koine,  like  many  of  the  com- 
mentators, takes  them  to  be  persons  of  high  position  at  the  imperial 
court. 

TM  i  :,.  1  Browning  often  uses  as  an  illustration  the  legend  of  the 
-laving  of  the  Python  by  Apollo  ;  cf.  Old  Masters  in  Florence,  xm., 
TheTwo  Poets  of  Cr<>i«i>\  r\xi.  The  illustration  is  hardly  happy  here. 
for  Pompilia  makes  hut  a  poor  Python  ;  l>ut  the  poet  could  not  re-i-t 

th--  temptation  to  '  Apollos  turned  Apollo'. 
796-7.]    cf.  III.  853  i  : 

hi   .   .   . 

:nl  of  his  I'Miiilo's]  nor  free  o'  the  house; 


44  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

and  IV.  935-8.  These  statements  do  not  agree  with  the  records. 
In  the  Process  of  Flight  Pompilia  deposed  :  '  Caponsacchi  is  not 
related  in  any  way  to  my  husband,  but  was  certainly  a  friend  ' 
(O.Y.B.  Ixxxv.,  E.L.  94),  while  Caponsacchi  simply  said  that  Guido 
was  no  relation  of  his  (0.  Y.B.  Ixxxix.,  E.L.  97).  One  of  the  lawyers, 
wishing  probably  to  justify  Pompilia'  s  choice  of  an  escort,  says  that 
Caponsacchi  was  related  to  Guido,  'as  is  supposed'  (O.Y.B.  Ixi., 
E.L.  66). 

r  801.  threw  comfits  at  the  theatre.'}  An  incorrect  reference  to  an 
incident  which  Browning  treated  as  of  supreme  importance.  See 
note  on  IV.  944. 

806.  a  certain  haunt  of  doubtful  fame.}  See  Introduction  to  Book 
VI.,  ad  fin. 

816.  At  the  villa.]  Guido  had  a  vineyard  with  a  house  of  some 
sort  at  Vittiano,  a  hamlet  (described  in  Treves,  p.  182)  some  nine 
miles  from  Arezzo  on  the  road  to  Perugia  ;  it  was  at  this  '  villa  ' 
that  he  enlisted  his  rustic  confederates  (O.Y.B.  cxxviii.,  E.L. 
135-6).  The  villa  is  often  mentioned  in  the  poem,  e.g.  in  IIL  309, 
1575,  V.  253,  364,  1006,  1142. 

821  seqq.~\  Caponsacchi  as  fox  takes  the  place  of  the  horned  and 
hoofed  Satan  of  770-72. 

824.  Mum  here  and  budget  there.}    Cf.  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor, 
5.  2.  5,  '  We  have  a  nay-  word  [pass-word]  how  to  know  one  another  : 
I  ...  cry  "  mum  "  ;   she  cries  "budget"  '.     The  N.E.D.  suggests 
that  '  mumbudget  '  was  '  perhaps  originally  the  name  of  a  children's 
game  in  which  silence  was  required  '  ;  it  quotes  from  a  writer  of  1564 
'  nowe  ye  playe  mumme  budget  and  scilence  glumme  ',  and  from 
another  of  1622  '  I  was  Mum-budget  and  durst  not  open  my  lips'. 

825.  The  musk  o'  the  gallant.]     Cf.  I.  928-9,  '  some  man  of  quality 
.  .  .  breathing  musk  from  lace-work  and  brocade  '  ;  VI.  1877. 

832.  horn-madness.]  Applied  originally,  says  N.E.D.,  to  horned 
beasts  enraged  to  the  point  of  threatening  one  another  with  their 
horns  (cf.  Virgil's  irasci  in  cornua],  but  sometimes  applied  by  word- 
play  to  the  rage  of  a  cuckold  ;  see  Comedy  of  Errors,  2.  1.  57  :  — 

D.    Why,  mistress,  sure  my  master  is  horn-mad. 

A.     Horn-mad,  them  villain  ? 

D.    I  mean  not  cuckold-mad  :  but,  sure,  he  is  stark  mad. 


'  To  give  a  man  horns  '  (K^para  iroieiv  TIVL)  was  a  Greek  proverbial 
phrase  for  cuckolding  him. 

855-6.]     See  note  on  VI.  653. 

866.  The  fox],  who  was  Caponsacchi  in  line  838,  seems  here 
to  include  Pompilia  ;  together  they  are  one  of  the  '  two  parties  ' 
of  865. 

877.  Had  he  to  reconduct  her.]  Browning's  authority  for  this 
related  to  an  earlier  period,  before  Caponsacchi  came  upon  the  scene. 
See  the  letter  of  the  Governor,  dated  August  2,  1694  :  '  when  she 


BOOK  ii.    ii  M.I-'  no  Mi':  45 

had  been  reprimanded  liy  \}\\>  ino>t   prudent   prelate,  he  ;il\v;i\ 
her    home    in    a   carriage'    (O.Y.I;.    Ixxxi.,    A'./..    S'.l)  :     and    that   of 
tin-  Bishop,  dated  September  l.~>  in  tin-  same  year  :    *  That  she  might 
not  liecome  even  more  exasperated  I  had  her  conducted  home  twice 
at  least  in  my  carriage'  (O.Y.B.  xci.,  E.L.  99). 

888.  who   was   right  ?\    Guido    or    his   friends  ?     See    the    last 
paragraph  but  one. 

889.  One  merry  April  morn  ing.]     According  to  the  records  that  of 
Monday,  April  29,  1697,  but  according  to  Browning,  who  changes 
the  date  intentionally,  that  of  Tuesday,  April  23.     See  note  on  III. 
1065-6. 

890.  After  the  cuckoo.]    The  cuckoo  is  of  course  an  early  bird,  so 
that  '  \\aking  after  the  cuckoo  '  would  be  an  ironical  understatement 
for  late  waking.     The  point  here  is  that  Caponsacchi  is  the  cuckoo  ; 
he  has  been  beforehand  with  Guido,  cuckolded  him,  made  him  a 
wilt  i)l,  and  has  now  carried  his  wife  off.     Cf.  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor, 
2.  1.  126-7,  where  Pistol  cautions  the  jealous  husband  Ford  : — 

Take  heed,  have  open  eye,  for  thieves  do  foot  by  ni^lit  : 
Take  heed,  ere  summer  comes  or  cuckoo-birds  do  sing. 

The  cuckoo  '  mocks  married  men  * ;   '  cuckoo  '  is  a 

word  of  fear 
Unpleasing  to  a  married  ear. 

(Love's  Labour's  Lost,  5.  2.  908-12.) 

891-3.]  It  is  stated  in  the  Sentence  of  the  Criminal  Court  of 
Florence  that  to  prevent  pursuit  Pompilia  put  an  opiate  into  her 
husband's  wine  at  supper  (O.Y.B.  v.,  E.L.  5),  and  the  alleged  fact 
is  often  mentioned  both  in  the  records  and  in  the  poem.  See 
Bottini's  justification  of  it  in  O.Y.B.  clxxvii.  (E.L.  184)  and  in  IX. 

:;o. 

894-6.]  Pompilia  was  accused  at  Arezzo  of  having  carried  off 
money  and  other  valuables,  of  which  a  list  is  given,  '  from  an 
inginocchiatoio  locked  with  a  key  which  she  took  from  her  husband's 
breeches'  (O.Y.B.  vi.,  E.L.  6).  Pompilia  says  in  her  deposition 
(O.Y.B.  Ixxxv.,  E.L.  93)  that  what  she  took  from  a  sgrigno 
(Browning's  '  scritoire  ')  was  her  own  property  ;  see  further  in  the 
note  on  IX.  653.  Guido  alludes  to  '  the  effraction,  robbery  '  as 

features  of  the  fault 
I  never  eared  to  dwell  upon  at   Koine. 

(V.  1907-8.) 

899.  candid],  i.e.  pure,  as  in  IX.  475. 

years.]    Pompilia  (born  in  July  1680)  was  close 

Upon   seventeen. 

!«>!i.  .s>>//"/  the  Philistine.]     Suggested  by  Exodn>  iii.  L'L'. 


46  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

910.  In  company  of  the  Canon.]    See  note  on  VI.  1080-84. 

934.  One  Guillichini.]  Gregorio  Guillichini  was  accused  before 
the  court  at  Arezzo  of  '  dishonest  amours  '  with  Pompilia,  of  having 
joined  in  persuading  her  to  flee  with  Caponsacchi,  of  having  taken 
part  in  the  theft  of  Guide's  property,  and  of  having  helped  in  con- 
ducting her  to  the  carriage  in  which  she  fled.  On  these  charges 
he  was  condemned  by  the  Commissioner  to  five  years  in  the  galleys 
at  Portoferraio  (in  Elba),  but  the  sentence  was  modified  by  the 
Florence  Court. 

He  is  not  mentioned  in  the  depositions  made  by  Caponsacchi 
and  Pompilia  during  the  Process  of  Flight  at  Rome,  but  in  a  letter 
written  to  the  Comparini  from  Castelnuovo  on  May  3, 1697,  Pompilia 
says  that  he  was  to  have  accompanied  her  in  the  flight,  but  that 
sickness  prevented  his  doing  so  (see  note  on  VI.  2024). 

In  the  records  of  the  murder-trial  he  is  quoted  by  the  prosecution 
as  having  said  before  the  flight  that  Pompilia  would  be  quite  safe 
with  Caponsacchi  as  there  was  no  harm  between  them  (0.  Y.B.  Ixxiii., 
E.L.  80),  and  that  Caponsacchi  was  going  to  Rome  for  good  reasons. 
The  other  references  to  Guillichini  in  these  records  are  to  the  same 
effect ;  he  was  related  to  Guido,  and  it  is  argued  that  his  further- 
ance of  the  flight  with  Caponsacchi  shows  that  he  had  no  mistrust 
of  him.  Guide's  advocates  do  not,  I  think,  mention  him. 

Allusions  to  Guillichini  in  the  poem  (V.  1016,  VI.  2028,  2036-40, 
VII.  1306,  XI.  1666-7)  are  based  either  on  the  Arezzo  sentence  or 
on  Pompilia's  letter. 

943  seqq.~\  Full  accounts  of  the  journey  are  given  by  Caponsacchi 
and  Pompilia  in  Books  VI.  and  VII. 

944.  Guided  and  guarded.].  The  phrase  constantly  recurs  in 
Browning,  e.g. In"  V.  451,  816,  VII.  153.  See  note  on  IX.  1039. 

958.  Camoscia.]    A  village  17  miles  from  Arezzo,  at  the  foot 
of  the  hill  on  which  Cortona  stands.     (The  Cortona  railway  station, 
a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  town,  is  near  this  village.)     The  speaker 
is  meant  to  be  incorrect  when  he  says  that  Guido  was  '  too  late 
by  a  minute  only  at  Camoscia  '  ;  for  the  fugitives  started  at  1  A.M., 
and    Guido  didn't  wake  till  near  noonday  (890).     See  the  next 
note. 

959.  Chiusi.]     Browning  was  well  acquainted  with  the  road  from 
Arezzo  to  Foligno  and  Rome,  for  he  had  often  driven  over  it  at  his 
leisure  (see  note  on  VI.  1176  seqq.).     He  must  therefore  have  known 
what  Half-Rome  did  not  know,  that  .the  fugitives  went  nowhere 
near  Chiusi. 

966-7.]     See  note  on  VI.  1398. 

972.  at  early  evening.]  On  the  very  important  question  of  the 
time  of  the  arrival  at  Castelnuovo  see  note  on  VII.  1580-84. 

978.]     See  note  on  VI.  1401. 

999.  flung  the  cassock  far,  etc.]  See  VI.  1120-22,  where  Capon- 
sacchi instructs  his  servant  before  the  journey  : — 


HOOK   II.     //.I/,/-'  //o.l//-;  47 

Provide  me  with  a  laic  dress!  .  .   . 

a  a  sword  in  case  of  accident. 

In  O.Y.li.  e\i.  (K.L.  119)  Arcangeli  maintains  that  the  fact 
that  ( 'aponsaeehi,  though  an  ecclesiastic,  was  dressed  in  'laic 
olotl  libus  liii/riilihux  indutus)  'brings  no  small  weight  to 

th«  |u-iM)f  of  adult«  iv.  To  which  Bottini  replies  (O.Y.B.  clxxix.- 

\\.,  i'..L.  ISO)  that  it  does  nothing  of  the  sort ;  for  (1)  '  as  he  is 
no  priest  '  -'I  am  merely  a  sub-deacon,'  said  Caponsacchi  in  his 
deposition  (O.Y.B.  xc.,  E.L.  97) — such  wear  cannot  be  said  to 
he  forbidden  him  on  a  journey  ;  and  (2)  he  may  have  worn  it  in  good 
fait  h,  to  conceal  himself  and  avert  scandal '.  Browning  often  refers 
t..  the  point  (e.g.  in  III.  1259-61,  V.  1049-51). 

1001.  over  shoes  over  boots.]    Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  1 . 1. 24,  25. 

1011.  abashless.]  Used  again  in  III.  897;  apparently  coined 
(on  false  analogy)  by  Browning. 

1012.]  Lamparelli  brings  evidence  to  prove  that  such  an 
'  ingenuous  protestation '  was  '  made  by  the  Canon,  in  the  very 
of  arrest  at  the  Castelnuovo  inn,  to  the  husband  himself,  who 
t lii-re  relinked  him  for  such  a  flight:  "I  am  a  man  of  honour 
(galanf  huomo)  and  what  I  have  done  I  did  to  save  your  wife  from 
the  danger  of  death"  '  (O.Y.B.  ccxlix.,  E.L.  246). 

1018.  At  Rome.]  According  to  the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet 
the  authorities  at  Castelnuovo  sent  the  fugitives  to  Rome  at  Guide's 
'instance'  (O.Y.B.  ccxv.,  E.L.  217),  and  the  same  thing  is  said 
in  IV.  1118-21  ;  but  here  and  elsewhere  in  the  poem  (II.  1058-60, 
V.  1175,  VI.  1575-84)  it  is  Caponsacchi  who  appealed  to  Rome. 

1031.  caught  at  the  sword.]  The  incidents  of  the  scene,  which 
would  be  a  fine  subject  for  an  artist,  were  collected  by  Browning 
from  various  places  in  the  Old  Yellow  Book.  That  Pompilia  drew 
a  sword  and  threatened  Guido  with  it  is  asserted  by  Guide's 
advocates  (O.Y.B.  xvii.,  cxiv.,  cxxxi.,  E.L.  18,  122,  138),  but 
they  do  not  say  that  it  was  Guidons  sword,  as  is  stated  in  the 
poem  (ef.  1 1 1.  1163,  1291,  VI.  1544,  IX.  894,  X.  1083) ;  indeed  they 
are  in« -lim •<!  to  deny,  though  sometimes  they  admit,  that  he  had 
a  sword  (O.Y.B.  cxliv.,  cxiv.,  cf.  e\<  i\.  •  E.L.  148,  122,  cf. 
203V  I'.iowning's  Arcangeli  admits  both  a  sword  and  a  pistol 
•  V  1 1 1 .  L'  1  :M  .">).  According  to  the  post- Browning  pamphlet  Pompilia 
•<*aeeh?8  sword  which  lay  upon  the  table  '  (0.  Y.B.  221, 

I-;.L. 

1038.  pinked]  =  l  pierced  with  holes'  ;   cf.  Henry  VIII.  5.  4.  50, 
g  »f  the  Shrew,  4.   1.   136.     The  N.E.D.  quotes  from  Ben 
ii  :      !',y  my  In  ad,  1  will  pinck  your  flesh  full  of  holes  with  my 
i  >l  me  to  play  with  the  word,  as  though  it  had 

to  do  with  colour  ('  With  a   flourish  of  red  all  round  it  ").      Romeo 
and  Meivutio  play  upon  the  \\or.l  -omcwhat  similarly  in  /bunco  and 
'    I.  61-4. 


48  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1041.  such  invective,  etc.]  Based  on  the  Second  Anonymous 
Pamphlet  (O.  Y.B.  ccxiv.,  E.L.  216)  and  the  Secondary  Source 
(0.7.5.  211,  #.£.262). 

1043-8.]  So  IX.  929-42  ;  Caponsacchi  gives  a  very  different 
account  in  VI.  1560-63. 

1044.  sbirri],  otherwise  capotari,  the  papal  police ;  called 
birruarii  in  the  Latin  of  0.  Y.B. 

105,5.  nose  to  face,  an  added  palm  in  length.]  Cf.  Red  Cotton 
Night-Cap  Country,  in.,  where,  when  the  hopes  of  Leonce  Miranda's 
relatives  are  suddenly  dashed,  we  are  told  that 

Cousin  regarded  cousin,  turned  up  eye, 
And  took  departure,  as  our  Tuscans  laugh, 
Each  with  his  added  palm-breadth  of  long  nose. 

'  Restare  con  un  palmo  di  naso,  to  be  left  with  a  long  nose,  i.e.  to 
be  disappointed  in  one's  reasonable  expectations '  (Hoare's  Italian 
Dictionary). 

1068-76.]  For  these  letters,  alleged  to  have  been  found  in  the 
inn  (or  in  the  prison)  at  Castelnuovo,  see  Appendix  IV. 

1082.  He  might  go  cross  himself :  the  case  was  clear.]  '  Well  ? 
it  is  finished.  Let  us  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  it',  says  a 
character  in  Marion  Crawford's  Casa  Braccio  (c.  xxxiii.).  The 
author  explains  that  '  the  common  Roman  phrase '  signifies  '  that 
a  matter  is  ended  and  buried,  as  it  were',  but  he  adds  that  its  use 
'  jarred  upon  '  the  lady  to  whom  the  words  were  spoken ;  for  her 
'  the  smallest  religious  allusion  had  a  real  meaning  '. 

1 127.  repugns  give  glance.]  The  use  of  '  repugn  '  with  an  infinitive 
(with  or  without  'to')  is  not  noticed  in  the  N.E.D.  It  is  one  of 
Browning's  frequent  Gallicisms. 

1 131-2.  '  Not  my  hand ',  Asserts  the  friend.]   See  VI.  1662-5,  note. 

1132-3.]     See  Appendix  IV. 

1141.  fardel]  =  '  bundle '  ;  cf.  1126  above,  'the  letters'  bundled 
beastliness  '.  The  word  sometimes  means  '  burden  ',  as  in  Hamlet's 
soliloquy  (3.  1.  76).  Cf.  Winter's  Tale,  4.  4.  727. 

1183.  Nowise  an  exile, — that  were  punishment.]  Compare  what 
Ovid  says  of  his  '  relegation ',  with  which  Browning  often  compares 
Caponsacchi's  : — 

Adde,  quod  edictum,  quamvis  immite  minaxque, 

Attamen  in  poenae  nomine  lene  fuit ; 
Quippe  relegatus,  non  exsul,  dicor  in  illo. 

(Tristia,  2.  135-7.) 

1198.  those  good  Convertites.]  Browning  confuses  throughout 
(1)  the  Conservatorio  di  Santa  Croce  della  Penitenza,  also  called  Le 
Scalette,  which  is  in  the  Via  Lungara  (O.Y.B.  211,  221,  E.L.  262, 
275) — described  in  Treves,  pp.  126-9  ;  and  (2)  the  nunnery  of  Santa 


BOOK  II.—  HALF-ROM  i:  49 

h'tni  il<ll<'  <  '<>»  r>  ititf  ,  now  pulled  down  (Treves,  p.  104), 
which  was  in  the  <'<>rso  (<>.}'.  11.  cdix.-celxii.,  K.L.  252-6).  It  was 
he  former  that  J'oinpiiia  was  sent  by  the  judges  in  the  Process 
of  Fli-l.t  (O.Y.I.,  oxlvii,  ccxxii.,  /•;./..'  151,  223);  the  latter  laid 
claim  to  1'ompilia's  proj)erty  on  the  ground  of  its  right  of  inheritance 
to  the  property  of  loose  women  (O.Y.B.  cxxx.,  cclix.,  E.L.  137,  252). 

The  mistakr  is  of  no  great  importance  except  in  relation  to  the 
Pope's  severe  (and  unwarranted)  animadversion  on  '  the  Monastery 
ca  I  led  of  Convert  ites'  (X.  1494-1531). 

1201.  patiently  possess  her  soul].     Luke  xxi.  19. 

1217.  re-trim  hi*  tonsure.]    See  note  on  787  above. 

1221.  a  like  sufferer  in  the  cause.]    Ovid  was  suddenly  ordered, 
l»y  an  imperial  edict  in  A.D.  8,  to  leave  Rome  on  an  appointed  day 
and  betake  himself  to  Tomi  (where  Costanza  now  is  ?)  in  the  dreary 
region  of  the  Dobrudja.     Was  he,  as  Half-Rome  says,  a  sufferer  in 
t  h<-  same  cause  as  Caponsacchi  ?     It  was,  no  doubt,  officially  stated 
that  his  offence  was  the  publication  of  his  Ars  Amatoria,  but  that 
had  happened  ten  years  earlier.     Ovid's  own  hints  on  the  subject 
(Tristia,  2.  103,  3.  5,  49)  are  mysterious  ;  Boissier  (L1  Opposition  sous 
les  CisarSy  c.  iii.  §  2)  suggests  a  probable  explanation. 

1222.  Planted  a  primrose~patch]t  an  oasis  in  the  desert  ;    but 
does  the  phrase  imply  that  he  followed  *  the  primrose  path  of 
dalliance  '  or  simply  that  he  turned  out  verses  ?     Probably  it  implies 
both  (1223-7)  ;    but  it  is  to  his  poetry  that  Ovid  referred  under  a 
like  metaphor  when  he  wrote  : 

(Jui.  sterili  totiens  cum  sim  deceptus  in  arvo, 
Damnosa  persto  condere  semen  humo 

(Epp.  Pont.  1.  6.  33); 

Hanc  messem  satis  est  si  mihi  reddit  humus 

(Ibid.  56). 

—  .  where.]    Civita,  not  Pontus,  is  the  antecedent. 

1230.  the  aforesaid  Converges.]    See  note  on  1198  above. 

iL'i'.L*.  like  linnets  o'er  the  flax.]  Linnets  (French  linots)  are  so 
.•ailed  from  the  flax  (linum)  which  is  their  chief  food.  The  reference 
to  spinning  here  makes  the  comparison  specially  appropriate. 

liMl.  1  The  1'ontifex  .Maximus  had  the  full  patria  potestas  over 
t  he  Vestal  Virgins  ;  he  could  and  did  flog  them  with  his  own  hand, 
if  they  neglected  their  duties. 

I  -!'.».  ofoldHead-C-the-Sackyetc.]  See  the  note  on  Caponsacchi'  s 
full.  -i  i  VI.  228-38)  to  '  Capo-in-Sacco  our  pnmenitor  '. 

iL'.'il.  to  Jirk.\  N.E.D.  quotes  from  a  writer  of  1567:  'I  had 
tirk'd  him  trimly,  1  hou  villain,  if  thou  hadst  L'iven  me  my  sword'. 
Ct  //•»"/  V.  L4.  L".I. 


l_7n.  c.inulinn    li<tt>  .  \     Canidia    is    the    malignant    sorceress    of 
Horace'.-  &Oiir«4  and 


50  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1272.  First  fire-drop.]  We  do  not  discover  what  this  fire-drop 
was  till  we  reach  the  next  paragraph  ;  the  speaker  loses  himself  in 
the  circumstances  which  preceded  its  application. 

1285.]     See  note  on  III.  1480. 

1292.  Love  from  that  brother.]    See  note  on  500-503  above. 

1297-8.]     See  note  on  727-8  above. 

1306.]  *  The  scorpion's  long  slender  tail  is  formed  of  six  joints, 
the  last  of  which  ends  in  a  very  acute  sting  which  effuses  a  venomous 
liquid '  (Imperial  Dictionary). 

1323.  after  full  three  long  weeks.]  Caponsacchi  was  relegated  to 
Civita  Vecchia  by  a  decree  dated  September  24,  1697,  and  it  seems 
to  be  implied  in  the  records  that  Pompilia  was  sent  to  Le  Scalette 
at  the  same  time  ;  she  gave  her  bond  to  keep  to  Pietro's  house  as  a 
prison  (habere  hanc  Domum  D.  Petri  .  .  .  pro  tuto  &  securo  carcere) 
on  October  12  (O.Y.B.  xcix.,  civ.,  E.L.  106,  159).  This  gives 
something  between  a  fortnight  and  three  weeks  for  her  time  at  Le 
Scalette. 

In  III.  1490-91  it  is  said  that  she  passed  five  months  '  among  the 
Convert  nuns',  a  statement  probably  based  on  the  assertion  of  the 
untrustworthy  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet  that  she  was  at  Le 
Scalette  for  'some  months'  (O.Y.B.  cxlvii.,  E.L.  151);  this 
would  mean  that  she  was  sent  there  soon  after  her  arrival  in  Rome 
at  the  beginning  of  May. 

Of  the  improbable  *  six  weeks '  of  IX.  1227  there  is,  as  Hodell 
points  out  (O.Y.B.  317),  no  suggestion  in  the  records. 

1331-8.]  This  passage  was  much  altered  (and  improved)  when 
Browning  revised  the  poem  in  1888-9.  In  the  earlier  editions  he 
had  written : — 

She  had  demanded — had  obtained  indeed, 

By  intervention  of  whatever  friends 

Or  perhaps  lovers— (beauty  in  distress 

In  one  whose  tale  is  the  town-talk  beside, 

Never  lacks  friendship's  arm  about  her  neck) — 

Not  freedom,  scarce  remitted  penalty, 

Solely  the  transfer  to  some  private  place 

Where  better  air,  more  light,  new  food  might  be — 

The  words  subsequently  altered  are  printed  in  italics. 

1333.  Or  perhaps  lovers.]  The  insinuation  is  made  in  the  First 
Anonymous  Pamphlet :  '  In  the  meantime  [?  late  summer  or  autumn 
of  1697]  Pietro  Comparing  abounding  with  money  furnished  him 
with  liberal  hand  by  an  unknown  person,  perhaps  a  lover  of  the 
young  woman,  was  triumphing  confidently  .  .  .  bragging  more- 
over that  she  would  soon  be  at  home  again  in  spite  of  the 
Franceschini '  (O.Y.B.  cxlvii.,  E.L.  151).  A  somewhat  mysterious 
allusion  in  the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet  to  '  that  kind  bene- 
factor '  who,  moved  by  compassion,  aided  the  Comparini  in  their 


HOOK   II.     1 1  M.I-   i:o. Ml-:  51 

la\\>iiii-.  and  t,i  procure  \vhosr  death  (iuido  had  laid  plots  (O.Y.B. 
ecxxiii.,  /•.'  /..  L'L'I),  refers  no  doubt  to  the  same  person,  who,  the 
writer  adds,  had  licen  at  Home  while  J'ompilia  was  at  Are/./.o  and 
could  not  IK-  suspected  of  misconduct  with  her. 

I:HL'.    Doniiis  pro  careen-.  |     Sec  note  on  1323. 

1  :;:><;.  ,/'/'/"/  ////  r<nninrtn-tliin<j.\    Above,  270-74  and  323. 

i:;i;i  x.  i    See  Appendix  II. 

i:J7i'.-7.  |  Cf.  V.  I  :'>*<).  where  Guido  says  that  in  the  autumn  of 
H'>!»7  his  wrongs  made  lu's  wine  '  acrid  with  the  toad's-head-squeeze, 
My  uife'.-  liesto\\  ment '.  The  toad  provides  adulterous  wives  in 
huenal  (,sv//.  1.  7(),  (i.  ().")<))  with  poison  for  their  husbands,  and  it 
pro\ide>  Horace's  Canidia  (Epodes,  5.  19;  see  above,  1270),  as  it 
provides  tlie  witches  in  Macbeth,  with  '  ingredients  for  her  caldron'. 

1383,  (,'iu-e  birth,  Sir,  to  a  child]  on  December  18,  1697  according 
to  Bottini  (O.Y.B.  clxxxiv.,  E.L.  189). 

1390.  what  »/v/.s-  a  bruin  became  a  blaze.]    Cf.  V.  1483. 

3.  clodpole]^'  blockhead',  a  favourite  word  with  Browning 
is  with  Shakespeare. 

1399-1400.]    Luke  xix.  40. 

1408.  One  final  essay,  last  experiment.]    In  the  same  way  Guido 
ibet  and  defends  his  *  Open  to  Caponsacchi ! '  as 

the  experiment,  the  final  test, 
Ultimate  chance  that  ever  was  to  be 
For  the  wretchedness  inside. 

(V.  1626-8.) 

<  ontraM   the  view  taken  by  the  Other  Half-Rome  (III.  1599- 

1  I.".:;  .").  |  Tin-  rhetoric  here  (the  'wave',  the  'filthy  walls')  was 
ted  l'\  the  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  cxlix.,  E.L. 
:  '  looking  upon  the  walls  incrusted  everywhere  with  his 
>t  disgraces,  the  dams  of  his  reason  broken  by  his  infamy,  he 

precipitated  himself,  etc.' 

1117.  Ai  //"  Hospital  bard  by.]  A  mistake;  Pompilia  died  in 
the  home  of  the  Comparini.  See  Appendix  II. 

I  Mil.   p  tin   Xcw  Prison.]     See  note  on  V.  324-5. 

I  17.",.  rirlliti/}  Italian  ciriltu.  ( 'f.  IV.  217,  '  civility  and  the 
mode'  :  VIM.  74:*,  'the  acknowledged  i:se  and  wont';  X.  972; 
X.  P.I7H-S:  the  '  new  tribunal',  says  the  Pope  sarcastically,  'Higher 
than  Cod's  the  educated  man's!  Nice  sense  of  honour  in  the 
human  l»rea>t  ;  X .  2017,  'the  spirit  of  culture'.  See  also  VI.  156, 
noic.  'Civility'  requires,  as  some  of  thoe  passages  show,  that 
hii>l.ands  should  lie  free  to  punish  faithless  wives. 

I  I7C>.  Astrtea.  \  The  Lr«nlde>s  of  .Justice,  who  left  the  world  when 
i<l.  n  .me  pa— .-d.  l.ut  icturns  with  the  ic-toration  of  good 
government,  of  religion,  of  morals  and  therefore,  a>  Dryden 
with  that  of  ( 'hallo  II.  Cf.  Ned  Bratts,  ad  fin. 


52  THE  KING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1487.  male-Grissel.~]  Griseld a,  the  type  of  meekness  and  patience, 
comes  from  the  last  tale  in  Boccaccio's  Decameron.  The  tale  so 
delighted  Petrarch  that  he  translated  it  into  Latin  and  told  it  to 
Chaucer  when  they  met  at  Padua  in  1373  ;  Chaucer  retold  it  in  his 
Clerk  of  Oxenford's  Tale. — In  the  earlier  editions  the  line  ran,  '  Of 
the  male-Grissel  or  the  modern  Job  ! ' 

1495.  by  some  Rolando-stroke.]    Cf.  XI.   304.     The  allusion  is 
to  '  Durindana's  trenchant  edge  '.     Durindana  was  the  marvellous 
sword  of  Rolando,  the  paladin  of  Charlemagne. 

1496.  clavicle]  =  collar-bone. 
1497-1503.]    Cf.  1140-45. 

1547.]  See  above,  937. — Compare  with  the  end  of  Book  II.  the 
end  of  the  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet,  on  which  pamphlet  the 
whole  Book  is  to  a  great  extent  based. 


BOOK  III.— THE  OTHER  HALF-ROME 

INTRODUCTION 

IN  the  course  of  his  summary  of  Book  III.  (I.  904)  the 
]>oct  says  that  the  monologue  which  it  contains  was  spoken 
three  days  after  the  murders,  which  would  fix  its  date  as 
January  5,  and  that  date  is  possibly  consistent  with  the 
'  since  four  days  '  of  III.  867  (depuis  quatre  jours,  counting 
in  both  the  2nd  and  the  5th),  but  it  is  inconsistent  with 
other  notices  (I.  846  and  894,  III.  36)  which  suggest  January 
4.  There  is  a  like  ambiguity  concerning  the  dates  of  the 
monologues  of  Guido  (V.)  and  Caponsacchi  (VI.),  but 
such  ambiguities  are  only  important  for  the  reason  given 
in  the  Introduction  to  Guido's  monologue. 

The  chief  interest  of  the  admirable  Book  III.  lies  in 
the  contrast  which  it  presents  to  Book  II.  ;  of  that  con- 
trast I  have  already  spoken  fully.  Here  I  will  only 
suggest  for  consideration  a  point  of  subordinate  importance. 
Browning  says  in  his  summaries  that  though  both  the 
speakers  were  *  honest  enough,  as  the  way  is ',  they  were 
both  led  astray  by  a  '  prepossession  ',  a  '  swerve  ',  a  '  fancy-  \ 
fit ',  which  '  neutralized  their  honesty '  and  brought  '  un- 
success  '  to  their  guesses  after  truth  ;  or  that  if,  in  the 
case  of  the  second  speaker,  some  measure  of  success  was 
attained,  it  was  attained  *  by  no  skill  but  more  luck ', 
the  luck  that  by  a  mere  whim  he  happened  to  take  the 
right  side1.  I  suggest  that  the  reader  may  profitably 
consider  whether  in  these  summaries  the  poet  does  full 
justice  to  tin-  iv|>ivscntativ<>  of  the  Other  Half  -  Rome. 
It  i>  true  that  this  excellent  person,  who  shows  a  delicacy 

'   T.  S47-B8, 


54  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

and  a  gravity  x  which  the  first  speaker  lacks,  has  not  always 
got  his  facts  quite  right — how  could  he,  when  the  case 
had  not  yet  been  investigated  and  rumour  was  on 
many  points  his  sole  source  of  information  ? — and  that 
we  may  detect  in  him  some  indications  of  bias  2 ;  but  he 
has  not  taken  a  side,  as  Browning  suggests,  at  random. 
His  speech  is  not  merely  a  more  or  less  honest,  and  a  more 
or  less  successful,  attempt  to  get  at  the  truth  from  the 
evidence  before  him  ;  it  is  on  the  whole  a  very  scrupulous 
attempt.  He  is  on  his  guard  against  the  prepossessions 
which  Pompilia's  sufferings  have  aroused  in  a  compassionate, 
and  her  beauty,  possibly,  in  an  inflammable  heart ;  he 
discounts  most  effectively  the  influences  of  this  latter 
'  source  of  swerving  '  in  66-82,  865  seqq.  On  one  crucial 
point  at  least — the  relations  of  Caponsacchi  and  Pompilia 
before  their  arrest — he  examines  all  relevant  considerations 
with  entire  candour,  giving  full  weight  to  those  which  make 
against  his  own  conclusion.  That  conclusion  is,  as  Brown- 
ing says,  that  Pompilia  is  '  a  martyr  '  ;  I  am  not  sure 
that  the  speaker  insists,  as  Browning  says  he  insists3, 
that  she  is  '  a  saint '  as  well 4  ;  he  seems  indeed  to  regard 
what  Bottini  calls  the  '  sainting  ' 5  of  her  as  having  been 
somewhat  overdone.  Meanwhile  his  conclusion  is  in  a 
general  way  the  same  as  the  Pope's 6  ;  and  though  he 
probes  less  deep  than  Innocent  and  speaks  (of  course)  with 
none  of  his  impressive  authority  and  wisdom,  he  is  perhaps 
more  careful  about  details  7  and  readier  to  listen  to  the 
other  side.  But  then  the  Pope,  when  he  soliloquizes  in 
Book  X.,  is  pronouncing  an  '  ultimate  judgment '  rather 
than  sifting  evidence  ;  the  latter  process  has,  for  the 
most  part,  preceded  his  soliloquy. 

In  the  Introduction  to  Book  II.  I  noticed  two  brilliant 
passages,  descriptive  and  rhetorical  respectively,  in  this 
Book  III.  ;  it  contains  others  which  make  a  different 
and  a  higher  appeal  —  the  self- vindications  which  the 
speaker  puts  into  the  mouths  o^fT^tponsaccnl  and  Pompilia, 

1  See  III.  83-90,  111-12,  137  seqq.,  220. 

2  E.g.  in  III.  1540-42,  1615-18,  1653-5.  3  i.  909. 

4  See,  however,  III.  111-14.  -r>  XII.  710. 

6  And  therefore  as  Browning's. 

7  The  Pope  blunders  badly  on  points  of  detail  in  X.  964  and  1494-1531. 


BOOK  1 1 1. —THE  OTHER  HALF-ROM  i:         .V> 

\orthy  of  their  own   monologues,  and  the  lines 
)  \\hirh  (lcsci-il)c  the  dawn  of  the  sense  of  mother- 


h<>od   in    Pompilia,   a  subject  which  always  evokes  from 
r>ro\\nin^  the  most  delicate  and  melodious  verse1. 

NOTES 

•I.  ffie  while  liospital-array.}    Cf.  35  below,  and  see  Appendix  II. 

."».  in  frit/him],  i.e.  to  take  fright;  this  intransitive  use  of  the 
verb  is  not  recognized  by  the  N.E.D.  Compare  Tennyson's  'the 
shepherd  gladdens  in  his  heart'. 

8-10.]  From  the  Secondary  Source:  'the  unhappy  Francesca 
Pompilia,  notwithstanding  all  the  wounds  with  which  she  had 
been  butehered,  implored  and  obtained  from  the  Holy  Virgin  the 
grace  of  being  able  to  confess  '  (0.  Y.B.  212,  E.L.  263). 

18.  The  Auffiutinia*  brother.}  Fra  Celcstino  of  Saint  Anna's: 
O.Y.B.  Ivii.-lvi'ii.,  E.L.  57-9. 

25.]  The  full  stop  at  the  end  of  the  line  should  be  altered  to 
a  —  ;  '  Who  knows  ?  '  governs  all  the  clauses  from  line  1 1  onwards. 

30-31.]  She  '  cared  for  the  boy's  concerns '  by  making  a  will 
in  his  favour  on  her  death-bed  ;  arrangements  '  to  save  him  from 
the  sire  '  had  been  made  before,  immediately  after  his  birth  (O.  Y.B. 
exiii.,  E.L.  121). 

32.  with  best  smile,  etc.}    The  speaker  exaggerates ;    see  the 
attestations'  in  O.Y.B. 

.V>.  the  IOIKJ  irhite  Jazar-house.]    See  Appendix  II. 

41.  Too  many  by  half.}    See  note  on  I.  1081. 

44.  They  took  her  witness.}  If  such  a  deposition  was  taken  no 
record  of  it  has  been  preserved. 

46.  'twas  brother  Celestine's  own  right.]  As  being  '  of  Saint 
Anna  ',  the  supposed  scene  of  Pompilia's  death  ;  see  798  below. 

.  Carlo  .  .  .  Manilla  irho  paints  Virgins  so.]  Carlo  Maratta 
(H125-1713),  whom  Arcangeli  understood  to  be  '  first  in  reputation  ' 
amoni:  portrait-painters  in  1698  (VIII.  639),  painted  Virgins  so 
D  that  he  was  called  Carlo  delle  Madonne.  He  was  '  for  nearly 
half  a  eentury  the  most  eminent  painter  in  Rome'  (E.  T.  Cook, 
llumlbnnl:  tit  the  SntioHiil  (Jullrri/,  i.  p.  183),  but  his  fame  did  not 
prove  lasting.  In  his  My  Relations,  published  in  1821,  Charles 
Lamb  wrote  as  follows  of  his  In-other  as  picture-buyer:  'How 
many  a  mild  Madonna  have  1  known  to  come  in — a  Raphael  !  .  .  . 
then,  after  eettain  interim-dial  degradations  .  .  .  adopted  in  turn 
by  eaeh  of  ii  i.  .  .  .  consigned  to  the  oblivious  lumber- 

room,  i/u  mil  at   la>t   a    Lueea   (Giordano,  or  plain  Carlo  Maratti  !  ' 
.  K\er>le\-  Kdition,  p.  101). 

'   Sec  IntrMnrtiMi,  t<>  I'.uok  VII. 


56  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

63.  "  A  lovelier  face  is  not  in  Rome ".]  That  Pompilia  was 
beautiful  appears  from  two  places  in  the  records  :  O.Y.B.  clxxx., 
E.L.  186,  mulier  floridce  cetatis,  et  ut  audivi  non  spernendce  famce — 
reputation  for  beauty  seems  to  be  meant  (Bottini)  ;  and  0.  Y.B. 
ooL,  E.L.  246,  venustam  mulierem  (Lamparelli). 

66-7.]     See  note  on  IV.  456. 

96.  the  Philosophic  Sin.]     Cf.  II.  178  and  see  Appendix  VIII. 

103.  the  wind  That  waits  outside  a  certain  church.]  The  piazza 
before  the  Gesu  church  '  is  considered  to  be  the  most  draughty 
place  in  Rome.  The  legend  runs  that  the  devil  and  the  wind  were 
one  day  taking  a  walk  together.  When  they  came  to  this  square, 
the  devil,  who  seemed  to  be  very  devout,  said  to  the  wind,  "  Just 
wait  a  minute,  mio  caro,  while  I  go  into  this  church  ".  So  the  wind 
promised,  and  the  devil  went  into  the  Gesu,  and  has  never  come 
out  again — and  the  wind  is  blowing  about  in  the  Piazza  del  Gesii 
to  this  day  '  (Hare,  Walks  in  Some,  i.  p.  68). 

118.  yon  Triton's  trump.]  In  the  centre  of  the  Piazza  Barberini, 
where  the  speaker  is  discoursing,  stands  Bernini's  fountain  of  the 
Triton  (I.  898-903),  who  '  blows  from  his  conch  into  a  sky  a  stream 
of  pearls '  (Story;  '  sleet  which  breaks  to  diamond  dust ',  Browning). 

131.  composure] = composition,  as  in  Troilus  and  Cressida,  2.  3. 
251,  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  1.  4.  22  : — 

his  composure  must  be  rich  indeed 
Whom  these  things  cannot  blemish. 

Dryden  uses  '  a  composure  '  for  '  a  composition '  in  the  sense  of 
'  an  agreement '  in  his  Introduction  to  Absalom  and  Achitophel. 

155.]     See  note  on  IV.  97  seqq. 

158.  our  Pietro  being.]  Double  (or  '  feminine  ')  endings  are  rare 
in  the  poem,  except  when  Latin  is  quoted  ;  see  note  on  VI.  1691. 

176.  as  before  should  go  bring  grist.]  '  Should  go  bring  grist  as 
before  '  in  the  earlier  editions  ;  the  emphasis  given  to  '  bring  grist ' 
by  the  change  is  an  improvement,  cf .  244  below. 

179.  We  have  her  own  confession.]    Frequent  reference  is  made 
to  it  in  the  Old  Yellow  Book,  but  no  formal  record  of  it  is  to  be 
found  there. 

180.  'twas  Jubilee.]    See  note  on  II.  540.     The  Second  Anony- 
mous   Pamphleteer  writes   (0.  Y.B.    ccxii.,   E.L.    214):   'Violante 
was  moved  by  remorse  of  conscience  and  by  the  insults  and  injuries 
received  in  their  [the  Franceschini's]  house,  and  was  constrained 
by  the  command  of  her  confessor  on  the  occasion  of  the  Jubilee 
to  reveal  to  her  husband  Pietro  that  the  said  Francesca  Pompilia 
was  not  their  daughter  but  a  supposititious  child '. 

184.  she  harmed  No  one  i"1  the  ivorld.]  The  argument  is  developed 
by  Pompilia  in  VII.  269  seqq. 

187.  spouse  whom.]  Substituted  in  the  second  edition  for 
*  husband — '.  When  on  revising  his  poem  Browning  found  that 


BOOK  III.     Till-:  OTHER  HALF-SOME         57 

the  omi.»ion  of  a  relative  pronoun   in  certain   passages  had  made 
them  ambiguous  or  was  particularly  harsh,  he  oftt  n  either  managed 
u  h  a  pronoun,  as  here,  or  changed  the  form  of  a  sentence, 
M  in  SH»  hi' low. 

L'L".).  Imring  giiinrtl  I'lnn/uHa,  the  girl  grew.}  Browning  is  care- 
Lett  ahout  the  grammar  of  his  part  ieiplo  ;  B66  e.g.  658-9  below. 
A  particularly  >trikin<4  e\atn|)|e  of  this  carelessness  occurs  in  A 
lt<  nth  l,i  t//>  l>>«'  ii,  line  \'2. 

L':;I.  LMv  I  Then  are  two  misprints  here  in  the  illustrated 
edition  of  1898:  'silver'  for  'sliver',  and  'surmount'  for  '  sur- 
mouii 

'Hnjue-leaved  eye-figured  Eden  tree.]  The  reference  in  this 
passage  must  be  to  a  legend  or  allegory  which  I  cannot  trace.  A 
friend  suggests  that  the  use  of  the  epithets  '  tongue-leaved '  and 
4  eye-tigured  '  was  *  due  to  some  allegorical  woodcut  of  the  early 
sixteenth  century,  representing  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil  . 

:>44.  |  A  change  from  the  '  a  light  tuft  of  bloom  towered  above  ' 
of  the  earlier  editions  ;  see  note  on  176  above. 

'2~><>.  irlit'H  one  day  brought  a  priest.}  The  elaborately-detailed 
account  of  the  Abate's  visit  to  Violante  (250-376)  is  based  on  hints 
in  the  records,  but  represents  the  poet's  'fancy'  rather  than  'the 
fact'.  Oddly  enough  the  post  -  Browning  pamphlet  is  the  only 
place  in  the  records  in  which  it  is  said  that  the  marriage-scheme 
originated  with  Paolo  (O.Y.B.  217,  E.L.  269).  The  First  Anony- 
mous Pamphlet  makes  the  (Jomparini  take  the  initiative  (O.Y.B. 
cxli..  l'..L.  145);  in  the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet  and  the 
Secon*  ee  Guido  (with  the  help  of  '  a  certain  hairdresser  '- 

see  e.g.  IV.  440)  is  himself  the  prime  mover  in  the  matter  (O.Y.B. 
ccviii.,  209,  E.L.  210,  259).  We  hear  in  the  Secondary  Source  of 
a  visit  paid  to  Violante,  but  it  is  paid  by  both  the  brothers  (0.  Y.B. 
209,  E.L.  259),  and  what  passed  at  the  interview  is  told  very  brieilv. 

253.  younger  brother.}    See  note  on  II.  291. 

257.  A  cardinal}    See  notes  on  II.  154  and  on  407-8  below. 

282.  Their  house  might  wear,  etc.]  There  are  many  allusions 
in  the  poem  to  hopes  of  some  '  bounty '  (287)  to  be  conferred  on 
(undo  by  his  patron-friend,  but  what  form  it  is  to  take  is  not  quite 
elear ;  it  is  to  be  such  that  it  can  be  enjoyed  at  Arezzo  (292-4). 

LS7.  Some  sparkle,  tho'  from.]     An  improvement,  made  in  the 
second  edition,  on  the  '  Sparkle,  tho'  from  the '  of  the  first. 
See  n«)t.«  on  II.  816. 

::iM.    r/,/r.s.s  by  draining,  etc.]     Ought  he  to  interfere  with  Guido 
further  than  by  arranging  such  a  marriage  as  he  desired  ? 
.  j     See  note  on  II.  291. 

:;•_".!.  It'ip/t//   he   Iti*   dole],    i.e.    may    happiness    he    his   portion  ! 

'  Happy  '    here   is   in  emphatic  contrast    to   'great'.      '  Happy    man 

dole'  has  the  same  meaning'  in    Winters  Tale,  1.  2.  103;    else- 


58  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

where  in  Shakespeare  (Merry  Wives,  3.  4.  68,  Taming  of  the  Shrew, 
1.  1.  144,  1  Henry  IV.  2.  2.  80)  it  means  '  happy  he  who  succeeds  !  ' 

332-43.]  It  is  not  quite  easy  to  find  one's  way  through  this 
ornithological  passage  with  its  phrenixes,  sparrow-hawks,  larks, 
cucKoos,  eaglesT ~Tl  *,  the  Abate  seems  to  say,  '  my  simple  kins- 
man, announcing  his  unworldly  aims,  sets  about  wife-catching  in 
Rome,  he  will  very  soon  attract  and  catch  some  bird  which  he  will 
suppose  to  be  a  choice  rarity,  a  veritable  phoenix,  but  which,  when 
he  has  it  in  his  nest,  he  will  find  to  be  a  bird  of  prey.  For  many 
a  Roman  mother  is  on  the  look-out  for  a  husband  for  her  daughter, 
and,  having  regard  to  Guido's  name  and  credit,  she  will  not  be 
afraid  that  he  is  a  mere  snare  such  as  Romans  set  for  larks  ;  on 
the  contrary,  she  will  without  hesitation  drop  her  daughter  into 
his  nest,  and  the  daughter,  cuckoo-like,  will  bring  ruin  and  disgrace 
on  the  Franceschini  brood.' — But  then,  the  Abate  sadly  reflects, 
that  brood  has  fallen  from  its  high  estate  ;  no  longer,  as  in  crusading 
days  (cf.  V.  1419,  XI.  2142  seqq.),  does  it  '  send  eagles  forth  '. 

338.  lured  as  larks  by  looking-glass.}  The  method  of  luring 
larks  '  common  amongst  the  Romans '  is  described  in  Story's  Eoba 
di  Roma,  p.  448.  Browning,  who  revised  this  book  for  his  friend 
the  author  in  1863  (Henry  James,  W.  W.  Story  and  his  Friends, 
ii.  pp.  143  seqq.),  took  many  hints  from  it  for  The  Ring  and  the 
Book. 

375.  A  certain  purple  gleam,  etc.]  He  had  the  air  of  a  cardinal- 
to-be. — Paolo  '  swam  with  the  deftest  on  the  Galilean  pool '  (II. 
294)  and  high  advancement  had  been  confidently  predicted  for  him 
from  the  first  ('  Paul  shall  be  porporate',  V.  227). 

381.]     See  244  above. 

384.  the  Hesperian  ball.]  Compare  Caponsacchi's  fine  use  of  the 
same  legend  in  VI.  1002-9. 

391.  into  the  square  of  Spain,  etc.]  The  Via  Vittoria  runs  from 
the  Corso  into  the  Via  del  Babuino,  having  reached  which  you 
are  close  to  the  Piazza  di  Spagna. 

393.  the  Boat-fountain.]  At  the  foot  of  the  steps  leading  from 
the  Piazza  to  the  Trinita  de'  Monti  is  the  fountain  called  La  Bar- 
caccia — a  stone  boat  of  the  shape  of  a  war-ship,  spouting  water 
from  its  cannons — ,  the  work  of  Bernini  or  his  father. 

396-401.]  Cf.  IV.  490-93.  Based,  like  much  else  in  this  book, 
on  the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  ccx.,  E.L.  212). 
Pietro,  we  are  told,  obtained  '  few  good  reports  '  about  Guido  ; 
the  reports  which  he  did  obtain  were  '  very  different  from  the  pre- 
supposed riches  and  the  boasted  high  position '. 

401.  a  cross  *'  the  poke.]  A  cross  was  on  the  reverse  of  all  the 
silver  coins  of  Elizabeth  ;  the  word  was  thence  applied  to  a  coin 
itself.  Cf.  As  you  like  it,  2.  4.  12,  '  I  had  rather  bear  with  you 
than  bear  you  ;  yet  I  should  bear  no  cross  if  I  did  bear  you,  for  I 
think  you  have  no  money  in  your  purse  '  ;  there  is  a  similar  word- 


HI,— Till-:  OTHER  II M.I'   HOME          r,0 

1. iv  iii   .'  lltiinj  IV.    1.  -    LM:5.     The  \\»r«l  is  common  in  the  j»li: 

•  ami  pile     :    B66  note  on  V.  I57v 

in:1..  //// fi'^flni me]  =  ' abscess  ';  used  again  in  VI 1.  114.1  and  else- 
where. The  Creek  word  drroffTwa  (literally,  'a  standing  away 
limn'.  In -i  ration  of  corrupt  matter)  wa>  u>ed  in  this  sci 

and  was  adopted  as  a  technical  term  in  Latin,  e.g.  by  Pliny.      From 
Latin  it  passed  into   Krench  as  aposteme,  and  was  corrupted  into 
:    a  further  corruption  in  its  passage  into  English  gives 
us  •  imposthumc'.  which  is  common  in  English  poetry;    it  is  used 
! .  \.  L'T.     l>aeon  in  his  loth  Essay  speaks  of  '  maligne 
Ulcers  and  pernicious  Impostuiuations'. 

l"7-S.  fa  90,  said  sotne,  Shaken  off,  said  others.]  'Shaken  off' 
according  to  the  speaker  in  IV.  414  ('The  Cardinal  saw  fit  to  dis- 
pi -use  with  him  '),  who  follows  what  is  hinted  in  the  Second  Anony- 
mous Pamphlet  (<).  Y.H.  ecviii.)  :  '  Cuido  was  at  Rome  in  idleness, 
out  of  the  service  of  a  porporute  (i.e.  cardinal),  on  the  pay  supplied 
him  l>y  whom  he  had  till  then  maintained  himself  (mistranslated 
in  E.L.  210).  Contrast  Guide's  statement  in  V.  1795  seqq. 

413.  inched.]  A  favourite  verb  of  Browning's,  used  again  below 
(617)  ;  it  is  applied  in  The,  Inn  Album  (p.  94)  to  the  slowly  spreading 
shadow  of  a  tree  ('  The  shadow  inching  round  those  ferny  feet '). 

423.  Goodman  Dullard.}  '  Goodman '  is  used  in  contemptuous 
protest  as  in  Romeo  and  Juliet,  1.  5.  79. 

I :'•'.».  the  j>l<ii/ing  Danae  to  gold  dreams.}  The  Danae  of  Greek 
legend  was  shut  up  in  a  brazen  tower  by  her  father  Acrisius,  whom 
an  oracle  had  warned  that  she  would  bear  a  son  who  would  kill 
him.  Zeus  visited  her  in  a  shower  of  gold,  and  she  became  the 
mother  of  Perseus. 

1 1")  .10.]  For  the  circumstances  of  the  marriage,  alleged  to  be 
clandestine,  see  note  on  II.  70. 

Mi'-:*.  |     Cf.  II.  104-5,  360,  VII.  440. 

1.15.  A  priest — perhaps  Abate  Paolo.}     See  note  on  II.  361. 

•nines*  the  church  register},  i.e.  the  bn^ti^ntnl  register,  a 
i -i -rtiiied  extract  from  which  was  produced  during  the  trial  (O.  Y.B. 
civ.,  A'./..  IT)1.!):  it  gives  the  date  of  Pompilia's  birth  as  July  17, 
1680.  Believing  her  to  have  been  married  in  December  Hi'.»:>. 
shortly  before  Christmas,  Browning  makes  the  speaker  say  that 
at  the  time  of  her  marriage  she  was  'aged  thirteen  years  and  live 
mont  h> '. 

If  he  had  consulted  the  marriage  register  of  San  Lorenzo,  he 
would  have  found  that  this  was  a  mistake.  See  note  on  II.  70. 

!<>_'.  ,/«,//  Inmh.}  The  speaker  is  '  i'  the  market-place  o'  the 
liarberini ',  in  view  ' o'  the  motley  merchandizing  multitude  '  (I. 

.  with   'the  shamble-  round   the  owner1   (below,  467). 

It   was  not   till  the  time  of  Leo  XII.  (1S23  !»)  that   the  slaughter  ,,j 

•  •  within  the  city  was  prohibited  ;   IP-  established  public  Gambles 
out-ide  th.   Porta  del  popolo  (see  story,  Itubn  <fi  li'nini.  p.  :J78). 


60  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

470.  Violante  sobbed  the  sobs,  etc.]  The  scene,  imagined  by 
Browning,  is  described  in  full  detail  by  Pompilia  in  VII.  487-583. 

477.  surnamed  "a  hinge".]  'Cardinal'  comes  from  cardo, 
'  hinge '.  In  its  ecclesiastical  sense  the  word  was  first  applied,  as 
adjective,  to  the  principal  churches  in  Rome,  then  to  those  who 
governed  them,  the  '  cardinal '  parish  priests. 

481  seqq.~\  That  '  Paolo's  patron-friend  '  interposed  in  this  way 
is  definitely  stated  in  the  post- Browning  pamphlet,  which  adds 
that  the  patron  in  question  was  Cardinal  Lauria,  and  that  he  died 
soon  after  the  marriage  (O.Y.B.  218-19,  E.L.  270,  272).  Browning 
gathered  his  facts  from  two  places  in  the  records.  The  First 
Anonymous  Pamphleteer  says  that  the  marriage -contract  was 
signed  by  'a  Cardinal  now  defunct'  (O.Y.B.  cxlvi.,  E.L.  150; 
see  note  on  V.  1801-2) ;  the  Second,  that  a  Cardinal  who  was  Paolo's 
patron  interposed  to  reconcile  Pietro  to  the  marriage  (O.Y.B.  ccx., 
E.L.  212). 

487-8.]     1  Corinthians  xiii.  2,  Matthew  xvii.  20,  xxi.  21. 

495  seqq.]  Contrast  II.  404  -  6.  Half  -  Rome  speaks  of  the 
handing  over  to  Guido  of  the  Comparini's  '  fortune  in  its  rags  and 
rottenness  '  ;  the  Other  Half-Rome  of  Guide's  taking 

Pietro' s  whole  having  and  holding,  house  and  field, 
Goods,  chattels  and  effects,  his  worldly  worth 
Present  and  in  perspective. 

The  former  statement  is  based  on  O.Y.B.  cxlv.,  E.L.  145  (First 
Anonymous  Pamphlet);  the  latter  on  O.Y.B.  ccix.,  E.L.  211-12 
(Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet).  '  An  interesting  illustration  of 
the  correspondence  of  the  two  speakers  with  the  pro-Guido  and 
anti-Guido  pamphleteers  respectively  '  (Hodell).  See  Introduction 
to  Book  II. 

515.  orts.]  Refuse -scraps ;  the  word  is  common  in  Shake- 
speare, see  e.g.  Troilus  and  Cressida,  5.  2.  158,  where  it  is  used 
figuratively  with  excellent  effect. 

522.  Four  months'  experience.]    See  note  on  II.  504,  and  Appendix 

536-9.]  The  Comparini,  says  the  speaker,  felt  the  remorse  which 
fools  feel,  and  thus  acquired  the  wisdom  which  fools  acquire, 
when  they  have  been  brought  by  pain  to  realize  their  folly.  Fools 
start  on  the  hither  side  of  wisdom  and  may  reach  it  through  pain. 
Criminals  are  on  the  further  side  of  it;  they  have  lost  wisdom 
with  their  innocence  and  cannot  attain  to  it  through  pain  and 
remorse.  They  will  know  nothing  of  remorse  till  that  '  later  day  ' 
when  God  at  last  passes  judgment  upon  them. — The  speaker  is 
perhaps  over-indulgent  to  Violante,  who  has  been  knave  as  well 
as  fool. 

544.  tributary.]  Their  tribute  of  quasi  -  condolence  takes  the 
form  of  '  we  told  you  so '. 


BOOK  III.— THE  OTHKH  HALF -ROME         61 

555.   llnhi  Yrar.]     Sec  II.  540. 

.M17.  th>  ijruit  door  new-broken.}  The  door  in  the  extreme  right 
of  the  \\cst  front  of  St.  Peter's,  called  the  Porta  Santa,  is  OJM-IK  «1 
uiily  for  jubilees  ;  at  other  times  it  is  walled  up.  The  ceremony 
of  lirt  a  king  it  is  performed  by  the  Pope  (see  the  description  by 
Cardinal  Wiseman  quoted  in  Hare,  Walks  in  Rome,  ii.  p.  167).  He 
knock-  three  times,  exclaiming  Aperite  mihi  portas  iustitiae,  etc. 
(•Open  to  me  the  gates  of  righteousness,'  etc. — Psalm  cxviii.  19), 
and  the  door,  '  having  been  cut  round  from  its  jambs  and  lintel, 
falls  at  once  inwards'. 

568.  muffled  more  than  ever  matron-wise.]    See  above,  446-7. 

570-71.  this  the  poisoner  And  that  the  parricide.]  Cf.  VII.  1056-7 
*  rang  changes  still  On  this  the  trust  and  that  the  shame  '  ;  Filippo 
Baldinucci,  vi.,  *  this  their  ground  and  that  the  farmer's'. 

572.  Penitentiary.]  The  left  transept  of  St.  Peter's  *  contains 
confessionals  for  ten  different  languages.  ...  By  the  pillar  of 
St.  Veronica,  below  the  statue  of  St.  Juliana,  is  an  elevated  seat 
[*'  the  throne  "  of  line  583],  whence  on  high  festivals  the  grand- 
penitentiary  dispenses  absolution '  (Baedeker).  See  the  woodcut 
in  Wey's  Rome,  p.  295. 

583-99.]    See  the  passage  quoted  in  the  note  on  180  above. 

593.  contract.]  Note  the  accent ;  the  word  is  so  accented 
always  (I  think)  in  Shakespeare,  e.g.  in  Romeo  and  Juliet,  2.  2.  117, 
'  I  have  no  joy  of  this  contract  to-night '. 

617.  inched.]     See  note  on  413  above. 

619.  what  did  I  say  of  'one,  in  a  quag  ?]     See  above,  491  and  519-21. 

640.  When  this  great  news  red-letters  him.]  Obviously  ironical. 
The  day  on  which  the  great  news  reaches  Guido  will  only  be  a  red- 
letter  day  to  him  in  the  sense  that  it  will  draw  his  blood  when  he 
'  tastes  the  teeth  of  the  trap  '  (641). 

646.  he  carried  case  before  the  courts.]  Brought  a  civil  suit  for 
the  nullification  of  the  dowry-contract ;  see  note  on  II.  735-44. 

655.  six  witnesses  survived.]  O.  Y.B.  ccxii.,  E.L.  214 :  '  con- 
clusive proof  having  been  made  by  six  witnesses  who  were  examined, 
wit  h  t  he  interrogatories  administered  on  behalf  of  the  Franceschini '. 

658.  deciding  right.]  For  the  ungrammatical  participle  see 
note  on  229  above. 

663-5.]  Somewhat  obscure  ;  the  meaning  intended  seems  to 
be  that  the  original  deception  (not,  as  stated,  the  recent  '  one  long 
lie')  had  both  robbed  the  rightful  heirs  and  shamed  Guido  (by 
marrying  him  to  a  base-born  girl) ;  and  at  the  same  time  was  not 
'  humanized  '  (/.'.  made  natural,  however  inexcusable)  by  Violante 
having  at  the  time  any  grievance  against  Guido  which  called  for 
revenue.  Later  on,  of  course,  after  the  marria.ire.  the  '  probation* 
<li<l  irive  her  a  grievance  against  him. 

666.  that  ircre  too  fantastic.]  'That'  is  apparently  the  supposi- 
tion that  Violante's  new  tale  was  true. 


62  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

670-71.]     See  note  on  II.  749. 

681-8.]     See  note  on  II.  754. 

682.  right  is  absolute]  and  admits  of  no  such  compromise  as 
the  judgment  of  the  court. 

713-14.]  I.e.  how  he  might  extricate  himself  from  the  dilemma 
of  701-10 — might  keep  the  dowry  and  yet  be  rid  of  Pompilia. 
Pompilia  and  the  dowry  were  to  be  the  joint  means  to  his  revenge, 
and  were  so  far  '  twined  '  ;  but  he  could  untwine  them  by  ridding 
himself  of  Pompilia  in  the  manner  explained  in  what  follows.  See 
especially  733,  and  cf.  IV.  749-55. 

738  seqq.]  For  the  letter  to  the  Abate,  the  contents  of  which 
are  here  summarized,  see  Appendix  IV. 

746.  complot.]  In  Shakespeare  '  plot '  and  '  complot '  are 
practically  synonyms  ;  see  e.g.  Richard  //.,  1.  3.  189.  Cf.  in  the 
same  play  1.  3.  174-5  : — 

It  boots  thee  not  to  be  compassionate  [= passionate] ; 
After  our  sentence  plaining  [— complaining]  comes  too  late. 

754.  As  if  it  had  been  just  so  much  Chinese.]  The  first  and 
second  editions  have  '  As  it  had  been  just  so  much  Hebrew,  Sir  '  ; 
by  the  revision  we  get  rid  of  the  pointless  vocative.  On  '  as  '  for 
'  as  if  '  see  note  on  I.  1159. 

789.  tenebrific]  occurs  again  in  X.  1762 ;  a  favourite  word 
ofCarlyle's. 

795-803.]     O.Y.B.  lvii.-lx.,  E.L.  57-6L 

806.  silly-sooth.'}  In  Twelfth  Night  (2.  4.  43-9)  the  Duke  asks 
for  '  the  song  we  had  last  night '  ;  he  says  that  it  is  sung  by  spinsters, 
free  maids,  and  others,  that  it  '  dallies  with  the  innocence  of  love  ', 
and  that  it  is  '  silly  sooth  '  (i.e.  simple,  unsophisticated,  truth). 
[The  song  which  follows  ('Come  away,  come  away,  death')  does 
not  tally  with  the  Duke's  description,  and  has  therefore  been 
regarded  as  an  interpolation.] 

— -^  Browning  uses  '  silly-sooth  '  as  a  compound  adjective,  by  which 
he  means  either  '  innocent ',  '  unsophisticated ',  or  '  easily  deceived ', 
'  foolish  '.  In  III.  806  Pompilia  is  '  helpless,  simple-sweet  or  silly- 
sooth  '  ;  in  VII.  1603  the  Comparini  are,  in  Pompilia's  judgment, 
'  silly-sooth  and  too  much  trustful,  for  their  worst  of  faults '.  In 
XI.  1228-31  Guido  calls  them 

too  stupid  to  invent, 

Too  simple  to  distinguish  wrong  from  right, — 
Inconscious  agents  they,  the  silly-sooth, 
Of  heaven's  retributive  justice  ; 

in  IV.  242  '  the  joy  o'  the  husband  silly-sooth  '  is  Pietro's  joy  when 
he  is  fool  enough  to  believe  that  Violante  has  borne  him  a  daughter  ; 
in  X.  2040  '  silly-sooth  '  is  coupled  to  '  inept '  ;  in  The  Inn  Album, 
(p.  97)  it  means  *  easily  deceived  by  a  trick '. 


III.     Till-:  <mtl-:n  HALF  nn.Mi-:        63 

MM.  v  '  T\U  find  it  hard],  i.e.  hard  to  'persuade  the  mocking 
world  '  (S18). 

837.  Here  be  j'm-is.  i-lmrticlfri/.]     In  Shakespeare  'charact*  i\  ' 

•writing'.  '  written  letters'  (Julius  Ccesar,  2.  1.  308,  Merry  Wives, 

'  Facts,  eharactery  '     facts  in  black  and  white. 

846.  A  proper  tttar  l»  climb.]  Substituted  for  the  'A  star  shall 
climb  '  of  the  cai-licr  editions  ;  see  note  on  187  above. 

850.  redness.]     Tin-  star  is  red  on  the  hori/on.  seen  through  the 
1'iit  attains  pure  brilliant  whiteness  at  the  zenith. 

854.]     See  note  mi  II.  796-7. 

871-2.]  An  addition  by  t  he  speaker  to  Fra  Celestino's  testimony 
in  O.Y.B. 

897.]     After  his  long  description  of  the  '  abashless  '  (cf.  II.  1101) 
hi  (884-96)  the  speaker  begins  his  sentence  afresh  in  a 
somewhat  ditVcrent  way. 

900-906.]  What  Caponsacchi  is  here  represented  as  maintaining 
differs  importantly  from  what  he  said  in  his  deposition  (O.Y.B. 
l\ \\viii.-xci.,  E.L.  95-8.) 

912.]  Nor  is  the  statement  attributed  to  Pompilia  consistent 
\\  ith  her  deposition.  See,  for  all  this  paragraph,  Appendix  V. 

967-70.]  For  these  appeals  to  the  Governor  and  the  Bishop 
see  O.Y.B.  liii.-liv.,  lxxxi.-ii.,  xci.-ii.,  E.L.  53-4,  89-90,  99;  and 
note  on  II.  877. 

967.  soul  and  body.]  A  great  improvement  on  '  the  weak 
shoulders  ' — the  reading  of  the  first  and  second  edition  >. 

972-89.]  The  general  drift  of  this  long  and  inelegant  sentence 
is  clear  enough,  and  it  is  possible — barely  possible — to  explain  its 
construction. 

'  This',  says  the  speaker,  '  is  the  ill  consequence  of  a  man  bein^r 
such  as  Guido  is,  that  his  hereditary  friends,  though  disinclined 
to  help  him  from  their  private  resources,  will  nevertheless  (if  he 
come*  l>efore  them  in  their  official  capacity,  and  if,  as  potentates 
in  that  capacity,  they  can  befriend  him  without  cost  to  themselves) 
help  him  (thereby  discharging  their  hereditary  obligations)  by  weight- 
ing ti  of  justice  in  his  favour.  Only  churls  or  Molini-i- 
\\ould  refuse  to  do  that.' 

lint  the  speaker  expresses  himself  clumsily.  (1)  The  opening 
words  suggest  that  the  '  ill  consequence  '  will  be  an  ill  consequence 
to  one  like  (iuido,  not,  as  turns  out  to  he  the  meaning,  to  the 
interests  of  justice.  (:2)  The  nominative  ('born  peers  and  friends 
hereditary  ')  is  separated  by  ten  lines  from  its  verb  ('  give  '  in  985). 
(3)  '(Jive  help'  in  985  has  a  deceptive  appearance  of  being  in 
apportion  to  "do  -ervice'.  (4)  The  j,  so  punctuated  as 

to  suirirest   that   the  eon-t  ruct  ion  is  completed   by  line  US«I  ('Why, 
only  chiiils.  etc.'). 

catd  .-•////./, .  1    Bee  note  «m  I.  1873, 

Potentfttet1   is  in  emphatic  contrast   to 


64  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

'friend'  in  line  983,  where  the  absolute  clause  ('friend's  door 
shut',  etc.)  is  concessive;  hence  the  'still'. — In  the  first  edition 
lines  983-5  ran  : — 

And  if,  the  friend's  door  shut  and  purse  undrawn, 
The  potentate  may  find  the  office-hall 
Do  as  good  service,  etc. 

'  Seat '  is  better  than  *  hall ',  but  otherwise  the  revision  is  not, 
perhaps,  an  improvement. 

997-1000.]  In  his  letter  to  Paolo,  dated  August  2,  1694,  the 
Governor  of  Arezzo  wrote  :  '  Seeing  that  they  [the  Comparini] 
were  become  incorrigible  and  the  talk  of  the  town  ...  I  threatened 
them  with  imprisonment  and  chastisement  if  they  didn't  amend  ' 
(O.Y.B.  Ixxxii.,  E.L.  90). 

1005.  fast  the  friend,  etc.]  See  Pompilia's  deposition  (0.  Y.B. 
Ixxxiv.,  E.L.  92) :  '  At  the  beginning  of  the  said  troubles  I  went 
twice  to  Monsignor  the  Bishop  .  .  .  but  it  was  of  no  service  because 
of  his  relations  with  my  husband's  house '. 

1011.  coached  her.}     See  note  on  II.  877. 

1015  seqq.]  Pompilia's  confession  to  the  Augustinian  is  briefly 
mentioned  in  her  deposition  ;  she  says  that  she  told  him  all  her 
woes  and  begged  him  to  write  to  Pietro  in  her  name,  saying  that 
she  was  desperate  and  was  under  the  necessity  of  leaving  her  husband ; 
-  but  that  she  had  no  answer.  Browning  develops  the  incident 
(IV.  807-41,  VI.  831-52,  VII.  1282-1302,  X.  1471-85) ;  he  represents 
her  as  confessing  that  she  was  tempted  to  kill  herself  (III.  1018-19, 
VI.  837-8,  VII.  1283-5). 

1024-7.]  They  had  made  the  marriage  in  their  own  interest, 
without  reflecting  on  the  consequences  to  Pompilia. 

1034.]    Matthew  xviii.  7. 

1039.  all  outlets,  etc.]    See  above,  780. 

1065-6.  on  a  certain  April  evening,  late  T  the  month.}  The  evening 
was  that  of  Sunday,  April  28  ;  the  actual  flight  began  in  the  early 
morning  of  Monday,  April  29.  The  dates  are  fixed  by  the  deposi- 
tions of  Pompilia  and  of  Caponsacchi  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxv.,  Ixxxix., 
E.L.  93,  96,  97)  and  by  the  sentence  of  the  Florence  Court  (O.Y.B. 
v.,  E.L.  5) ;  on  this  point,  as  on  many  others,  the  Secondary  Source 
(O.Y.B.  211,  E.L.  262)  follows  Pompilia's  deposition. 

Browning,  however,  assigns  the  flight  to  the  night  of  '  the  last 
Monday  in  the  month  but  one  '  (April  22),  i.e.  to  the  early  morning 
of  Tuesday,  April  23  (VI.  1110-18). 

Now  the  poet,  as  he  said  himself,  '  took  great  care  to  be  correct 
in  all  such  matters'.  '  For  instance',  he  wrote  in  a  letter  to  Lord 
Courtney  (see  note  on  I.  511-15),  '  in  order  to  be  quite  sure  of  the 
age  of  the  moon  on  the  occasion  of  Pompilia's  flight,  I  procured 
De  Morgan's  register  of  lunar  risings  and  settings  for  the  last — I 


BOOK   III.     Till-:  OTIII-i;  HAU'   ItO.Mi;          65 

:   ln»\\    many  hundred  years'.      Why  t  lu-n,  taking  all  this  care, 

did  he  ant<-  date  tin-  flight    l»y  .-i\  d., 

The  aiiM\  •  '-led  in  VI.  I  111  ;     i  o  morrow  ',  says  Capon- 

Sftool  til    mi    Monday,    April    22,    'is   Saint  George'.     All 

through  (he  |  lot  MI  Caponsaechi  is  represented  as  a  St.  George  to 
r«'inpilia  ;    he   is   her   '  s<>ldier->aint  '   (VII.   1786);    ho 
ulory  of  armour  like  Saint  (  J.-orgo  '  (I.  5 
I.e  '  potent  ',  says  Uottini  (IX.  601-2), 

el>e,   inayliap, 
"in-  Saint  lieor.L'e  would  slay,  slays  him  ; 

tya  hiiiix  If  (VI.  1771-2  ;  cf.  1775-7),  taunted  as  being 


carries  her 

o!V  '  in  a  ulory  of  armour  like  Saint  (  J.-orgo  '  (I.  585  ;  cf.  VII.  1323-4)  ; 

he 


The  oilicious  jiriest.  |\vlio|  would  personate  Saint  George 
l'"r  a  mock  lYiiu-os  in  umlragoned  days. 

It  \\;IN  therefore  titling  that  he  should  he  made  to  rescue  Pompilia 
from  Guido  on  St.  George's  day,  April  23,  rather  than  in  the  follow- 
in::  ueek. 

1067.  Three  years  and  over.]  From  December  1693  (as  Browning 
supposed  really  from  September)  to  April  1697. 

1072-4.]     See  note  on  II.  894-6. 

1<>'»7.  a  servant.]  Maria  Margherita  Contenti  ;  see  note  on 
VI  Mi'.ll  ami  Appendix  V. 

I  I  10.  ///  a  red  daybreak.]  Pompilia's  twice-repeated  statement 
that  she  reached  Castelnuovo  'at  the  blush  of  dawn'  (all*  alba, 
nl  rnwijijinr  delV  alba  —  O.Y.B.  lxxxv.-vi.,  E.L.  94)  was  certainly 
ineom-et  ;  was  it,  as  a  lawyer  printed  on  the  margin  of  her  deposi- 
tion, a  lie'  (mrinlttrlnin)l  For  Browning's  answer  see  1187-95 
IM-IOW.  and  the  note  on  VII.  1580-84. 

I  I  ir>-(>.  |     Cf.  VI.  1405-6  ;  O.Y.B.  Ixxxix.,  E.L.  97. 

1161.  Not  for  imi  xnkr.  but  his.]  See  Pompilia's  development  of 
the  point  in  VII.  1585-1601. 

I  !«•>:{.  The  sword  o'  the  felon.]    See  note  on  II.  1031. 

1167.  As  you  serve  scorpions.}    Cf.  VI.  670-71. 

1186.  in  all  points  biU  one.]    The  depositions  of  Pompilia  and 
i>a(  «  hi  are  inconsistent  in  many  points  ;  see  Appendix  V. 

1201.  the  last  league.]    Castelnuovo  was  *  the  last  stage  of  all, 
>re  Rome1  (II.  962-3),  from  which  it  is  fifteen   mil.  s 
distant   (not    twelve  as  in   VI.   1426).     Here,  as   in  V.   1055,  the 
id  to  be  a  '  league  '. 

1218-22.]  Not  a  correct  account  of  *  Guide's  tale  '.  He  declared 
that  the  fiiL'iiive>  -pent  a  ni-jht  at  Foligno  :  *  ho  hauula  noua,  che 
'/»/•"  Fnl'njnn  toll'  osleria*  (O.Y.B.  cxxvii.,  E.L.  135). 

1219.  >tn<L]     In   the   earlier   editions    'where 

your  hor-e  stands  '  :  the  ehanire  is  a  clear  improvement,  espeeially 
in  view  of  the  '  While  we  got  horses  ready  '  in  the  next  line. 

I 


66  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1224-5.  loop-hole  to  let  murder  through,  But,  etc.}  In  the  earlier 
editions  '  loop  to  let  damnation  through,  And ',  etc. 

1233.  Perdue  he  couched.}  'Perdue'  (or  'perdu')  in  the  sense 
*  in  concealment',  *  purposely  hidden  ',  was  formerly  very  common 
in  English ;  so  in  French  perdu  or  perdue  (according  to  the  gender 
of  its  noun).  Browning  much  affects  the  word,  see  e.g. : — 

IV.  1286,  '  the  actors  duck  awhile  perdue '. 

IX.  564,  '  intrigue  there  lurks  perdue '. 

XL  1190,  '  found  what  trap 

The  whisker  kept  perdue  '. 

Instans  Tyrannus,  in.,  '  he  couched  there  perdue  '. 
The  Inn  Album,  p.  99,  '  I  knew  what  lurked, 

Lay  perdue  paralysing  me  '. 

Bordello,  V.  32,  '  Lie  we  both 

Perdue  another  age '. 

The  N.E.D.  says  that  the  word  was  '  apparently  originally  intro- 
duced in  the  French  military  phrase  sentinelle  perdue  '  (i.e.  a  sentinel 
on  particularly  perilous  duty,  see  King  Lear,  4.  7.  35) ;  hence  the 
feminine  inflection  (it  was  also  sometimes  written  '  perdew ',  and, 
still  more  strangely,  '  perdieu ').  It  is  now,  the  N.E.D.  adds, 
'usually  written  "perdu"  or  "perdue"  according  to  gender', 
but  Browning  follows  the  older  practice  ;  he  has  '  perdue '  in  all 
the  passages  quoted,  irrespective  of  gender  (and  number). 

1248.  baulked  of  suit  and  service  now.]  Guido  is  for  the  present 
deprived  of  Satan's  help.  For  *  suit  and  service '  see  note  on 
II.  286. 

1252.  this  natural  consequence],  i.e.  that  described  in  1236-44. 

1259.  in  secular  costume.]     See  note  on  II.  999. 

1265.  except  death],  i.e.  the  death  of  Pompilia. 

1281  seqq.]  Based  on  the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.  Y.B. 
ccxiv.,  E.L.  216). 

1290.  /  told  you.}    In  lines  1162-3. 

1308-17.]  On  the  subject  of  the  love-letters,  and  of  the  '  one 
letter '  of  1316  (that  to  the  Abate),  see  Appendix  IV. 

1322.  mouse-birth  of  that  mountain-like  revenge.}  Suggested  by 
Horace,  A. P.  139, parturient  monies,  nascetur  ridiculus  mus  ('moun- 
tains will  be  in  travail,  an  absurd  little  mouse  will  be  born '),  an 
abridgment  of  the  Greek  &8u>ev  dpos,  Zei)s  5'  e^o/Mro,  rb  5'  £re«:ej/  ^vv. 

1330-33.]     See  note  on  II.  727-8. 

1342.  Shade  .  .  .  shine.]    See  note  on  I.  1373. 

1353-4.  my  worldly  reputation  .  .  .  Being  the  bubble  it  is.]  As 
you  like  it,  2.  7.  152,  '  the  bubble  reputation '. 

1367-9.]  The  first  and  second  editions  have  '  track  the  course  ' 
for  '  trace  the  birth  '  in  1367  ;  '  earth  '  for  '  night '  in  1368  ;  '  night's 
sun  and  Lucifer '  for  *  night's  sun  that's  Lucifer '  in  1369.  The 


111.     Till':  nTIIKIl  HALF-ROME         r»7 


ciiiiinia  which  app-  tin-  nul  of   lillis  >hoiild 

of  OOOne   !•••  icmovcd. 

1380.   .1  middle  course.]     See  above,  <>71,  and  note  on  II.  749. 

1  !<»'.).  Htithrnt,  Hitxli'imetl.]  Ftynioloizically  the  two  words  an- 
svnonvms.  '  Shciit  '  in  Shakop.-aie  (Merry  Wives,  1.  4.  38, 
tforibfaMMU,  .->.  -2.  KU,  Tt<*(/to  MflrAf,  4.  2.  112)-'  scolded  \ 

I  II  1.  nl»<i<it«l  (not  imprisoned,  Sirs!).]  See  note  on  II.  1183, 
'nowise  an  exile,--  that  were  punishment  '. 

1  JL»r>.  Had  shot  a  second  bolt.]    See  note  on  IV.  1305-27. 

lilt;,  the.  Hundred  Merry  Tales.]  Sir  F.  Kenyon  says  that 
the  reference  is  to  the  Decameron  of  Boccaccio,  but  Browning 
would  hardly  have  spoken  of  the  '  last  best  '  of  that  famous  collec- 
tion of  precisely  a  hundred  stories  in  so  vague  a  manner;  the 
last  and  perhaps  the  most  famous  of  Boccaccio's  hundred  stories 
is  that  of  c.ri.-dda.  Dr.  Berdoe  thinks  that  the  Novelle  of  Franco 
'ictti  arc  meant  ;  these  Guido  speaks  of  in  V.  560  ('  Ser  Franco's 
merry  talcs')  and  again  in  V.  1153,  possibly  also  in  XI.  261  ('  the 
.Merry  Tales').  —  The  collection  referred  to  is  not  the  same  as  *  the 
Hundred  .M'liy  Tales'  out  of  which  Beatrice  says  in  Much  Ado 
('2.  1.  135)  that  Benedick  has  accused  her  of  '  getting  her  good  wit  '  ; 
for  that  volume  (reprinted  by  W.  C.  Hazlitt  in  his  SluiLt  *i>eare 
Jest  Books,  vol.  i.  ),  though  it  includes  Italian  stories,  was  of  English 
origin. 

1  1  .  •<  )-55.]  Refers  to  the  song  of  Demodocus  (Odyssey,  8.  266-366), 
of  which  we  have  somewhat  too  much,  perhaps,  in  The  Ring  arid 
the  Book  ;  it  is  introduced  again  in  VI.  1459-63  and  in  IX.  868-77  ; 
MC  the  note  on  the  latter  passage. 

1171.  the  efficacious  purple.]  'Efficacy'  (or  'efficacity')  is 
often  attributed  by  Browning  to  cardinals  ;  in  I.  1139-40 


than  one  cllicacioiis  pci-soiia'_rc 
To  tramjuilli/e,  conciliate  and  secure, 

means  •  more  than  one  cardinal,  etc.'  Cf.  IV.  470,  '  Her  etlieacity 
my  Cardinal/  In  Cenciaja  Browning  says  of  the  famous  Cardinal 
Aldo  brand  in  i  — 

Hi-  cllii  acy      nephew  to  the   1'ope  ! 

1171-7.]    See  the  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  cxlvii., 

/•;./..    |.">U;     'The   Abate,  seeing  the   prosecution  of  the  cau>e   pro- 

longed, had  a  just  motive  for  carrying  it  to  the  feet  of  Our  Lord 

Tope),    \\ith   a    memorial  .  .  .   beseeching   him   to  apjwint  a 

'•ial  congregation  for  all  the  causes.  .   .  .    But    having  received 
no  other  answer  than  "To  his  Jud;_"  "lices  suox).  . 

Cf.   the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.  Y.li.  ec\\\v..  I'..L. 
For  other  refei"in  •«  •-  to  the  appeal  to  the  pope  in  the  poem  see  V. 
1346-51,  L752  80,  \  III.  L395-1426, 


68  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1475.  nephews  out  of  date.]     See  I.  318-23  and  Appendix  VII. 
1480.  Made  Guido  claim  divorce.}    Cf.  Half-Rome,  II.  1285  :— 

He  claimed  in  due  form  a  divorce  at  least. 

These  statements,  like  the  fuller  statements  of  Guido  in  V.  1247-54, 
1309-18,  1807-15,  refer  to  the  year  1697,  after  the  Process  of  Flight 
and  the  '  relegation'  of  Caponsacchi,  of  which  a  divorce-suit,  brought 
by  Guido,  would  have  been  a  most  natural  consequence  ;  but  it 
does  not  appear  from  the  records  that  such  a  suit  was  in  fact  brought. 

It  is  stated  in  the  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  cxliii., 
E.L.  147)  that  at  an  earlier  time — viz.  in  1694,  after  Violante's 
confession — the  Franceschini  had  contemplated  divorce -proceed- 
ings, but  that,  finding  that  the  pundits  whom  they  consulted  were 
divided  in  opinion,  they  were  unwilling  to  risk  an  undertaking  of 
doubtful  issue. 

In  his  note  on  the  passages  referred  to  (O.Y.B.  318)  Professor 
Hodell  does  not  clearly  distinguish  between  the  years  1694  and 
1697. 

1487-8.  the  blow  That  beat  down  Paolo' s  fence.]  Pompilia's  con- 
finement, which  led  to  the  murders. 

1489.  mannaia.]  The  Italian  guillotine  by  which  Guido  was  to 
die.  See  I.  1328  and  Guide's  elaborate  description  in  XI.  181-258. 

1490-91.  Five  months  .  .  .  spent  in  peace,  etc.]  Probably  a 
mistake  ;  see  note  on  II.  1323. 

1495-9.]  The  question,  who  was  chargeable  for  Pompilia's 
maintenance  at  the  Scalette,  was  discussed  by  the  advocates  (see 
e.g.  O.Y.B.  Ixii.,  E.L.  66),  and  in  the  Anonymous  Pamphlets  (see 
especially  O.Y.B.  clii.,  E.L.  155),  but  nothing  of  importance  to 
the  poem  turns  upon  it. 

1519.  He  authorized  the  transfer.]  A  disputed  point ;  Guide's 
backers  denied  that  Paolo  authorized  it  (for  the  fact  would 
have  strengthened  the  case  against  their  client),  maintaining  (1) 
that  '  all  the  preceding  and  succeeding  circumstances  proved  it 
to  be  very  unlikely ',  and  (2)  that  *  the  said  consent  is  not  found 
to  have  been  registered'.  They  contended  further  that  if  Paolo 
did  authorize  the  transfer  he  exceeded  his  powers  as  Guido's  proxy, 
such  powers  relating  only  to  matters  of  finance — a  statement  not 
borne  out  by  the  authorization  -  document  (O.Y.B.  clii.,  clvii., 
E.L.  155-6,  162).  An  answer  to  their  arguments  will  be  found  in 
O.Y.B.  ccxvi.,  E.L.  218. 

*ft)27'-38.]  This  convincing  explanation,  which  is  developed  with 
great  force  and  beauty  in  Book  VII.,  and  is  accepted  by  the  Pope 
(X.  1072  seqq.},  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  the  lawyers  ; 
it  is  suggested  nowhere  in  the  records. 

1540-41.]  For  '  the  one  step  left '  for  Guido  to  take  see  below, 
1571-2. — There  is  no  evidence  that  such  a  letter  as  is  here  mentioned 
was  ever  written. 


BOOK  III.     Till-   ()T  1 1 1':  I!  HALF-ROM/-:         69 

Paolo's  departure  from  Rome  is  variously  explained  in  the 
record.-.  (1)  According  to  the  pro -(undo  pamphleteer,  when 
pompilia  had  Iteen  released  from  the  Sealette  and  was  near  her 
eoniinemeiit.  'it  seemed  to  the  Abate  that  every  man's  face  had 
become  a  mirror  in  which  the  image  of  the  ridicule  of  his  house 
was  reflected  ;  his  mind,  in  other  respects  manly  and  constant, 
in.  dejected  ;  he  often  burst  into  excessive  weeping  from  grief, 
till  he  felt  himself  impelled  to  throw  himself  into  the  river'  (cf. 
V.  I  ''lit  ultimately  'he  resolved  to  abandon  Rome,  the 

<  ourt,    his   hopes   and   havings,    his   atl'eetionate   and  distinguished 
patrons,    and    whatever    property    he    had    accumulated  .   .   .   and 
went  off  to  search  for  some  entirely  unknown  and  foreign  clime  " 
(().  Y.I:.  r.xlviii.,  E.L.  151-2).     So  also,  with  less  rhetoric  and  detail, 
the  advocate  Spreti  (O.Y.B.  xxxii.,  E.L.  32;    cf.  the  Secondary 
Sourer  O.Y.H.  211,  E.L.  262-3).     (2)  The  anti-Guido  pamphleteer 
replies  that,  if  men's  faces  served  the  Abate  as  a  mirror,  what  they 
reflected  was  '  his  own  evil  procedures',  his  attempts  to  extort  a 
judgment    'by  subtle    insinuations,    trickery   and    deceit';     and 
that  lie  left  Home  to  have  a  part  in  planning  the  murders  (O.Y.B. 

<  \\\i..  oxviL,  K.L.  225,  219).     (3)  The  post-Browning  pamphleteer 
says  that  an  unfavourable  judgment  on  the  conduct  of  the  Frai 
chini  led  the  Religious  Order  of  Malta  to  give  'secret  information 
to  Abate  Paolo  that  he  should  resign  his  office  '  of  Secretary  of  the 
Order,  and  that  his  departure  was  due  to  this  disgrace  (O.Y.B.  221, 
E.L.  275-6). 

The  Other  Half-Rome  agrees,  as  usual,  with  (2).  and  makes 
Paolo  partly  responsible  for  the  murders;  but  credits  him  with 
MtateneM  in  planning  to  save  his  own  skin  (line  1572).  So  also, 
more  explicitly,  the  Pope  (X.  890-94): 

all  for  craft, 

All  to  work  harm  with,  yet  incur  no  scratch  ! 
While  Cnido  brings  the  struggle  to  a  (•!<• 
Paul  steps  back  the  due  distance,  clear  o'  the  trap 
He  builds  and  baits 

1546-69.]  Whether  the  legal  position  is  here  correctly  stated 
is  perhaps  uncertain  ;  the  speaker  follows  (and  expands)  a  passage 
in  one  of  Bottini's  pleadings  (0.  Y.B.  clxxxiv.,  E.L.  189-90).  Bottini 
asks  himself  the  question,  Why  did  Guido  postpone  his  vengeance 
from  October  12,  1697,  when  Pompilia  left  the  Scalette  and  went 
to  the  Comparini's  home,  till  January  2,  1698?  He  an.-\\ers  it 
'ying  that  '  he  was  waiting  for  her  confinement  which  happened 
on  December  18,  in  order  that  the  succession,  for  which  he  was 
iraping.  mii:ht  lie  made  secure  \  ( 'f.  X.  7 .'»:_' -71. 

i:.7.-».     Yitt'tnnn.\      See  note  on   II.  Shi. 

!:.,«'».   //•/'///    inn-    A/W/;-/.-    /"    tin-    c!»,/. \     A    favourite    metap!' 
P.i<>\\niM_  :.    /,'///»/»/    /;-  //    l-;-;,,t.   ii..   v.   ('  Finished   and   finite 


70  THE  EING  AND  THE  BOOK 

clods,  untroubled  by  a  spark  '  ;  'A  spark  disturbs  our  clod  ').  The 
'  spark '  here,  as  is  immediately  explained,  is  the  loyalty  of  the 
rustics  to  their  lord — a  loyalty  which  was  not  deep,  for  they  planned 
to  murder  him  when  he  did  not  immediately  pay  them  the  stipulated 
reward  (O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  265).  The  Pope,  therefore,  though  he 
finds  a  glimmer  of  intelligence  (X.  1495-6),  can  find  no  spark  '  that 
serves  for  a  soul '  in  these  '  wretched  lumps  of  life  '  (X.  925-64). 

1583.  On  Christmas-Eve.'}     See  note  on  V.  1581. 

1584-5.  solitude  Left  them  by  Paolo.]  They  lodged  at  Paolo's 
villa  by  the  Ponte  Milvio  (commonly  called  Ponte  Molle)  about 
two  miles  north  of  Rome  (O.Y.B.  211,  E.L.  263). 

1586.]  The  insertion  in  the  later  revision  of  '  had '  before 
'  disappeared  '  improves  both  meaning  and  rhythm. 

1587.  A  whole  week.]     Browning,  in  a  fine  passage   (V.  1582-  I 
1621),  makes  Guido  explain  the  delay. 

1594.  finger-ivise],  feeling  their  way  in  the  dark,  a  fdtons, 
tastone. 

1595-6.]     See  Appendix  II. 

1599.  the,  excusers  say.}  See  II.  1407-30  ;  it  is  interesting  to 
compare  the  two  accounts  of  the  incident.  The  Other  Half-Rome's 
account  is  based  on  0.  Y.B.  clxxxvi.-vii.,  E.L.  191-2. 

1615.  since  Guido  knew,  etc.]  How  could  he  know  ?  Here, 
as  in  1653  below,  we  note  the  speaker's  bias  (I.  883  seqq.). 

1622-4.]  From  the  Secondary  Source  (O.Y.B.  212,  E.L.  263): 
' .  .  .  Comparini,  who  was  likewise  wounded  by  one  of  the  other 
assassins  and  was  crying  out  "  confession "  '.  Cf.  IV.  1377-9, 
XL  473-4. 

1628-9.  They  had  forgotten  .  .  .  the  ticket.]  Both  the  Pope 
(X.  802-33)  and  Guido  (V.  1720-25,  XI.  1627-48)  dwell  upon  the 
strange  omission,  which  is  noticed  in  the  Secondary  Source  (0.  Y.B. 
212,  E.L.  264). 

1633-6.]  The  allusions  in  the  records  to  the  flight  of  Guido 
and  his  companions  are  as  follows  : — 

O.Y.B.  x.,  E.L.  12  (Arcangeli) :  They  were  'returning  to  their 
country  by  the  direct  way  along  the  consular  road  '  ;  Guido  was 
found  by  his  pursuers  '  resting  on  a  mattress  (in  stragulo)  in  a  certain 
inn'. 

O.Y.B.  Ixii.,  E.L.  67  (Gambi) :  They  were  '  found  in  the  inn  at 
Merluccia  with  fire-arms,  and  prohibited  swords  still  bloody '. 

O.Y.B.  212,  E.L.  264  (Secondary  Source):  They  were  found 
and  arrested  '  at  the  tavern  of  Merluzza ',  '  having  travelled  afoot 
towards  Baccano '. 

(An  allusion  in  the  post-Browning  pamphlet — O.Y.B.  223, 
E.L.  277-8 — is  less  definite  ;  the  place  of  arrest  is  there  described 
as  '  an  inn  a  few  miles  from  Rome  '.) 

In  the  poem  Merluccia  (Merluzza)  is  not  mentioned.  The  fugitives 
are  said  to  have  walked  '  a  prodigious  twenty  miles',  and  to  have 


III.     Till-:  DTIIKIi  HALT  Hn.MI-:         71 

'  o\  ei  taken  near  I»accano  '  or  a  little  short  of  it.  There  they 
\\ere  found  asleep  '  in  a  ^ran^e  \  •  in  the  tii>t  \\a\>ide  >tra\\  ',  '  by 
the  \\av-side.  in  some  shelter  meant  for  beasts ',  '  i'  the  straw  which 
promised  shelter  first'  (III.  1633-6,  IV.  1394-9,  X.  846-9,  V. 
HJ74). 

The  'consular  road*  above  mentioned  is  tin- Via  Cassia,  which 
splits  oil  from  the  Koliuno  and  iVru^ia  road  (by  which  Caponsacchi 
and  1'ompilia  travelled  to  Koine)  at  the  Ponto  Milvio.  It  is  the 
shortest  route  from  Rome  to  Are/./.o,  but  was  not  kept  in  proper 
conditions  for  carna*."  .  pp.  73,  155,  and  for  Mrrlu/./.a 

and  liaceano.  ih'nL  pp.  l.'.S-'.i.  .Merlu/./a  is  about  15  miles  from 
I  tome,  liaecano  about  2.\  miles  farther  away. 

1648.]  Guide's  dcfi -nee  was  based  solely  on  the  alleged  loss 
of  his  honour. 

l<;.~><)-3.  There  was  no  fault  .  .  .  in  the  parents.]    See  note  on 

l<;i:>  above. 

1670.  you  bin!  t/in-c  In  }>t'ii/.]     See  note  on  IV.  1305-27. 

1672  seqq.]  Suggest ed,  like  so  much  else  in  Book  III.,  by  the 
Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  ccxviii.-xix.,  E.L.  220): 
'  Thi.-  rii^ht  [of  killing  his  wife  for  honour's  sake)  ceases  when  the 
husband  has  renoiuieed  it  by  imphiring  the  arm  of  justice '.  llaviiin 
laboured  the  point  the  writer  quotes  in  support  of  his  view  '• 
celebrated  Canonist'. 

1676.  olifi."-i   sinner],   i.e.   'one  whose  sin  was  committed 
long  ago',  not  'a  hardened,  inveterate  sinner'. 


BOOK  IV.—  TEKTIUM  QUID 

INTRODUCTION 

IN  the  Introduction  to  Book  II.  it  was  suggested  that 
Book  IV.  stands  in  the  same  kind  of  relation  of  Books  II. 
and  III.  as  that  in  which  the  Pope's  soliloquy  (Book  X.) 
stands  to  the  pleadings  of  Arcangeli  and  Bottini  (Books 
VIII.  and  IX.)  ;  the^speaker_  jn_JTertium  Quid  sifts  and 
weighs  the  opinions  of'thft  ptT^efo  p-s.t,as_the_Pope  weighs 
;^^^^^7^^^^^IS^SfiI^te2lQ^^  There,  however, 
the  Yesem^Iance"ceases  .  The  Pope  sits  as  a  judge  without 


a  jury,   he  pronounces  judgment.     Ou^  man   of   quality 
arran^emethodizes      he  leves 


a_very_special  J^y^^o^progQJgpe.     His  summing  up  is 
essentially  of    what    Dickelns  called  '  the   old   established 
and  most  approved  form '  of  English  courts — a  favourable 
example  of  that  form,  for  its  '  running  comments  on  the 
evidence  '  are  well  digested  ;    but^jt^does  not  compel  or  ^ 
persuade,  or  even  help  materially  to  a  verdict.     Unlike  __ 
OieTope;  agan^~the Ijudge^SQIie^a^wi  makes  no  attempt 
to  trace  back  action  to  its  hidden  sources,  to  probe  the  - 
souls   of   the   actors  ;    he   disre^aj^_thQSjQ-^eje^ier_Jssues 
which   to   the   Pope   are_primary   and   vital.     For   these 
reasons  T3ook  IV.,  for  which,  as  for  Book  X.,  there  is  no 
suggestion    in    the    records,    might    have    invited    special 
attack  from  the  critics  who  insist  that  large  parts  of  the 
poem  should  have  been  excised. 

That  it  has  been  immune  from  any  such  special  attack  * 

1  It  has,  I  have  since  found,  been  very  specially  attacked.     '  General  practice 
has  long  suppressed  Doctor  Bottinius  '  [Book  IX.],  writes  the  author  of  the  notice 

72 


BOOK  1V.—TERTWM  QUID  73 

i-  mi  di mlit  <lur  to  its  astonishing  cleverness  and  distinc- 
tion. It  the  speaker's  summing-up  is  of  the  kind  with 
\\hich  \\c  are  familiar,  it  is  not  merely  (as  I  have  called  it) 
ivourable  it  is  a  most  brilliant  specimen  of  that  kind. 
Tin-  j»ittl»lem>  set  by  the  evidence  an-,  indeed,  left  entirely 
unsolved.  ( 'oiild  Viulante's  fraud  be  condoned  ?  Perhaps; 
but  '  then- '<  Munewhat  dark  '  in  the  matter 7  'let's  on'1. 
Which  party  cheated  most  abflul  the^  marria«.r«'  '.  It's  '  a 
nice  point  ;  '  decide  who  can  '  ;  '  suppose  we  leave  the 

•  I  in -t  ion  at  tliis  stage  ?  '       Were  Caponsacchi  and  Pompilia 
trinity  of  misconduct  ?     The  question  has  'faces,  manifold 

•  •in nigh,  to  ponder  on';    the  jury — 'Her  Highness'  and 

Hi T  Kxcellency  ' — must  pronounce3.     Was  Guido  right  in 
usurping  the  functions  of  law  ?     It  is  for  the  jury  to  say  ; 

•  there  are  difficulties  on  any  supposition  and  either  side  '4. 
Do  Tompilia's  death-bed  utterances  prove  her  innocent  ? 

an    al-u  'explicable  by  the  consciousness  of  guilt'5. 
The  brilliant  cleverness  of  the  Book  appears,  not  in  any 

triven    to   these   difficult  questions,   for  they  are 

not   an>\\ered,  but  in  the  force  and  lucidity,  the  apposite 

illustrations,    \\ith    \\hieh    the    :inmim»nt.a   for   this   or   that 

il»le   answer  are   marshalled    and    vivified  ;     note    for 

instance"    thE — passage    m  ^KIcTT  Tlie"  speaker    advances 

\\ith  the  help  of  a  most  apposite  parable  (lim  - 
11),  which  may  be  held  to  justify  condonation  of 
Violante's  ci-ookedness,  or  that  in  which  he  strips  of  its 
mm-essentials  the  bargain  betueen  the  Kraneesehini  and 
the  ('um]>arini  (lines  505-57).  Kqually  excellent  are  his 
dex-riptiuns  and  his  tone  and  manner;  if  we  do  not  find 
in  his  diction  the  'silvery  and  selectest  phrase'  which 
liruwnin.tr  promised6,  his  tone  and  manner  are  not  only 
admirably  characteristic,  they  are  well  adapted  to  win 
him  an  attentive  hearin.tr  from  his  audience. 

The  i-hie!'  distinction  of  the  Book,  however,  lies  not  in 
\\hat  it  says,  nor  even,  perhaps,  in  its  way  of  saying  it; 
it  is  rather  to  he  found,  if  the  metaphor  of  Mr.  Henry 
.lames  may  U  l»urru\\ed.  in  that  'perfect  cloud  of  gold 

.  '  :iii.|  m.-iiiy  I.IT-.IH  think  they  can 

<\<>  Without  Tertium  ijui-r.     Th.-y  >h..ul.l  -ivr  it  i.in.l  l:..ttini)  ,ui..tlu-r  trial. 
1   IV.  :;n;-i7.  i\  iv.  1 1 18-17, 

•    I  \       !  .'  IN       I  !  .  •      I 


74  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

dust '  which  the  poet  stirs  as  he  '  drags  along  a  far  sweeping 
train ' 1.  Ile^presents  a  picture  of  a  particular  society 
in  a  f oreign^country  at  a~bygone  time  without_any  apparent 
effort  or  ovef^emphasis  ;  he  is  no  mere  student  or  artist 
striving  to  recapture  that  society  and~lts  environment  by 
painful  research  or  imaginative  strain  ;  he  lives  and  moves 
in_it.  The  Book  is  full  of  lively  detail.  We  watch  the 
crowd  at  the  puppet-play  of  Piazza  Navona7  the  wlisher- 
women  at  work  by  the  Citorio  fountain  ;  we  stroll  to  the 
shop  of  the  gossiping  '  barberess  '  of  Piazza  Colonna,  or 
by  the  help  of  the  cord  by  the  wall  mount  the  stairs  to 
the  attic  of  the  vilissima  lotrix  ;  we  glance  at  the  favourite 
negro  page,  at  the  unfaithful  society- wife  ;  we  visit  the 
mouldering  palace  where  an  Italian  Caleb  Balderstone. 
with  napkin  in  half-wiped  hand,  points  with  pride  to  his 
needy  master's  priceless  Raphael ;  or  again  we  see, 
multiplied  by  the  mirrors  of  the  glorified  saloon,  the 
Principessa  with  her  jewels,  the  powdered  perukes  of  this 
Highness  and  that  Excellency,  the  canes  dependent  from 
the  ruffled  wrist,  the  pomanders  to  make  freckles  fly,  the 
testy  cardinal,  who,  if  you  jostle  his  cards,  will  rap  you 
out  a  .  .  st !  But  detail  is  not  obtruded  ;  it  takes  its 
\  proper  ancillary  place  in  the  poet's  picture  of  the  very 
^  life  of  the  Roman  aristocracy  of  the  seventeenth  century — 
a  picture  which,  with  others  painted  in  The  Ring  and  the 
Book,  is  among  the  masterpieces  of  his  '  matchless  '  Italian 
gallery,  the  most  signal  triumphs"  of  their  kind,  perhaps, 
in  English  literature. 

NOTES 

7.  Out  of  the  shade  into  the  shine.']     See  note  on  I.  1373. 

10.  rabble' s-brabble.]     For  '  brabble  '  cf.  More,  Utopia,  Book  II. 

(§  Of  the  Religions  of  Utopia) :    '  brauling,    quarelling,  brabling, 

.     striffe  '  ;  Twelfth  Night,  5.  1.  68,  Titus  Andronicus,  1.  2.  62,  Troilus 

and  Cressida,  5.  1.  99  ('  he  will  spend  his  mouth  .  .  .  like  Brabbler 

the  hound  '). 

1  Quarterly  Review,  July  1912,  p.  79.  Comparing  the  Italian  atmosphere  of 
The  Rind  and  the  Book  with  that  of  Romola,  in  which  books  '  so  many  things  make 
for  identity  '  in  this  respect,  Mr.  James  wrote  :  '  Each  writer  drags  along  a  far- 
sweeping  train,  though  indeed  Browning's  spreads  so  immeasurably  farthest ; 
but  his  stirs  up,  to  my  vision,  a  perfect  cloud  of  gold-dust,  while  hers,  in  "  Romola  ", 
by  contrast,  leaves  the  air  about  as  clear,  about  as  white,  and  withal  about  as  cold, 
as  before  she  had  benevolently  entered  it'. 


HOOK  IV.    T/-:/r/'/r.\i  ^nn  :.-, 

I  .VI  7.    /.'/>/•'*  "   iiiiifhiin  ,  <lr.\     The  fj.-ijxai''i  ('machine')   of    the 

Attic   t  heat  iv   was  a   crane   by   \\hieh,   when   towards   the  end  of  a 

play  ('at    the  play's  fifth  act  ')  things  had  heeonie  so  complicated 

that  only  supernatural  agency  could  disentangle  them,  a  god  could 

l»e    lowered,   as   it    were   from    heaven,  to  'clear  things'.     Horace 

in-i-ts  that    there  should    be   no  such  intervention   unle>s  there  is 

a  knot  that  calls  for  it  (.I./'.    I'.H);    here  the  knot   may  call  for  the 

nt   of  'Truth   the  divinity',  but  the  speaker  thinks   Law  an 

im  -oni  p<  -tent  '  nrjxwri  for  introducing  her. 

'2H.  three  years  ago],  i.e.  in  the  early  summer  of  H'>!U,  when  I'ietro. 
after  his  return  from  Are/./.o  to  Rome,  instituted  his  suit  for  the 
iv  of  I'ompilia's  dowry. 

LMi.  itirl.  retort],  i.e.  offence  and  counter-offence,  'wrong  returned 
by  wrong  '  (548). 

30.  cargo  —  or  passengers  ?]  Either  word  would  suit  ;  the 
-peaki  -!•  prefers  '  passengers  '  in  order  to  justify  his  (not  very 
apposite)  ((notation. 

.'{1-2.  ]  Horace  (Sat.  1.  5.  12,  13)  describes  the  hubbub  incidental 
to  his  going  on  board  a  canal-barge.  The  servants  of  his  party 
call  out  to  the  bargeman  to  put  in  at  a  convenient  place,  and  when 
embarking  protest  against  over-crowding. 

Ho  !    put  in  hero  !     What  !    take  three  hundred  in  ? 
Ynii'll  swamp  us  all. 

(Conington's  translation.) 


puts  the  servants'  cries  in  the  wrong  order. 
;  nml  f"///'//.W.J     Cf.  II.  406,  'fusion  and  confusion'. 

:!'.'.  I    For  'used'  see  note  on   II.  41. 

42.  Kn.«fhiiiM  (t>xl  the  f-Mltihlixhcil  fact.]  Apparently  Fusebius. 
who  records,  iuhr  alia,  the  miracle  alleged  to  have  attended  the 
conversion  of  (  'unstant  inc.  was  otlicially  regarded  as  a  historian 
of  unimpeachable  accuracy:  he  was  at  any  rate  an  indefatigable 
collector  of  materials.  Gibbon  (c.  xvi.)  calls  him  '  the  gravest  of 
the  ecclesiastical  historians';  'his  character',  he  says,  'was  leM 
tinctured  l»y  credulity  than  that  of  almost  any  of  hiscontemporai  i 

47.  the  Fisc  and  the  other  kind  of  Fisc],  i.e.  the  Advocate  of  the 
Fi-e  and  tin-  Procurator  of  the  Fisc  (for  the  distinction,  see  note 
on  VIII.  276). 

.VI.  \\  t  ii-fll  know  who,  etc.]  Perhaps  some  one  who  pulls  the 
Pop.-'-  strings  rather  than  the  Pope  himself. 

r>J.  tin  lnix.«il-tnlih.\  l>a—  et  (from  Italian  hnwln)  was  a  card- 
played  Itetween  a  hanker  and  punters.  It  is  said  to  have 
Keen  invented  l>\  a  Venetian  nobleman  who  was  banished  for  the 
invention,  and  to  have  been  introduced  by  the  Venetian  ambassador 
in  1<>7J  to  the  French  capital,  \\lieic  it  was  prohibited  by  edict 
(/nipcrifil  DictioHtiri/)  ;  l>uma>.  houcver.  >peaks  <>t  i  he  <_r  i  me  as 
ha\  in^  been  |i|aye<|  in  I'aris  much  earlier.  Ma«  aulay  (Hilton/.  < 


76  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

mentions  an  English  nobleman  as  'keeping  the  bank  at  the  Queen 
Dowager's  basset  table  '  in  1688. 

55.  Her  Eminence]  the  Cardinal ;  Sua  Eminenza,  just  as  in 
French  a  king  is  Sa  Majeste.  Cf.  470  below,  '  Her  Efficacity  my 
Cardinal  ...  he',  and  1632-3,  'Her  Excellency  .  .  .  she'.  Was 
this  quite  worth  while  ? 

65.  to  aggrandize],  i.e.  to  exalt.  '  The  first  thing  to  aggrandize 
a  man  in  his  own  conceit,  is  to  conceive  of  himself  as  neglected  ' 
(Essays  of  Elia,  Eversley  Edition,  p.  374) ;  cf.  Old  Pictures  in 
Florence,  xix. 

68.]  The  speaker  hints  at  a  scandal  concerning  a  married  pair 
present. 

81.  Will  lie.]  '  Which',  object  to  '  consuming  '  in  78,  is  under- 
stood as  subject  to  '  will  lie '. 

87.  Like  cresset,  mudlarks  poke,  etc.]  A  cresset  is  an  iron  vessel 
to  hold  grease  or  other  burning  substance ;  the  street-urchins 
poke  it  to  keep  up  the  blaze. — In  the  first  edition  the  passage  ran  : 

nor  swung  till  lamp  graze  ground 
As  watchman's  cresset,  he  pokes  here  and  there, 
Going  his  rounds,  etc. 

90-91.]  The  speaker's  conception  of  Pietro  as  a  '  good  fat  rosy 
careless  man  '  (102),  a  lover  of  hospitality  and  good  cheer,  is  drawn 
from  a  few  words  in  the  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.  Y.B.  cxli., 
E.L.  145) :  'he  was  too  indulgent  to  his  appetite  and  given  up  to 
laziness '. 

97  seqq.]     According  to  statements  in  the  records  Pietro  was  in 
financial  straits  both  in  1680,  the  year  of  Pompilia's  birth,  and  in 
1693,  that  of  her  marriage  ;  in  1680  they  are  said  to  have  prompted 
the  fraud  about  her  parentage   (Secondary  Source,   0.  Y.B.   210, 
E.L.  261  ;    cf.   First  Anonymous  Pamphlet,   O.  Y.B.   cxliii.,  E.L. 
147),  in  1693  to  have  made  him  anxious  to  see  her  well  married 
(O.Y.B.  cxli.,  E.L.  145).     The  speaker  in  Book  IV.  supposes  the  ^ 
difficulties  to  have  occurred  only  in  1680  ;    he  says  that  '  God's  ~~^ 
gift '  of  Pompilia  steadied  Pietro  and  cured  his  extravagant  habits  "" 
(cf.  287-98).     But  in  II.  258  seqq.  Half-Rome  declares  that  it  was    -7  JA 
when  Pompilia  came  into  his  life  that  Pietro  became  careless  about 
money — :'  learnt  to  dandle  and  forgot  to  dig '. 

111.  our  ' '  poor  dear  shame-faced  ones  " .  ]  From  the  First  Anony- 
mous Pamphlet  (toe.  cit.  in  last  note) :  Pietro  '  was  several  times 
imprisoned  for  debt  and,  on  making  a  statement  of  his  property, 
received  secret  alms  from  the  Apostolic  Palace  every  month '.  If 
this  happened  at  all,  it  probably  happened,  as  the  pamphlet  implies, 
in  1680  and  not  in  1693,  for  Pietro's  will,  said  to  have  been  made 
in  1695,  shows  that  he  was  then  comfortably  off  (O.Y.B.  clvi., 
clxxxvi.,^.L.  161,  191  ;  Treves,  p.  9). 

There  were  large  endowments  throughout  Italy  for  the  relief 


BOOK  IV.-    TKIiTII'M  QUID  77 


ot  poveri  /</•;/«•//>»>/,  'shame-faced1  poor  (/.'.  people,  perhaps  of 
good  lijrtli.  \\ho  had  seen  Letter  da\s);  an  account  <.f  Mich  an 
endowment  at  Klorence  is  L'iven  in  Hmnolfi,  c.  \.  Poveri  veryoijnofii 
arc  now  relieved  by  the  Congreyazimti  <li  <'<iri/ii  of  the  Italian 
communes  (Kinjj  and  Okey.  //'////  To-l>ni/,  |>|).  223-4). 

114.  ravens  they,  And  providence  he.]  Psalm  cxlvii.  9,  'He 
ijiveth  to  tin-  beast  his  food,  and  to  the  young  ravens  which  cry' 
(cf.  Job  xxxviii.  41). 

1  17.  In  vespers,  missal  beneath  nrin.\  As  Bcrdoc  points  out, 
Yiolante  would  not  take  IHT  missal  (mass-book)  to  vrs|><  is. 


IIS.  llif  proper  San  Lorenz<>\  as  heinn  IHT  parish  church.  Cf. 
VII.  17,  'the  proper  church'  ;  VIII.  364. 

170.  by  <'ilnrin.\  The  J'ia/./.a  di  Monte  Citorio,  west  of  the 
Corso  beyond  the  INaz/.a  Colonna. 

172.  shine.]  Browningese  for  'show'.  —  Tlie  woinan  is  described 
as  a  vilissinia  lotrix  (O.Y.B.  ix.)  ;  lolrix  is  mistranslated  in  E.L. 

184.  three  pauls.]  A  paul  was  worth  about  5d.  Sec  note  on  I. 
324. 

187.  that  person  whom  you  trust.]  The  incidents  of  the  bargain 
were  invented  by  Browning,  but  in  the  post-Browning  pamphlet 
there  is  something  about  this  go-bet  \\een  and  her  '  sagacity  '  (O.  Y.J3. 
219,  E.L.  272-3). 

196.  "  M  y   reproof  is   taken   away".]    No  wonder  that    'the  *"i 
officiating  priest  turned  round'  if  Violante  introduced  these  words 
into  the  Magnificat  !     They  are  suggested  by  the  words  of  Elisabeth 
in  Luke  i.  25  :    '  Thus  hath  the  Lord  dealt  with  me  ...  to  take 
away  my  repioaeh  among  men'. 

-'Hi.  pair  of  pinners  and  a  coif.]  The  word  '  pinners  '  is  applied 
either  to  'a  coif  with  two  large  flaps,  worn  by  women  in  the 
17th  and  18th  centuries',  or  to  the  flaps  themselves  (A'.A1.  />.),  as 

206.  the  Orvieto  in  a  double  dose.]  Orvieto  is  *  the  lightest  and 
mo>t  delicate  of  Roman  wines'  (Story,  Roba  di  Roma,  p.  323); 
but  when  produced  by  Arcangeli  on  a  fete-day  it  is  expected  to 
'  fuddle  the  old  nose  '  of  his  father-in-law  (VIII.  36). 

213.  and  the  rest  0'  the  names.]    See  VII.  5-7;    O.Y.B.  civ., 

/;./..  i.v.i. 

214.  next  day.]     The  date  of  Pompilia's  birth  was  said  to  be 
July  17,  that  of  her  baptism  was  July  23  (O.Y.B.  loc.  cit.).     The 
>peaker\s     next  day  '  tits  the  Roman  custom  of  fifty  years  since  ; 
'the  ceremony  of   baptism',  says  Story  (Roba  di  Roina,  p.   486), 
4  is  usually  performed  within  forty-eight  hours'  of  birth. 

L'17.    rii-Hify  uinl  tin    nnnlc.\      See  note  on   II.    117:!. 

J.    /  tlintnjlit  f/.s  ninrh\,  i.e.  you  assent,  as   1  expected. 

.  before  it  is  encroached  on,  etc. 

212  .V>.  I  Compare  Violante'>  justification  of  her  act  in  III. 
184-21!!. 


r 


78  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

242.  silly-sooth.}     See  note  on  III.  806. 

268.  Don't  cheat  me,  don't  cheat  you,  etc.]  'I  admit',  says  the 
speaker,  '  that  you  shouldn't  cheat  your  friends  '  ;  he  points  to 
himself  and  '  Her  Highness ',  calling  them  '  me  '  and  '  you  '  as  he 
addresses  '  Her  Excellency '. 

279.]  An  improvement  on  the  '  God  do  n't  please,  nor  his 
heart  shall  pine  '  of  the  first  edition. 

287-98.]     See  note  on  97  seqq. 

310.]     Cf.  IX.  514,  '  some  pearl  secreted  by  a  sickly  fish'. 

328-9.]  Cf.  the  beginning  of  Solomon  and  Balkis. — We  learn 
from  1  Kings  x.  18-20  that  Solomon  made  '  a  great  throne  of  ivory  ' 
which  had  six  steps,  and  that  '  twelve  lions  stood  there  on  the  one 
side  and  on  the  other  upon  the  six  steps  '  ;  and  from  1  Kings  vii. 
7  that  '  he  made  a  porch  for  the  throne  where  he  might  judge, 
even  the  porch  of  judgment '.'  Josephus  (Ant.  8.  5.  2)  says  that  the 
ivory  throne  as  described  was  '  constructed  as  a  seat  of  justice '. — 
Browning's  vase  between  the  lions  seems  to  have  been  his  own 
invention. 

335.  To  go.]  Originally  '  should  go  '  ;  Browning  when  revising 
his  text  limited  the  frequency  of  omissions  of  the  relative  pronoun. 

338.  "  Nunc  dimittis"].  In  his  first  edition  Browning  printed 
"  Nunc  dimittas  ",  which  one  sometimes  feels  (wrongly)  that  Symeon 
should  have  said,  and  which  the  Comparini  meant. 

341.  should]  is  better  than  the  '  to  '  of  the  first  edition. 

352-3.]  For  '  poor  souls,  It  proved  to  be  '  Browning  originally 
perpetrated  '  fate  must  needs  It  proved  to  be'. 

354.]  For  '  truth  '  and  '  sham  '  the  first  edition  has  '  The  truth  ' 
and  '  the  sham',  which  make  the  line  six-footed. 

360  seqq.]  Developed  from  the  evidence  of  a  servant  of  the 
Franceschini  (0.  Y.B.  li.,  lii.,  E.L.  52).  See  note  on  V.  71. 

381  seqq.]  There  is  some  vagueness  here  in  respect  of  the 
time  referred  to.  The  '  sisters ',  according  to  the  speaker,  were 
off  Guide's  hands,  though  their  marriage  brought  no  help  to  the 
Franceschini  finances  ;  Paolo  was  provided  for.  There  remained 
the  mother,  who  was  likely  to  live  long,  and  Girolamo,  who,  however, 
had  gained  preferment.  There  were  not  therefore,  at  the  time 
apparently  meant,  so  very  '  many  noble  mouths  to  feed '. 

It  is  stated  in  Treves  (p.  11),  on  the  authority,  no  doubt,  of 
the  Arezzo  registers,  that  Guido  had  only  one  sister,  Porzia,  who 
'  married  a  member  of  the  distinguished  family  of  the  Aldobrandini ' 
(for  this  Porzia  see  XII.  785) ;  and  the  records  speak  of  one  sister 
only,  who  had  married  a  brother  of  Conti  (Pompilia's  deposition, 
O.Y.B.  Ixxxiii.,  E.L.  91). 

391.  a  second  son.]    A  mistake  ;  see  note  on  II.  291. 

392.  these  thirty  years.]     Based  on  the  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet 
(0.  Y.B.  cxlviii.,  E.L.  151).     As  Professor  Hodell  points  out  (0.  Y.B. 
298),  Browning  makes  a  wrong  use  of  this  passage  in  II.  304,  where 


IV.     TERT1UM  v/'//>  79 


-aid  that  (iuido  (not  Paolo)  had  been  thirl  v  Y<MI>  in  Rome; 
•  •I.  V.  L".H 

put    !(»:».  |       See   note   oil    I.    iMil-."). 

HiT.   Thnnifb    xtill  from  the  side  o    t/n-   Church.  \     See    note   on 
111.  I'M'. 

•ion.  forty-six  years.}    Cf.  719  below,  XII.  194  ;  and  see  note  on 
II.  L".M. 

411.  he  too  having  his  Cardinal.]     See  note  on  III.  407. 

422-3.]     Compare  what  Guido  says  about  this  in  V.  292  seqq. 

1.17.   Xotiun    tonsoribus  !]     From   Horace,   Sat.   1.  7.   3;     u>»  d 
already  in  II.  1  lf>  (where  see  note),  but  with  more  point  here. 

440.  the  woman  -  dealer  in  perukes.]  Second  Anonymous 
Pamphlet,  O.Y.B.  ccviii.,  E.L.  210:  Guido's  'most  usual  place  of 
;  \vas  the  shop  of  certain  l)<>nn>  Pinircttie.re,  whore  he  had 
often  made  it  known  that  it  was  his  intention  to  start  housi  -U. 
inn;  with  some  good  dowry';  Secondary  Source,  O.Y.B.  209, 
E.L.  2.VJ  :  •  he  revealed  his  desire  [to  take  a  wife  with  a  good  dowry] 
to  a  certain  perucchiera  near  the  Piazza  Colonna  '. 

!lv  zecchines.]    A   zecchine   was   worth   about   ten   shillings; 
M  •   note  on  I.  324. 

456.  fmir  l>l<t'k  as  yon  patch.]     Cf.  III.  66-7,  where  the  painter 
(  'ario  Maratta  is  represented  as  fascinated  by  Pompilia's  loveliness  :  — 

Then,  oh  that  pair  of  eyes,  that  pendent  hair, 

Black  this  and  black  the  other  ! 

dso  II.  275,  XI.  1349,  1  367.  l—  Professor  Phelps  collects  passages 
to  show  that  Browning's  '  ideally  beautiful  women  generally  have 
yellow  hair'  (Browning  :  How  to  know  him,  p.  142);  he  might 

dello's  Palma  to  his  list  of  yellow-haired  In  ant  i<  •>. 
7.  eyes  as  big  As  yon  pomander.]  Pomanders  were  (1)  wax 
perfume  balls,  such  as  Autolycus  mentions  among  the  '  trumpery' 
whirh  he  sells  at  the  shearers1  feast  (Winter's  Tale,  4.  4.  608)  ;  (2) 
certain  aromatic  substances  n>ed  against  infection;  were  they 
al.-o  warrant*  (1  'to  make  freckles  fly'  ?  and  (3)  boxes  of  gold  or 
.-ilviT  in  which  to  carry  them.  See  Shakespeare's  Enyhiittl.  ii.  pp. 
115-16. 

At  a  time  of  pestilence,  shortly  before  the  date  with  which  we 

ihe  Cuuntrn  of  '  The  Ring  and  the  liook',  pp.  237-8)  :  '  I 

ha\c  \van>leie,|  tlir«.ii-_'h  r\n\    pirtmv  -allcry  in   Kniuc  ami  in   Hnrnirr,  srrkiiiL', 
jiiiiuiit:  tin-  rrmvils  ..i  MI  years  Rone  by,  n»r  tin-  I'.-in-  ..t 

I'l'inpilhi.     Alter  scanning  some  hundreds  of  faOM  ...  1  at  List  t'onml  rmnpiliu. 

ppean  in   l'r;i   h'ilippo  l.ippi's  j.irtnrc  «>I  On-  Ma.lnniui  in  tlit-  1'itti  I'ala..'  at 
i-'ili'rirk  i  in  >(•(•<•(  I-  to  just  ity  liis  Identification,  to  \\liicli  lie  nttarln--. 
MIC  that  In-  L'i\r-  a  rrproilui'tioii  HI  the  tainuiis  pirtnn-  in  colour 
a-  tin-   I'rc.iitixpicc.-  to  lii>   l.o,,k.      His  n-inarks  on  the  expression   oi   the   (ao 
nio>t    Interesting,  bnl   1oaii\   i  -lo-c  jilcniili'-alion  <>\   the  Mailonna  \vitli    l!i<>" 
1'oinpilia  it   may  be  ,,l.j.-i-tci|  ///  I'm,  in,'  (  I  )  t  hat  .  \\  hilc  t  he  lornicr  i^.  a^  sir  1'n-dcrick 
'a   little   \\oinan  asMirc.lly  ',  the  latter   \\as  tall  (>ee  ;   (j»  tl,at. 

^s•liilt•  tin-  .Mailonna  i>  lair-haired,  I'Dinpili  '  hla«  k  as  \on  pad  h'. 


80  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

are  concerned,  Mr.  Short/house's  hero  is  represented  as  carrying 
about  with  him  at  Rome  '  a  pomander  of  silver  in  the  shape  of  an 
apple,  stuffed  with  spices,  which  sent  out  a  curious  faint  perfume 
through  small  holes  '  (John  Inglesant,  c.  xxxiii. ). 

470.  Her  Efficacity.]  See  the  notes  on  55  above  (for  'Her') 
and  III.  1471  (for  '  efficacity  ' ). 

472.  the  grey  mare.']  '  The  people's  word  '  here  quoted  seems 
to  be,  not  of  Italian,  as  is  suggested,  but  of  English  origin.  The 
N.E.D.  traces  it  back  to  1546. — Macaulay  (History,  c.  iii.)  suspects 
that  'the  vulgar  proverb  originated  in  the  preference  generally 
given  to  the  grey  mares  of  Flanders  over  the  finest  coach  horses  of 
England '. 

484.  its  mere  mention.]  Substituted  for  the  original  '  mention 
of  it'. 

490-93.]     See  III.  396  seqq.,  note. 

495.  tear.]    An  improvement  on  the  '  one  '  of  the  first  edition. 

497.  stole  to  church  at  eve,  etc.]  All  this  is  a  mistake  ;  see  note 
on  II.  70. 

499-501.]  According  to  Pompilia  (VII.  482-583)  it  was  not  so 
easy  to  gain  Pietro's  acquiescence  in  the  fait  accompli. 

503.  once  more.]     See  above,  465-6. 

506.  clapnet.]  A  net  which  can  be  suddenly  shut  by  pulling 
a  string  ;  Red  Cotton  Night-Cap  Country,  line  403  (N.E.D.). 

514.]     Compare  the  similar  language  of  Guido  in  V.  497-502. 

527-47.]     See  note  on  V.  494. 

528.  inexpressive.]  Passive  :  '  that  is  not  expressed  '.  Shake- 
speare (As  you  like  it,  3.  2.  10)  and  Milton  (Nativity  Ode,  116,  and 
Lycidas,  176)  have  '  unexpressive  '  in  the  sense  '  that  cannot  be 
expressed '.  See  note  on  '  insuppressive ',  XI.  980. 

547.  No  party  blamed.]  More  correctly,  'neither  party  had 
blamed '. 

— .  starting  fair.]  For  the  ungrammatical  participle  see  note 
on  II.  229. 

554.  least]  should  be  'less',  as  'no'  in  547  should  be  '  neither'. 

568.  fain  were  they],  i.e.  '  that  they  were  fain '. 

— .  long  before  five  months  had  passed.]  The  Comparini  were  at 
Arezzo  from  early  in  December  1693  to  early  in  April  1694  ;  see 
Appendix  III. 

569-70.]     See  note  on  II.  520. 

574.  this  worse  than  bad.]     See  564  above. 

577.  fell.]  Substituted  for  the  original  'came',  which  word  has 
occurred  in  573. 

600.  round  us  in  the  ears.]  A  very  favourite  phrase  of  Brown- 
ing's, used  again  in  VIII.  1321,  1719,  X.  1589,  XI.  675,  1222,  also 
in  Luria  (Act  II.)  and  Red  Cotton  Night-Cap  Country.  In  all  these 
places  '  to  round  a  person  in  the  ears '  means  '  to  din  a  thing  into 
his  ears',  to  tell  him  something  repeatedly  and  plainly.  But  the 


BOOK  IV.—TERTIUM  QUID  81 

old  verb  'to  rown  '  (oomipted  into  'round')  means  'to  whisper', 
and  'to  round  a  person  in  the  ears'  is  properly  to  whisper  some- 
thing to  him  ;  '  in  later  0  '  In-  -V.  /•,'./>.,  '  to  take  him  prinilrli/ 
to  ta-k'.  The  .Y. /','./>.,  \\hieh,  strangely  enough,  gives  IV.  600  as 
an  in-tanee  of  the  meaning  4  to  whisper',  quotes  Coverdale's  version 
of  .loli  \\xiii.  !."»:  '  In  dreames  and  visions  of  the  night  season 

%    .    .     He   I  outlet  h   them    ill   the  ears  '   ;     ef.    Kimj  ./<>// il,  2.    1.   566.       In 

nil  Mo,-!,!/;/,/ (c.  iv.)  Xiel  Hlane  tells  his  daughter  to  accost  a  person 
quietly,  to  '  gie  him  a  pn'  by  the  sleeve,  and  round  [a  confidential 
menage]  into  his  lug';  Charles  Lamb  revives  the  half-forgotten 
phrase  in  his  Kssays,  of  course  in  its  right  sen-'  . 

r.rouning's  misuse  of  the  expression  was  perhaps  suggested  by  the 

use  of  '  round  "  and  'roundly'  in  the  sense  of    straightforward'  and 

ii^ht  foi  wardlv'.  ' \\  ithont  hesitation  or  reserve',  in  such  passages 

as  Hamlet,  2.  2.  139,  3.  1.  191.  Hichurd  II.  2.  1.  122  ;    cf.  V.  1354, 

'to  he  round  with  you',  i.e.  'to  tell  you  the  plain  truth  plainly*. 

(\\'2.  l>i/r-bl<>it'\,  i.e.  an  illegitimate  child,  because  'it  comes  into 
the  world  by  a  side-stroke  '  (N.E.D.) ;  cf.  V.  770  '  by-blow  bastard 
babe',  and  the  passage  quoted  from  Fielding  in  the  note  on  1498 
below.  The  word  will  be  found  in  the  torrent  of  vernacular  abuse 
with  which  Squire  Beltham  in  Harry  Richmond  drenches  his  son- 
in-law. 

•ill').1     The   'counter-thrust  '   appears  to  be  that,  if  he  proves 
Yiolante's  'odious  tale'  to  have  been  a  '  lie  hatched  for  mere  malice' 
sake',  he  must  either  leave  it  unpunished  or  try  revenge. 
I.  jiijlit  ll/f  ir  }>rr.>  iifton.]     See  note  on  XL  476. 
irriii .  />/-i///,  jiiihlifth,  etc.]     See  note  on  II.  658. 

»'»l."i.  t»  jf-cf\.  replaces  the  original  'around'. 

658.  xii }>( '/•fliii/i/  <>/'  it<i Hi/lit i ness.]    James  i.  21. 

661.  make   parade   of  spoil   they  filched.}     The    '  spoil '    is    the 
ocratic  connection    which   they  had  avowedly  secured  by  a 

iood. 

662.  from  the  In  iifltl  of' a  lnuvr.\     They  could  slander  (iuido  from 
a   place  of  vantage,   bciiiL'  -ife  at    Home  and  not  exposed   to   his 

<ll'-c. 

(•(is.  I  The  'four  months'  should  be  seven  or  eight.  We  are 
now  in  April  or  .Ma\  H'>'.)1  ;  1'ompilia  was  married  on  Septeml>er  6, 
1693.  See  Appendix  III. 

liTl.  A*///  come.]     In  the  first  edition  'was  come';    the  'was' 

U  nirly  after  the  •  was'  at  the  beginning  of  the  line. 

708-11.)  We  have  had  this  •  antrler-simile  '  applied  to  Pompilia 
already  in  II.  :>7o-77.  :',L*  I  .'..  I  :::..-.-60. 

TIT   I'.l.  |     The    description    ,,f    Cuido's    aj.}»eaiance    and    the    in- 

correct  statement  aliout  hi-  .. ..  icon  1 1.  L)(.l  1 )  are  t  aken  from 

the    Seeondary    Source    (V.Y.I;.    I'l:1,.     I'.. I..    !>()()).      A    rough    j.rn- 

.-keteh  of  ( iuido,  '  made  on  a  loos«-  sheet  shortly  before  his  execution', 

bought  amoii'_r  a  bundle  of  miscellaneous  pajiers  in  London,  and 


82  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

sent  by  the  finder  to  the  poet '  (O.  Y.B.  (7) ) ;  it  is  reproduced  in 
O.  Y.B.  (facing  p.  274)  and  in  this  commentary  (frontispiece). 

720-22.]     '  She  '  and  '  He  '  should  be  '  Her  '  and  '  Him '. 

723.  less]  should  be  '  more '. 

731.  devil's  dung.]  The  foul-smelling  drug  asafcetida  (teufels- 
dreck). — When  a  lodger,  having  a  curmudgeon  of  a  landlord, 
wished  to  end  his  tenancy  before  his  term  had  expired,  Dr.  Johnson, 
advised  him  thus  :  '  You  may  say  that  you  want  to  make  some 
experiments  in  natural  philosophy,  and  may  burn  a  large  quantity 
of  assafcetida  in  his  house '. 

757.  the  subtle  air  that  breeds  the  subtle  wit.]  See  the  words; 
attributed  by  George  Vasari  to  Michel  Angelo,  quoted  in  the  note 
on  XII.  811. 

762.  try  cross-buttock  or  whirl  quarter-staff.]  For  '  cross-buttock  * 
see  The  Two  Poets  of  Croisic,  cvir.,  where  Browning  tells  how  on  a 
certain  occasion  '  Humbug  cross-buttocked '  Voltaire.  In  Tom 
Jones  (Book  XIII.  c.  v.)  Fielding  quotes  a  contemporary  advertise- 
ment in  which  a  Professor  of  Boxing  announces  the  opening  of  an 
academy  '  where  the  whole  theory  and  practice  of  that  truly  British 
art,  with  all  the  various  stops,  blows,  cross-buttocks,  etc.  incident 
to  combatants,  will  be  fully  taught  and  explained '. — A  quarter- 
staff  is  '  a  stout  pole  from  six  to  eight  feet  long,  tipped  with  iron  ; 
formerly  used  as  a  weapon  by  the  English  peasantry '.  A  passage 
quoted  by  the  N.E.D.  from  a  writer  of  1589  suggests  that  the  staff 
was  made  from  an  ash-tree  cleft  in  four. 

770.  the  famous  letter.]    See  Appendix  IV. 

796.]  A  relative  clause  to  which  '  piece  of  heaven '  is  the 
antecedent ;  cf.  842-6. 

799,  the  Commissary],  i.e.  the  '  Governor  '  of  Arezzo,  as  Browning 
usually  calls  him ;  in  the  Latin  of  the  0.  Y.B.  he  is  Gubernator  or 
Commissarius,  in  the  Italian  Governatore  or  Commissario. 

807-41.]     See  note  on  III.  1015  seqq. 

824.]  The  rhythm  of  the  line  is  improved  by  the  omission  of 
'  her',  which  stood  before  '  heart '  in  the  first  edition. 

834.  poor  Uzzah  that  I  am  /]  2  Samuel  vi.  6,  7.  When  in  X. 
1482-3  Browning  made  his  friar  of  mean  degree  ask  the  question, 

Who  was  it  dared  lay  hand  upon  the  ark 
His  betters  saw  fall  nor  put  finger  forth  ? 

he  would  himself  have  given  a  wrong  answer  ;  for  he  originally 
wrote  'Hophni',  not  'Uzzah',  in  the  present  passage. — The  friar 
is  not  compared  to  Uzzah  (or  to  Hophni)  in  the  Yellow  Book. 

836.]  Luke  xxi.  19. 

840.  Said  Ave/or  her  intention]  '  for  her  sake  ',  cf.  XII.  179.  A 
Gallicism  ;  faire  des  prieres,  donner  des  aumones,  dire  la  messe, 
etc.  a  V intention  de  quelqu'un  =  faire  ces  choses  dans  le  dessein  qu'elles 
lui  servent  devant  Dieu  (Littre).  Newman  wrote  to  Manning  on  a 


HOOK  IV,    TSRTIUM     riD  s:j 


piquant  occasion  :    'I  propo-  f«  >i  your  intent  ion 

amid  the  difficult  ie»  and  anxieties  of  your  ccclesiast  ieal  dut 
;.    all  hul  nut-  simile.  |      Cf.   7!M)  above. 

ll'/s  fmrtlli/  J'nlli'n.  |  K\e  had  still  enough  of  '  paradisal 
nature'  to  refrain  from  making.  M  I'ompilia  made,  a  false  accusa- 
tion againM  her  husband.  In  the  first  and  second  editions  of  the 
poem  line  S."»(i  ('So  mucli  Kve's")  stands  before  line  S.")|,  and  the 
punctuation  is  defective.  The  change  is  a  decided  improvement. 

861   tin-re  needed  Mliia  vomit  flame.]     Cf.   IX.    Mil.  '  sin-  needed 
write  '. 

876.J     Negro  pa<_re>   \\,  re  fashionahle  at  the  time;    readers  of 
-"/  \s  ill  remember  that  Lady  Castlewood  had  one. 

887.   l.iiwii'i   nii'l  X  a  *>inna.]     Models  of  |)iirity  ;    Lucrctia   the 
\\ife  of  Collatinus  (IX.  178)  and  the  Susanna  of  the  Apocrypha. 

888-9.]     Leda  surprised   by  .Jupiter  is  the  subject  of  a  famou> 

Correggio  now  in  the  Berlin  (Jallery;    another  nude  Leda  by  the 

same  artist,  of  which,  according  to  Vasari  (Lives  of  the  Painters, 

ii.  p.  i<>7),  (iiulio  Romano  said  '  that  he  had  never  beheld  colouring 

ited  with  equal  perfection',  has  now  been  destroyed. 

91:M.">.  |     Se«-    Pompilia's   deposition,    O.YJ1.    lxxxiii.-iv.,    E.L. 


•  '/'/.•»•  1'm/Hnlrntli/  pleaded.}  Sec  III.  972-89.  The  1'ope 
admits  the  plea  (X.  9H7-7:*).  Pompilia  says  in  her  deposition  tliat 
IK  i  application  to  the  bishop  was  fruitless  '  because  of  his  relations 
with  my  husband's  house  '  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxiv.,  E.L.  92). 

!i:;o-o2.]     A  long  sentence,  but  its  construction  is  simple. 
936-8.]    Bee  note  on  11.  7(.)6-7. 

(.i|  1.  1     With  this  casual  reference  to  the  theatre-incident  compare 
that  in  II.  801.     Tin-  incident  is  mentioned  only  once  in  the  records  : 
Pompilia   speaks  of  it   in  her  deposition   as   trivial   in    itself,  but 
as  increasing  (iuidos   suspicions  of  Caponsacchi  (O.).ll.    Ixxxiii., 
I:'.  I..    (.H  ).      In    Uie    poem    it    becomes   the   t  unlink-point    in    Capon- 
bfl  life,  redeeming  him  from  the  frivolity  which  bade  fair  to 
k    him  ;    and  it  is   hardly   less   important  to  Pompilia.     The 
>iLrlit  at  the  theatre  of  the  '  beautiful  sad  strange  smile  '  of  Pompilia, 
and   that  of  the  'earnest  .  .  .  silent,  grave,  almost   solemn  face' 
of  (  'aponsacchi,  were  for  Browning  the  beginning  of  his  romance. 
'.M."..   .-//(   that  I'uulil  not  irrili  .'  \     See  Appendix  IV. 
'.i  Hi.  |     In  apposition  to  'letters'. 

•'•'2.  |  Could  not  a  priest  have  had  the  wit  to  contrive  an 
ordinary  amour,  ea-ily  hushed  up,  instead  of  this  infamy  in  the 
liirht  of  day?  Urowninir  originally  wrote  'no  mitigahle  amour 
to  b<'  hushed  up'. 

7.  1     The    reading    of    the    later    editions,    with    it- 
punctuation,  ha>  ln-<-n  >ul»stit  utcd  for 

I  )i  •  \-ou  tind  it    ir-ivt.  -re.!  the  part   of  a   priest 
Tliat   t<>  riirlit   mx>ngfl  lie  -kip  from  tin-  clmivli 


84  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

960.  In  a  lay -dress.}     See  note  on  II.  999. — The  insertion  of 
*  kind  '  before  '  sentinel '  in  this  line  greatly  improves  the  rhythm. 
963-5.]     The  suggestion  is  made  by  Guide's  advocate  Arcangeli 
(O.Y.B.  cviii.,  E.L.  117),  and  Bottini  shows  why  it  could  not  be 
adopted  (O.Y.B.  clxxiv.-v.,  E.L.  181).     See  IX.  1127  and  note. 

968.  received  protestations  of  her  love.]  This  is  not  part  of  Capon- 
|  sacchi's  '  own  account  o'  the  case  '  as  given  in  his  deposition ;  on 
/  the  contrary,  he  expressly  denies  that  he  received  such  protesta- 
-  tions  (0.  Y.B.  lxxxviii.-xc.,  E.L.  96-8).  See  Appendix  V. 

975-7.]     See  Caponsacchi's  deposition  (loc.  cit.). 
\,  979.  he  had  seen  her  once}  viz.  at  the  theatre  (above,  944). 

1006.  by  instinct.}  But  the  speaker  has  just  said  that  Capon- 
sacchi  had  '  heard  everywhere  report '  which  confirmed  what 
Pompilia  told  him  (981). 

1012.  argument  and  inference.}  The  '  argument '  is  that  con- 
tained in  966-1007,  the  critical  analysis  of  Caponsacchi's  claim  that 
his  motive  was  '  pity  of  innocence  ' ;  the  '  inference  '  is  that,  this 
claim  being  exploded,  the  true  explanation  of  his  conduct  was  that 
he  acted  in  '  the  old  stale  unromantic  way  of  fault '  (1017-24). 

1028.  visits  night  by  night.}     It  appears  from  the  records  that 
the  only  evidence  for    such  visits  came  from  the  '  officious  go- 
between  '. 

1029.  far  and  away.}     Cf.  Fifine  at  the  Fair,  v.,  '  the  home  far 
and  away'.     '  Far  and  away'  in  ordinary  English  =  ' very  much' 
with  comparatives  and  superlatives  ;    do  other  writers  use  it  as 
Browning  does  here  ? 

1033-42.]     See  Appendix  IV. 

1053.  /  burnt  because  I  read.]     Caponsacchi  is  misrepresented 
/      here.     The  letters  which  he  said  that  he  burnt  were  not  the  alleged 
I       love-letters — these   he   denies  having  received   at   all,   but  other 
^        letters  in  which  Pompilia  begged  for  his  escort  in  her  flight  to  the 

Comparini  at  Rome. 

1054.  CUT   profuerint !]   i.e.  the   forger  and  finder  was   Guido, 
the  person  who  stood  to  gain  by  their  being  found.     It  was  a  maxim 
— a  very  obvious  truism — laid  down  by  a  certain  Cassius  that  in 
a  murder- trial  the  judges  should  ask  themselves  the  question,  Cui 
bonofuerit  ?  (=cui  profuerit  ?),  '  Who  stood  to  gain  by  the  crime  ?  ' 

1069.  The  silent  acquetta.]  Cf.  V.  1736-7,  where  Guido  puts 
the  question : 

Why  noise, 
When  there's  the  acquetta  and  the  silent  way  ? 

Acquetta  occurs  often  in  the  records,  e.g.  in  0.  Y.B.  ccxiii.,  E.L.  215 
(Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet),  where  it  is  said  that  Pompilia 
was  aware  that  Guido  had  made  preparatione  d1  acquetta  with  which 
he  meant  to  poison  her.  The  word,  which  in  common  parlance  means 
a  light  shower,  is  used  euphemistically  of  aqua  tofana,  a  deadly 


BOOK  IV.—TKItTIUM  QUID  85 

ln|iii'l  once  employed  lively  l>y  poisoners  in  Italy;   it  is  somot; 
.tiled  un/in/ln  ,11  r*r<i(jia — cette  fameuse  aqua-tofana,  dont  quelques 
i-ni<xirrttitiit  encore  (at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteen th 
eenturv)  le  secret  a  Perouw,  which  plays  a  part  in  Dumas's  Monte 

pp.  -2'2 1.  2 
1104  C>.  |     Sec  note  on  III.  1546-69. 

.  Caused  to  be  .  .  .  sent  to  Rome.]    See  note  on  II.  1018. 
,.|     Cf.  II.  14<rr-l  :><»:{. 

1  I  11.  the  Paphos  fit  for  such.]     The  name  has  suffered  de^rada- 
At   Paphos   in   Cyprus   Venus    had    a    magnificent    temple, 
noticed  e.<j.  in  Homer  (Od.  8.  363)  and  in  Virgil  (Mn.  1.  415-17). 

1147.  the  stock-fish],  i.e.  he  is  stolidly  apathetic  ;  see  Measure 
for  Measure,  3.  2.  116.  Stock-fish  is  dried-cod  ('so  called  from 
its  hardness ' — Dr.  Johnson),  beaten  before  it  is  cooked.  In  The 
Tempest,  3.  2.  79,  Til  make  a  stock-fish  of  thee'  means  'I  will 
beat  thee '.  In  1  Henry  IV.  2.  4.  271,  when  the  Prince  calls  FalstalT 
a  'huge  hill  of  flesh',  Falstaff  retorts  that  the  Pi-inn-  is  a  •starveling', 
an  '  eel's  skin  ',  a  '  dried  neat's  tongue',  a  '  stock-fish  '. 

I  l.'.s.  lirklr  in  the  touch],  i.e.  a  ticklish  thing  to  touch.  For  this 
obsolete  use  of  '  tickle  '  as  adjective  see  «'  Henry  VI.  1.  1.  216  : 

Paris  i-;  lost  ;    the  state  of  Normandy 
Stands  on  a  tickle  point. 

In  Hamlet  (2.  2.  337)  a  clown  is  said  '  to  make  those  laugh  whose 
lungs  are  tickle  o'  the  sere  '  ['  sere  '=the  catch  in  a  gunlock  which 
is  released  by  the  trigger],  i.e.  who  are  easily  moved  to  laughter. 

1187.  To  try  conclusions.]    See  note  on  V.  1125. 

ll!»7.   A  particularly  ugly  line — 

Another  |  consfd  |  era  |  tion  have  it  |  your  way. 

1209.]  Matthew  xxv.  21  ;  used  with  covert  sarcasm  again  in 
1.  1190, 

1218-79.]  The  decision  of  the  Court  in  the  Process  of  Flight 
is  developed  at  great  length,  with  much  irony,  by  both  Half- 1  Ionic 
and  The  Other  Half-Rome  (II.  1177  seqq.,  III.  1376  seqq.) ;  it  is 
sneered  at,  though  claimed  as  a  decision  in  his  favour,  by  (Juido 
(V.  1177-1239,  1855-65,  1884-1938);  it  is  denounced  imxt 
vehemently  by  Caponsacchi  (VI.  1781-6).  The  gentle  Pompilia. 
however,  recomii/.ed  that  (so  far  at  least  as  she  was  concerned) 
'the  judges  judged  aright  i'  the  main' — they  gave  her  'a  tniee 
from  torture  and  Arezzo '  (VII.  1649-51);  and  the  Pope,  to  the 
reader's  surprise  perhaps,  considered  that  the  Court  did  not  'do 
i"  the  main  '  to  any  of  the  parties  (  X.  705  seqq.). 

I  L'20.  As  end\,  i.e.  '  as  to  end  '  ;  cf.  VI.  188  : 

I   had   picked  up  so  much  of  knave-' -p.,: 
A<   hide  i)    ; 


86  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

and  VIII.  1774 : 

the  ambitious  do  so  harden  heart 
As  lightly  hold  by  these  home-sanctitudes. 

1236-7],  i.e.  whether  the  subject  of  their  prattle  is  edifying  or  not. 

Donna  Olimpia  Pamfili  was  sister-in-law  to  Pope  Innocent  X. 
(1644-55),  whom  she  ruled  and  robbed  ;  he  could  deny  her  nothing, 
and  is  said  to  have  made  her  a  present  of  the  Palazzo  Doria-Pamfili, 
the  most  magnificent  of  Roman  palaces.  And  yet  when  he  died 
she  grudged  him  even  the  cost  of  a  coffin. — Her  influence  with  the 
Pope  led  to  the  circulation  of  scandalous  stories  about  her  ;  Pasquin 
(see  note  on  XII.  141)  called  her  Olim  pia,  nunc  impia,  and  said  of 
Innocent,  Magis  amat  Olympiam  quam  Olympium. 

The  Saint  Rose  here  mentioned  may  be  either  the  Franciscan 
saint  of  Viterbo  (died  1261)  or  the  Dominican  saint  of  Lima  in  Peru 
(died  1617,  canonized  c.  1675).  Though  the  latter  St.  Rose  in- 
terested Spaniards  rather  than  Italians,  I  think  that  she  is  meant. 
Donna  Olimpia  was  a  recent  sinner,  and  if  girls  preferred  to  prattle 
about  a  saint  they  would  perhaps  select  one  recently  canonized. 

1240.  as  here  we  mean.]  The  wife,  the  priest,  the  husband, 
have  made  a  noise  and,  though  they  may  be  innocent  otherwise, 
should  be  punished  for  making  it,  just  as  school-girls  are  punished 
for  prattling,  however  innocently,  in  their  dormitories. 

1242.  After  her  run.]    She  has  '  scoured  the  fields  '  (above,  1228). 

1255.  He  fails  obtain.]  Cf.  VI.  684,  'love  has  failed  allure'; 
IX.  1240,  '  ye  fail  preoccupy '  ;  X.  1828,  '  How  could  saints  and 
martyrs  fail  see  truth  ?  ' 

1267.  a  further  help  i1  the  case],  i.e.  to  Guido,  to  whom  Capon- 
sacchi's  relegation  must  be  some  satisfaction. 

1272.  heading,  hanging.]     Cf.  I.  126,  350. 
>  1276.]     Luke  xvi.  8. 

1279.  to  the  steel  point],  i.e.  to  the  logical  extremity ;  cf.  1566 
below,  where  '  cold  steel '  is  logical  argument  in  the  law-courts 
and  is  contrasted  with  violence  ('  explosives  ').. 

1282-3..]  The  Piazza  Navona  is  the  largest  of  Roman  piazzas. 
'  The  principal  fruit  and  vegetable  market  of  Rome  is  held  here 
every  Wednesday  and  Saturday  and  on  these  occasions  it  presents 
a  most  animated  scene  ' ;  a  suitable  place  for  a  '  Punch-and-his- 
mate  '  show. 

Story  (Roba  di  Roma,  pp.  267  seqq. )  describes  the  shows  of  puppets 
at  the  Teatro  Emiliano  in  the  Piazza,  but  it  is  the  ordinary  Punch 
show  in  the  open  air  that  is  here  described. 

1286.  perdue.]    See  note  on  III.  1233. 

1300.  a  general  duck-down.]     Above,  .1286. 

1303-5.]  Guido  '  had  resigned  his  part  to  brother  Abate ' 
long  before  the  time  here  referred  to  ;  see  note  on  II.  727-8. 

1305-27.]      Browning    here    follows    the    Second    Anonymous 


BOOK  IV.    -TBRTIUM  QUID  87 

Pamphlet.    HI    \\hii-h   tin-   three   suits   are   fully   d.-s«-i ibcd    and    it  is 

;!<•<!   that    the   murder.-   \\.iv   caiiM-d    by   the   hatred  against  the 

Comparini  which  tlu-M-  >uits  hacl  roused  in  (luido's  mind  (O. Y.B. 

L,  /•;./,.  2io). 

130S-Hi.J  Sec  tin-  note  on  II.  735-44,  where  the  'notable  decree  ' 
made  mi  the  first  hearing  of  this  first  civil  suit  is  summari/.ed.  The 
note  al>o  >hows  that  Browning's  references  here  to  Tomati  and 
.Molincs  an-  incorrect;  the  first  hearing  was  before  Tomati  (whom 
the  records  describe  as  '  A. C.',  which  Hodell  explains  as  Auditor 
Curiae),  the  appeal  was  to  Molines.  It  seems  that  the  poet  was 
also  wrong  in  saying,  as  he  does  repeatedly,  that  Tomati  presided 
at  the  murder-trial ;  the  records  make  no  mention  of  him  in  con- 
nect ion  with  it,  the  presiding  judge  was  Venturini  (IV.  1327). 

i:::;i-7.]    See  note  on  III.  1471-7. 

1.".  U.  the  abominable  thing],  i.e.  the  total  loss  of  honour  con- 
sequent on  his  being  proved  to  be  the  husband  of  an  adulteress. 

1360.   Vittiano.]    See  note  on  II.  816. 

1364.  font],  i.e.  fount,  as  often  in  old  writers  ;  cf.  1358. 

1365.  The  lodge.]    Guido  and  his  confederates  were  at  Paolo's 
villa  near  the  Ponte  Moile  from  December  24  to  January  2  (0.  Y.B. 

211,  E.L.  263). — For  Paolo's  departure    from   Rome  see  note  on 
III.  1540-41. 

1369-70.]    See  Appendix  II. 

1371.  'Tis  one  *'  the  evening.]  Hora  prima  noctis  (O.Y.B.  Ixi.) ; 
uri  hora  circa  di  nolle  (see  O.Y.B.  320) ;  i.e.  an  hour  after  the  Ave 
Maria,  say  about  7  P.M.  See  note  on  XIL  130-31. 

1377-9.]     See  note  on  III.  1623-4. 

1383.]  The  insertion  of  '  the  '  (absent  from  the  first  edition) 
before  *  lightnings  '  greatly  improves  the  rhythm. 

1385-90.]  Amplified  from  O.Y.B.  ccxxiv.  (E.L.  225):  prenden- 
dola  per  le  treccie,  tfc  alzandola  da  terra  oue  giaceua,  and  O.Y.B. 
lix.  (E.L.  60) :  haueua  la  testa  sit  le  gambe  del  Sig.  Pietro  Comparini 
gid  morto. 

i:!'.'K  To  the  mill  and  the  grange,  etc.]  See  Appendix  II.  All 
that  Browning  learnt  about  the  matter  from  the  records  was  that 
*  when  the  uproar  of  this  horrible  slaughter  was  heard  abroad, 
people  ran  thither,  but  the  criminals  succeeded  in  escaping  '  (O.  Y.B. 

212,  E.L.  263).     The  post-Browning  pamphlet  (according  to  Hall 
Griffin's  translation,  Life,  p.  319;   see  O.Y.B.  222,  E.L.  277)  says 
that    Pompilia,   'collecting  her  dying  breath,  had  still  sufficient 
strength  of  voice  to  make  her  neighbours  hear  her  cries  for  help '. 

1 :5'.»<).  had  the  start.]  They  left  the  villa  at  Ponte  Molle.  to 
which  they  had  hurriedly  returned  after  the  murders,  '  about 
an  hour'  In-fore  the  Public  Force  arrived  there.  Browning 
borrows  'Public  Force  '  from  the  La  Forza  of  the  n  -cords  (  Model  I. 

O.Y.n.  \\\-i). 

l.;'.is.  near  Baccano.]     See  note  on  III.  16IU. 


88  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1405-10.]  From  the  Secondary  Source  (O.Y.B.  212,  E.L  264  1 
'  Patrizi  .  .  .  having  been  overheated  and  wounded  with  a  slight 
scratch  (puntura)  died  in  a  few  days '. 

1412-14.]  The  Cardinal  was  a  person  of  impatient  temper  (line 
56)  and  was  listening  '  o'er  the  cards  '  to  the  speaker  (1485). 

1416-21.]  Of.  XI.  1704.  '  It  is  told  that  Franceschini,  during 
the  course  of  the  journey  [back  to  Rome  after  his  arrest],  asked 
one  of  the  sbirri  how  in  the  world  the  crime  had  been  discovered. 
And  when  he  was  answered  that  his  wife,  whom  they  had  found 
still  living,  had  revealed  it,  he  was  so  astounded  that  he  was  almost 
deprived  of  his  senses '.  Before  leaving  the  scene  of  the  murders 
Guido  had  been  assured  by  one  of  his  confederates  that  Pompilia 
was  dead.  O.Y.B.  212,  E.L.  263-4  (Secondary  Source). 

1422.]  '  The  criminals  were  tied  on  to  their  horses  and  taken 
to  Rome  '  (O.Y.B.  212,  E.L.  264). 

1425-30.]  Amplified  from  O.Y.B.  See  note  on  III.  8-10,  with 
which  passage  these  lines  may  be  compared  and  contrasted. 

1436.  flung  for  dead  On  Pietro's  lap.]     See  note  on  1385-90  above. 

1442-75.]  In  her  death  -  bed  confessions  Pompilia  absolutely 
denied  that  she  had  been  unfaithful  to  her  husband  (O.Y.B.  Iviii., 
E.L.  59).  The  lawyers  for  the  prosecution  contended  that  death- 
bed confessions  are  true  in  fact  and  are  accepted  as  true  in  the 
courts,  and  they  quoted  authorities  to  that  effect  (O.Y.B.  Ixvii., 
Ixxvi.,  clxv.-vi.,  E.L.  71,  83,  173-4).  Guide's  lawyers,  also  backed 
by  authorities,  took  exception  to  these  general  statements,  and 
argued,  as  '  Guido's  friends  '  are  represented  as  arguing  here,  that 
in  the  particular  case  of  Pompilia  there  were  strong  motives  for 
making  a  false  confession  (O.Y.B.  cxii.,  cxxx.,  ccxxviii.,  E.L.  121, 
137,  231). 

1453.  the  old  Religious.]    Fra  Celestino  (O.Y.B.  Iviii.,  E.L.  58). 

1466-7.]  The  records  give  no  support  to  this  statement ;  see 
Introduction  to  Book  VI.  Browning  makes  Caponsacchi  appear 
before  the  Court,  but  as  amicus  curiae  ('friend  of  the  Court',  VI. 
1636)  rather  than  as  one  who  had  to  'answer  for  the  part  he  played'. 

1479-83.]  This  point  is  not  made  in  the  pleadings  of  Guide's 
lawyers  ;  Browning  found  it  in  the  pro-Guido  First  Anonymous 
Pamphlet  (O.  Y.B.  cliii.,  E.L.  156).  It  was  of  course  one  for  Guido's 
lawyers  to  make,  if  it  was  worth  making  at  all ;  but  the  poet  in 
his  admirable  caricature  makes  the  anti-Guido  advocate  Bottini 
show  his  ingenuity  by  employing  a  casuistical  argument  which  it 
suggested  (IX.  1495-1503). 

In  Book  IV.  Guido's  friends  contend  that  Pompilia  first  made 
a  false  public  confession  denying  misconduct,  and  afterwards  a 
true  private  one  admitting  it.  By  the  latter — so  they  say — she 
gained  absolution  both  for  the  misconduct  and  for  the  denial. 

In  Book  IX.  Bottini  professes  to  think  that  she  first  made  a 

|    true  private  confession  admitting  misconduct  and  thereby  gained 


IXtnK  IV.     TI-HT/UM  QUID  89 

absolution  fur  it  :  that  ln-r  misconduct  was  tluis  obliterated  ;  that 
sin-  was  then-tore  juMilied  in  declaring  publicly  afterwards  that 
there  hail  been  no  misconduct. 

I  jsT.   DtaffoUu  accuse  tl»  ,/////,/,.']     People  are  deaf  to  Guide's 

defellc  •,  •.    ;m,l    -ay    tll.lt     lie    otlcl'S    HOlle.        Tile    l|e\t     lilli-    SU«^Csts    that 

IM    doe*  in  tart  oiler  a  kind  of  defence,  hut  offers  it  very  lamely. 

I  l!>7.   n  fiirluiHj],  i.f.  the  feu    miles  into  Tu-eaiiy.  to  reach  \\hidi 
Of  hours  told  on  the  lingers  of  one  hand  '  (X. 
830 

I  l  us.  Hiintln-rijin'XN  Irilmnnl.]  '  Anothcrguess '  is  'a  phonetic 
corruption  from  "  anot herijets  "  for  "  anothergates" ',  which  is  a 
.Lenitive,  meaning  'of  another  gate'  (i.e.  fashion,  manner).  So 
N.E.l>.,  which  quotes  *  anothergates '  from  a  \\iitei  of  l.V.H,  and 
•  anothcrnets  '  from  OIK-  of  1625  ('I  wish  you  anothergets  wife 
then  Socrates  had  ').  For  '  anotherguess  '  cf.  Fielding,  Tom  Jones, 
15ook  VII.  c.  iv.  :  '  If  I  thought  he  was  a  gentleman's  son,  thof 
lie  was  a  bye  Mow  |  i.f.  a  bastard  ;  see  above,  612],  1  should  behave 
to  him  in  auothci  LMICSS  manner';  also  Borrow,  Lavengro  (pub- 
lished in  IS.")1).  c.  xvi.  :  'I  fell  in  with  other  guess  companions 
from  whom  I  received  widely  different  impression:-".  In  Tiri'lflh 
Night  (5.  1.  198)  we  have  'othci^ates '.  which,  says  \V.  A.  Wright, 
north-country  provincialism:  he  adds  that  'other 
guess  '  (in  the  same  sense)  is  used  in  Somersetshire.  In  the  passage 
quoted  from  Tom  Jotn*  above  the  speaker  is  a  Somersetshire  land- 
lady. 

The  sentence  of  '  anotherguess  tribunal  '  is  to  be  found  in  O.Y.B. 
v.-viii.,  K.L.  .V7.     See  the  Pope's  condemnation  of  it  in  X.  s.",l  i'.. 

l."il±   fthxi'iicf  <>/'  ///>    i/nillf/.]     The  Commissary  of  An-x./o    '\\as 

of  opinion'  to  condemn   1'ompilia  to  imprisonment   in  the  St  incite 

(see  next   note)  for  life,   but   the  Court  at  Florence  '  suspended  the 

ution  '  of  the  sentence  on  the  ground  that  she  was  already  in 

conlinement  at   Koine  (<r<t  r'tnwmilu  a  Itm/ia  in  nn  Luogo  Pio). 

i:.lti.   Tin    MI'H,-/H.\     Prison  in  the  Via  Ghibellina  at    Florence: 

no\\    part   of  a  thi-atre.     The  name  was  taken  from  a  castle  of  t  he 

i  leant  i,  the  prisoners  in  which,  on  its  capture  by  the  '  lilack>  ' 

in  l.'Jot,  \\ere  t  ransfej-red  to  this  prison  (Gardner's  Finn  no  .  p.  226). 

l.'.'Js -t(>.  |     This   argument,    which    is    used    a«:ain    in    VIII.    '.t'.t'.i 
ion:;,  b  taken  from  O.T.R   or.,  E.L.  16-17  (Arcanpeli) :    'When 
iic  concei'iied  with  an  olTence  which  hurts  honour  this  is  not 
momentary  but  continuous  (habet  Irncliim  .v//rr».vx/« /////);    nay  more, 
it   becomes  greater  by  lapse  of  time  in  proportion  to  theimi 
of  the  insult  to  the  injured  party". 

l.'ill.  'j'l   t"   explode.]     Browning   often    uses    Mo   Lret  '    in   this 

colloquial   way:    cf.    VI.   763,   'it  has  got  to  be  somehow   for  mv 

tOO1  :    VI.  Mi-J.  '  the  drea?n  -rets  to  invoK.-  yourself ':    \\  -Jnj. 

'•_'"!    to    1  ;     '/'//'     Inn    Minim,    p.    7S.    '  Ho\\    sellish   u'et    \  oil 

happy  folks  to  bet';   VH.  65,  M«».  I  is.  :::;j.     Note  also  its  nae  for 


90  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

'  to  become  '  in  X.  1794,  '  we  have  got  too  familiar  with  the  light '  ; 
XI.  893  ;  VII.  342,  640,  1200  ('  It  had  got  half  through  April '). 

1545  seqq.]  This  argument  comes  from  the  Second  Anonymous 
Pamphlet,  where  it  is  stated  very  effectively  (O.Y.B.  ccxviii.-ix., 
E.L.  220). 

1556.  cold  steel],  i.e.  wit,  common  sense,  and  logic,  which  he 
had  plied  doughtily  (1550-51). 

1557.]  Browning  wrote  originally  '  hire  .  .  .  plot,  plan, 
execute  ! ' 

1577r8.  fons  et  origo  Malorum.]  What  is  thefons  of  this  famous 
phrase  ? — For  the  scansion  of  1577  see  note  on  VI.  1691.  In  the 
first  edition  line  1578  ran — 

Malorum — increasingly  drunk, — which  justice  done, — 

which  expresses  the  poet's  meaning  very  harshly,  obscurely  and 
unrhythmically. 

1597.  his  fatty],  i.e.  his  foolish  ill-treatment  of  them  at  Arezzo. 

1599.]  Originally  '  Would  otherwise  be '  ;  here,  as  often, 
Browning  inserted  a  relative  pronoun  on  revision. 

1605.]  His  mother  loves  him.]  So  Pompilia :  '  I  could  not 
love  him,  but  his  mother  did  '  (VII.  1732). 

1609-10.]  This  is  doubtful ;  see  note  on  III.  407,  and  contrast 
414  above. 

1610-11.]     See  note  on  III.  481. 

1621-31.]  For  the  questions  here  raised  about  the  infliction 
of  the  torture  on  Guido  see  Appendix  VI. 

1633.  she.]     See  note  on  55  above. 


i;ooK   V.— COUNT  GUIDO  FRANCESCHINI 

INTRODUCTION 

'I'm.  >pccch  here  L'iven  is  represented  ;is  having  been  made 
to  the  judges.  '  in  a  small  chamber  that  adjoins  the  court '  *, 
a  feu  days  after  the  murders  at  the  villa — on  what  precise 
day  we  eannot  deti miine,  for  the  statements  in  the  poem 
are  conflicting.  The  Comparini  were  murdered  on  .January 
'2  and  \\«  an  told  in  V.  1683  that  Guido  spoke  four  days 
later,  viz.  on  the  6th;  but  it  appears  from  VI.  37  that 
Caponsacchi  spoke  on  the  5th-,  and  from  I.  1050  that 
(Juido  spoke  the  day  before.  Again  in  V.  936  (Juido 
alludes  to  Pompilia,  who  died  on  the  night  of  January  (>. 
as  dead,  and  in  line  978  he  speaks  of  her  body  as  already 
exposed  in  San  Lorenzo  church,  but  in  line  HiS7  lie  declares 
that  she  is  still  alive, 

Has  breath  enough  to  tell  her  story  yet. 

The  precise  date  of  the  speech,  however,  is  unimportant ; 
I  iHitiee  I  >io\\  niii _rs  ambiguities  on  the  point  as  an  instance 

>'t  which  will  force  itself  often  on  the  student's  notice, 
that  thoiiLfh  hrowniiiL:  took,  as  he  declared,  jjreat  pains 
about  his  dates,  he  was,  as  his  son  admitted,  'not  at  his 

in  such  matters3. — Another  time  inaccuracy,  due, 
I  think,  to  a  misreading  of  the  records,  may  be  noticed  in 
l>ook  V.  Tin?  poet  brings  his  Guido  into  the  witness- 
chamlter  exhausted  by  '  his  limbs'  late  taste  of  what 

'  i 

-  tlut    I'oiiipili.i   \\.i-  '  Imtrhered  '  by  Ouido  'three  days' 

l..-|,-r«-   In-  :i|.| 

:!  S.v  .Mr.  K.  Harrrtt   Uruwnii.  to    Professor   Hod«-ll    in    O.P  ' 

(Hot.' 

91 


92  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

was  called  the  Cord ' x,  but,  as  will  be  shown  in  Appendix 
VI.,  if  the  criminal  was  subjected  to  that  cruel  torture 
at  all,  this  happened  at  a  much  later  stage. 

The  chief  interest, of  Book  V.  lies  in  the  contrast  which 
it  presents  to  Book  XL  Some  critics  have  supposed  tnat 
Browning  hinted  at  this  contrast,  which  his  preliminary 
summary  describes  most  forcibly2,  in  the  headings  which 
he  gave  to  the  two  Books3;  be  that  as  it  may,  it  saute 
aux  yeux.  In  Book  XI.  Guido  stands  stripped,  not  merely 
of  title  and  family  name,  but  of  the  artifice  and  subterfuge 
in  which  he  wraps  himself  in  Book  V.  ;  '  the  true  words 
shine  last '.  For  a  full  understanding  of  the  poet's  concep- 
tion both  monologues  are  essential  ; J  but  I  shall  speak  of 
the  clothed  as  of  the  naked  scoundrel  in  the  Introduction 
to  the  later  monologue. 

'  Browning ',  writes  Professor  Phelps,  '  is  the  greatest 
master  of  sjgecial  pleading  in  all  literature.     Although  he 
detested  Count  Guido,  he  makes  him  [in  Book  V.]  present 
his  case  in  the  best  possible  light,  so  that  for  the  moment 
he  arouses  our  intellectual  sympathy  ' 4.    Another  American 
professor  goes  further  ;    he   suggests  that   many  readers 
of  the  poem  (including  himself  ?),  if  seated  on  the  bench, 
would  have  been  disposed,  after  hearing  Guide's  arguments, 
to  vote  for  his  acquittal5.     Perhaps  the  professors  over- 
rate the  persuasiveness  of  the  speech  6  ;  its  separate  para- 
graphs, many  of  them,  are  indeed  as  plausible  as  can  be, 
but  the  parts  are  more  persuasive  than  the  whole,   for 
^>  the    pleas    which    they    advance    are    often    inconsistent. 
Meanwhile  the  Book  is  amazingly  clever,  and  it  is  full  of 
good  things  ;  such  for  instance  as  the  acid  pseudo-cheerful- 
<ness  of  the  speaker  at  the  start,  or  his  poignant  reflections 
^on  the  plight  of  an  impoverished  nobleman,   outclassed 
^by  many  a  parvenu  (see  e.g.  67-77,  164-208),  and  of  a  dis- 
illusioned hanger-on  of  the  Church  who  has  swum  undeftly 
'  on  the  Galilean  pool  '  7  (235-397)  ;   nothing  could  be  more 


i  I.  979.  2  I.  1272-85,  1295-6. 

3  See  e.g.  Mrs.  Orr,  Handbook,  p.  Ill :   '  The  speaker  is  no  longer  Count  Guido 
Franceschini,  but  Guido.  ...  He  is  indeed  another  man  ...  for  he  has  thrown 
off  the  mask '. — But  it  was  perhaps  only  natural  that  the  poet  should  introduce 
the  speaker  formally  at  first,  and  name  him  more  compendiously  afterwards. 

4  Jirowning :  How  to  knoiv  him,  p.  246. 

5  O.Y.B.  279. 

«  See  further  in  the  Introduction  to  Book  XI.  ?  n.  294. 


H<HU<    I       COUNT  GU1DO  FRANCESCI1INI     93 

admit  than  his  exposition  of  the  real  gist  of  the  Franccs- 
chini-(  'ompanni  harirain  (I.'U -""><;<;).  nothing  more  judiciously 
<iuasi-eandid  than  his  avowal  of  his  views  on  love  and 
niarriaL'c  ((iCM-T.Vi)-  views  which,  hmvever  repulsive  to  us, 
\\ere  in  accord  \\itli  the  opinion  of  the  Italy  of  his  time, 
lint  it  is  difficult  to  pick  out  particular  passages  of  the 
Hook  tor  special  praise;  it  is  all  so  masterly.  It  ends, 
like  the  iiioiKiloLMies  of  the  two  other  chief  actors,  with  a 
passage  \\hi-h  'ought  to  be  referred  to',  wrote  the  Editor 
of  the  Fortnightly*,  'when  one  wishes  to  know  what  power 
over  the  instrument  of  his  art  Mr.  Browning  might  have 
achieved,  if  he  had  chosen  to  discipline  himself  in  instru- 
mentation'. Perhaps  he  practised  this  self -discipline  more 
often  than  Lord  Morley's  words  would  suggest. 

*^^**** 

NOTES 

5.    Velletri],  one  of  the  most  full-bodied  of  Italian  wines,  and 
jrefor6  '  testifying  '  under  the  circumstances. 
.  /  inegar^nd  gall],  Matthew  xxvii.  34,  48. 

in  were  exempt,  etc.]    See  Apiiciulix  VL  on  all  matters 
TeToTmg  to  the  infliction  of  torture  upon  Guido. 
46.  The  father.]    See  note  on  XI.  1878. 

49.  when  the  purse  he  left  held  spider-webs.]  This  way  of  describ- 
ing an  empty  purse  comes  from  Catullus,  13.  7-8  : — 

nain  tui  Catulli 
I  Menus  sacculus  cst  arunoariiiu. 

.">!.  t  fir  hy.\  Cf.  La  Saisiaz,  p.  22;  the  word  is  said  to  be  cor- 
rupted from  "touchy'.  It  occurs  several  times  in  Shakespeare, 
»•.;/.  in  /iiV/i/m/  ///.,4.  4.  168,  'Tetchy  and  wayward  was  thy  infancy  '. 

57.  demurs  thereon.]  Why  not,  as  usual,  'thereto'  or  '  thereat  \ 
as  in  a  >« nt<  IK  <•  of  a  letter  from  the  poet  to  KusUin  which  J  <|ii<>tc 
for  its  literal  v  interest:  'I  cannot  begin  writing  poetry  till  my 
imaginary  reader  has  conceded  licences  to  me  which  you  demur  >'it 
altogether'  (Ruskin's  Works,  Library  Edition,  xxxvi.,  p.  \x\i\)  ? 

58-6 l.J  That  certain  worthies  at  Arozzo  gave  Guido  julviec, 
and  perhaps  remoiist  rated  with  him.  ahout  his  treatment  of  Pom- 
piiia  is  likely  enough.  It  is  true  that  liotli  the  Hishop  and  the 
Govern  i.ited  him  absolutely  (O.Y.B.  lxxx.-l\\\i.. 

E.L.  8'.»  '.»»>,  !»'.»),  but  several  respectal.le  Aretiin-s  s|K)ke  of  his  ill- 
treatment  of  his  wife  as  notorious  (O.Y.B.  liii.,  E.L.  53-4).  It 

»   fortiii-jht/!/  ];,•>•  i'-x,  Marrlf  I,   IM'.'.»,  p.  334. 


94  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

appears  that  Paolo  at  Rome  had  been  '  vexed  by  perpetual  com- 
plaints '  on  the  subject,  which  may  have  come  from  such  people  ; 
he  apparently  thought  them  well-founded,  for  '  he  did  not  cease 
to  take  Guido  to  task'  (O.Y.B.  ccxlviii.,  E.L.  245). 
II-  513. 

and  purtenance.]  Exodus  xii.  9,  '  his  [the  lamb's] 
legs,  and  with  the  purtenance  thereof. — A  servant 
of  theFranceschini  deposed :  '  For  the  victuals  of  all  those 
at  table  [six  in  number]  the  Franceschini  used  to  buy  a  sucking 
lamb  on  Saturdays  .  .  .  which  the  Signora  Beatrice  used  to  portion 
out  for  the  whole  week'.  The  witness  goes  on  to  explain  how 
thriftily  her  mistress  dealt  with  the  lamb's  head,  liver,  and  intestines 
(O.Y.B.  li.,  E.L.  52). 

74.  when  three-parts  water.]  The  servant  deposed  that  the  wine- 
flask  which  served  for  the  six  people  contained  3|  fogliette  (about 
2  pints  ?)  only;  'before  putting  the  wine  in  the  flask',  she  said, 
'  the  Signora  made  me  fill  the  flask  half  full  of  water,  .  .  .  and  often 
there  was  more  water  than  wine '  (0.  Y.B.  lii.,  E.L.  52).  Cf.  II.  474. 

84.  hanged  or  headed.]     See  note  on  I.  350. 

93.  their  bastard.]  In  Browning's  view  Guide's  motive  in  plan- 
ning the  murders  was  to  secure  all  Pietro's  property  in  the  name 
of  Pompilia's  child  as  his  own  heir  ;  they  were  not  to  be  committed, 
therefore,  till  after  her  confinement  (see  the  Pope's  argument  in 
X.  752-74  ;  cf.  III.  1546-69,  IV.  1102-6).  For  the  success  of  the 
scheme  it  was  plainly  necessary  that  Guido  should  be  ready,  when 
the  child  was  born,  to  recognize  it  as  legitimate. 

But  it  was  still  more  necessary  that  he  should  not  be  detected 
as  the  murderer.  Once  detected,  he  had  to  consult  for  his  life 
and  not  for  finance  ;  it  became  his  interest  to  maintain  that  the 
child  was  a  bastard.  For,  if  that  were  so,  the  fact  of  its  birth 
would  greatly  increase  the  force  of  the  only  arguments  that  he 
could  use  in  his  defence,  viz.  that  he  committed  the  murders  to 
avenge  his  injured  honour,  and  that  the  injury  to  his  honour  was 
still  fresh. 

The  poet  accordingly  makes  Guido  in  Book  V.  profess  to  believe 
that  Caponsacchi  was  Gaetano's  father  ;  see  line  1506,  where  he 
speaks  as  if  the  boy  could  only  be  legitimate  '  by  some  mad  miracle 
of  chance',  and  1530,  where  he  says  that  it  is  his  'own  inmost 
heart's  confession  '  that  he  was  '  the  priest's  bastard '  ;  cf.  1643. 
The  peroration  of  the  monologue,  in  which  Guido  expresses  his 
readiness  to  take  the  boy  as  his  son,  is  a  mere  rhetorical  appeal, 
however  effective  ;  he  does  not  mean  to  be  understood  as  so  regarding 
him  : — 

I  take  him  at  your  word, 
Mine  be  he,  by  miraculous  mercy,  lords !  (2027-8). 

Meanwhile  it  is  noticeable  (1)  that  Guido' s  lawyers,  harping  as 


V.— COUNT  GUIDO  1  IIANCESCH1N1      96 

they   rightly   harp  on   the  luninrix  ruuxii    plea,  ami  striving  as  they 
strive    to     prove    thai     the     murders    \\ere    committed     iin-nntim  nil 
note  on  VIII.   HMI3),  say  very  little  about  ( iactano  ;   Arcam/eli 
,  lallv  rcadv  to  asMime  that    he  was  or  was  ngt  Guide's  son 
(<).)'./;.  XXL,  A'.A.  22):    and  (2)  that  in  Book  XI.  Guido  almost 
ts  '  to  -peak  of  him  ;    when  he  remembers  to  do  so  (XL  1847- 
l!M)2),  he  speak>  of  him  as  his  lawful  SOU. 
"//.r  |,    /.r.    to   make. 

111.  hi/  n  iinlnrinux  I  if.  \  The  Kranccschiiii  had  been  in  a  dilemma : 
should  they  aeeept  or  deny  Violante's  story?  Was  Pompilia  her 
child  or  a  '  channeling'  (1398)?  To  accept  the  story  would  have 
strengthened  a  claim  for  a  divorce,  but  would  have  prejudiced 
Cuido's  claim  to  the  dowry  (see  O.Y.B.  cxliii.-iv.,  E.L.  147-8). 
i  after  Guide's  arrest,  when  an  acceptance  of  the  story  would 
have  provided  him  with  an  'extenuating  circumstance'  for  the 
murders,  Browning  makes  the  pro-Guido  Half -Rome  scout  it  (II. 
603  «ew.). 

1 18.  Qmopfa<l= *  shoulder-blade  '  (16  above)  from  Greek  wnoirXdri). 
Tht  K  i  nil  is  1 1  word,  unlike  the  French  omoplate,  is  a  purely  technical 
term,  but  its  use  here  is  justifiable,  for  Guido  is  represented  as 
having  (like  Browning  himself)  made  a  special  study  of  anatomy. 
Sic  XL  291-2  (note)  and  1679. 

130.  owned  the  spiritual],  i.e.  admitted  its  claims. 

i:U.  mi/  back  of  docile  beast.]     A  Gallicism. 

142.  ancientest  of  Tuscan  toums.]  Arretium  was  probably  at 
as  old  as  Rome,  but  '  ancientest '  is  probably  a  mere  patriotic 
claim. 

I  \:\.  When  my  worst  foe,  etc.}  The  anti-Guido  Second  Anony- 
mous Pamphlet  states,  on  the  authority  of  the  Arezzo  records, 
that  the  iManeeschini  did  not  enjoy  the  primary  rank  of  nobility 
but  only  the  second  (O.Y.B.  ccxi.,  E.L.  213).  In  VI.  223  Capon- 
>a.-rhi  de.M-iilio  his  family  as  'oldest  now,  greatest  once '  at 
Aiv/./o.  and  in  VI.  1572-4  he  says  when  at  Castehiuovo  : — 

\Ye  are  aliens  here, 

My  adversary  and  1,  called  noble  both  ; 
i  am  the  nuiiler,  and  a  name  men  know. 

I  17  .">:;.  |  The  'high'  rivalry  of  Franciscans  and  Dominicans 
I  i  nds  literary  expression  among  Roman  ecclesiastics  at  the  end  of 
tin-  -eventecnth  century,  and  Bishop  Burnet,  Guide's  contemporary, 
duells  upon  it  in  his  Lifters  from  Italy  (pp.  32  seqq.).  Such  rivalry 
lirafl  \\holly  alien  to  the  spirit  of  their  founders;  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  in  the  I'nrutlixn  (cantos  11  and  12)  Dante  puts  the 
praises  of  St.  Kraiiei>  into  the  mouth  of  the  Dominican  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas.  ihoM-  of  St.  Dominic  into  that  of  tin-  I'Yanciscan  St. 

IJ'.naxentlira   :     '  their  \\oik-  \\eie  t ie  end  '   (11.  42). 

168,    "<•    llnniinjn-  t<>  tin    tiinjiirc\,  i.e.  holder  of  a   lief  directly 


96  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

under  the  Emperor,  and  therefore  his  '  man  '  (homagium  is  from 
Iwtno).  The  word  '  homager  '  is  Shakespearian  ;  see  Antony  and 
Cleopatra,  1.  1.  31 : 

Thou  blushest,  Antony,  and  that  blood  of  thine 
Is  Caesar's  homager. 

169.  Or  pay  that  fault,  etc.],  i.e.  or  should  pay  the  penalty  of 
being  poor  by  not  claiming  the  rights  of  nobility. 

170.  lacks  the  flag  yet  lifts  the  pole],  i.e.  claims  the  rights  of  nobility 
('  lifts   the   pole  '),   but   is  too  poor  to  make  the   display  which 
nobility  demands  (*  lacks  the  flag  '). 

171.  On,    therefore,    I   must   move.]    An   improvement   on    the 
original  '  Therefore,  I  must  make  move '. 

182.  of  late],  viz.  when  the  Comparini  on  their  return  to  Rome 
circulated  pamphlets  describing  the  Franceschini  menage  (see  note 
on  II.  658). 

190.]  For  Beatrice's  economies  in  firing  see  O.Y.B.  xlix.,  1., 
E.L.  49,  50. 

201.  got  to  be  a  priest.]     See  note  on  IV.  1541. 

202-7.]     Cf.  VI.  321-4,  where  a  bishop  says  to  Caponsacchi : 

I  have  a  heavy  scholar  cloistered  up, 

Close  under  lock  and  key,  kept  at  his  task 

Of  letting  Fenelon  know  the  fool  he  is, 

In  a  book  I  promise  Christendom  next  Spring. 

See  also  II.  179,  VI.  359  seqq. 

210.]     Cf.  III.  343,  VIII.  1095,  XI.  2142  seqq. 

212.  The  eldest  son,  etc.].     A  mistake  ;  see  note  on  III.  253. 

227.  porporate.]     '  It  was  enacted  in  a  constitution  of  Boniface 
VIII.  in  1297  that  cardinals  should  wear  the  royal  purple.     They 
are  called  the  porporati  to  this  day  '  (Tuker  and  Malleson,  Handbook 
to  Christian  and  Ecclesiastical  Rome,  Part  IV.  p.  447). — The  word 
porporati  often  occurs  in  0.  Y.B. 

228.  Red  -  stockinged    in    the    presence.]      What     ecclesiastical 
dignitaries  (if  any)  other  than  cardinals  '  step  red-stockinged  '  in 
the  Pope's  presence  I  do  not  know. — In  X.  1164-5  the  Pope  professes 
to  regard  the  red  stockings  of  a  cardinal  as  symbolical : 

Red-socked,  how  else  proclaim  fine  scorn  of  flesh, 
Unchariness  of  blood  when  blood  faith  begs  ! 

233.  bring  the  purchase  back.]  The  *  purchase  '  is  the  payment 
which  he  will  have  received  for  his  labour  in  the  Church's  causr. 
Cf.  III.  292-4. 

249-50.  having  afield,  etc.]    Acts  iv.  37. 

253.  the  villa.]     See  note  on  II.  816. 

255.  stanchion.]  For  '  stanchion  '  as  verb  cf.  Prince  Hohenstiel- 
Schwangau,  p.  92,  '  the  one  weak  place  that's  stanchioned  by  a 


HOOK  V.— COUNT  QUIDO  FRANCESCHINl     97 

In  '  :    /,'«/  Cotton  Night-Cap  Country,  n.,  '  Repair  wreck,  stanchion 
\\.ill  '. 

270.  Three  or  four  orders,  etc.]     See  note  on  I.  261-5. 

_">">.  I  trique  sic  paratiis],  'thus  prepared  for  cither',  i.e.  for 
immediate  or  for  drl'i-m-d  advancement  :  not.  I  think,  for  '  Chun-h 
or  world  ',  as  Sir  F.  Kenyon  explains. 

•_".)  1 .   X <>.,-/  !/<  ,ir  I'm  nnh,  sixteen,  etc.}     See  note  on  IV.  392. 

'l .  n  term},  i.e.  a  bust  such  as  those  of  Terminus  the  god  of 
boundaries,   springing  out  of  a  rectangular  pillar;    the   word  is 
so  MM -d  iii  Browning,  e.g.  in  Strafford,  5.  2.  40. 
v|     The  eomrna  inserted  after  'from'  in  the  first  edition  of 
tin-  |>oem  perhaps  makes  the  meaning  clearer. 

:Ki<>.  Chamberlain.}    See  note  on  VIII.  1084. 

•  !l  t.  hexastich],  epigram  of  six  lines. 

318.  Purfled],  strictly  =  *  fringed ',  'embroidered'  (French 
'He),  as  in  Chaucer,  Prologue,  193,  '  his  sieves  y-purfiled  at  the 
Bond1  ;  so  used  also  by  Spenser  and  Milton.  A  favourite  word 
of  Browning's  in  the  sense  'ornamented',  'decked'  ;  cf.  Sordello, 
I.  900,  and  Apollo  and  the  Fates,  ad  init.  (Man's  life  is  'woe-purfled ' 
or  '  weal-prankt '  as  Lachesis  may  determine). 

322.  a  tittup},  i.e.  a  curvet ;  a  dialectic  word,  *  echoic  from 
the  sound  of  the  horse's  feet '  (N.E.D.).  C.S.C.'s  parody  is  not 
as  happy  as  usual  with  its  '  Yah  !  tittup  !  what's  the  odds  ?  ' 

324-5.]  A  mistake.  After  his  arrest  Guido  was  '  straightway 
taken  to  the  New  Prisons ',  and  the  New  Prisons  were  '  at  Tor  di 
Nonna  '  (O.Y.B.  223,  224,  E.L.  278,  279). 

The  Torre  di  Nona  (Nona  is  said  to  be  a  corruption  of  Latin 
•>ia;  the  building  is  called  turns  annonce  in  early  documents) 
was  a  tower  in  the  city  walls  ;  originally  in  the  possession  of  the 
Orsini,  it  became  a  papal  prison  as  early  as  1410  (Gregorovius). 
It  was  immediately  S.  of  the  Ponte  S.  Angelo,  and  still  gives 
its  name  to  the  street  which  runs  to  the  bridge  by  the  river-side  ; 
but  it  was  destroyed  eight  years  before  Guide's  arrest  (Hare,  Walks 
in  Rome,  ii.  p.  148).  The  Carceri  Nuove,  built  by  Innocent  X. 
(ihitl.  p.  116),  are  not  far  off,  in  the  Via  Giulia. 

In  Browning's  Cenciaja  (which  every  reader  of  The  Ring  and 
the  Book  should  consult)  we  read  of  a  Marchese,  accused  of  matricide 
in  I.VJ9,  as  confined  in  '  Tordinona-prison'. 

:;ir>.  /////  .sr/r/////  climacteric},  the  age  of  49.  For  Guide's  real 
age  see  note  on  II.  291. 

:;i7.  fed  hi/  the  •>n«t-irind.]  Cf.  e.g.  Job  xv.  2  :  'Should  a  wise 
man  .  .  .  till  his  belly  with  the  east  wind  ?  '  (i.e.  the  sirocco  from 
the  de 

.  fulsome-fine},  richly  overfed,  fed   to  satiety;    cf.  The    Inn 
A II > "in,  p.  103: 

<>t  fattened.  fulsome,  Imve  you  fed  on  me. 
Su.-ked  c.ut   my  -ubstance  ? 

II 


98  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

357.  The  sisters  are  well  wedded^away.]  See  note  on  IV.  381 
seqq.  , 

364.  one  limes  flocks.  ctf^thnstshes  there.]  Cf.  XI.  930,  where 
Guido  speaks  of  '  trapping  field-fares  '  at  Vittiano.  For  the  liming 
of  small  birds  in  Italy  see  Story,  Eoba  di  Roma,  p.  448  ;  for  their 
use  as  food  see  ibid.  p.  380  and  XL  1908,  note. 

378.  with  neither  cross  nor  pile],  i.e.  penniless.  As  '  cross '  is 
one  side  of  a  coin  (see  note  on  III.  401),  so  '  pile  '  is  the  other.  It 
'  took  its  name  from  the  pile  or  short  pillar  on  which  the  coin  rested 
when  struck  '  (Skeat).  '  Qross  or  mle  '  usually  means  '  heads  or 
tails '  ;  N.E.D.  quotes  hottTW^s  Logic,  iii.  18,  §  1  :  '  Why,  in 
tossing  up  a  halfpenny,  do  we  reckon  it  equally  probable  that  we 
shall  throw  cross  or  pile  ?  ' 

389.  In  shagrag  beard.]  Cf.  Aristophanes'  Apology,  p.  130,  where 
Aristophanes,  speaking  of  the  ragged  ('bruised  and  battered') 
heroes  for  bringing  whom  upon  the  stage  he  taunted  Euripides, 
calls  them  his  '  shag-rag  hero-race '. 

395.  some  poor  prize.]  The  other  gamesters,  I  suppose,  make 
up  a  purse  for  him.  Guide's  '  poor  prize '  is  to  be  some  small 
benefaction,  presumably,  from  his  cardinal. 

402.  sors  .  .  .  Virgilian  dip.]  Cf.  X.  297,  '  if  we  dip  in  Virgil 
here  and  there,  etc.'.  As  a  famous  seventeenth  -  century  sors 
Virgiliana  the  following  passage,  which  Charles  I.  found  when  he 
dipped  into  the  Mnzid,  may  be  quoted  : — 

'  Distressed  in  war  by  an  armed  and  gallant  nation,  driven  home- 
less from  its  borders,  rent  from  lulus'  embrace  .  .  .  when  he  hath 
yielded  him  to  the  terms  of  a  harsh  peace  .  .  .  may  he  have  no 
joy  of  his  kingdom  .  .  .  but  let  him  fall  before  his  day '  {Mn.  iv. 
615-20  :  Mackail's  translation). 

406.  Count  you  are  counted]=not  simply,  'you  are  a  count', 
but  '  you  are  a  count  who  counts '.  '  There  is  small  respect  in 
Rome  for  new  titles  .  .  .  and  the  expression  Conti  che  non  contano 
("  counts  who  do  not  count  ")  has  been  a  proverbial  pun  for  ages  ' 
(Marion  Crawford,  Fortnightly  Review,  July  1885). — See  note  on  1. 173. 

416.  The  cits  enough,  etc.],  i.e.  highly  prosperous  bourgeois  who 
aimed  at  being  something  more  ;  cf.  II.  197,  IV.  478-80.  I  cannot 
find  an  exact  parallel  to  the  use  of  'enough'. 

443.  taking],  i.e.  taking  away. 

451.  Guarded  and  guided.]  A  favourite  phrase  of  Browning's, 
here  used  less  gravely  than  usual.  Cf.  e.g.  II.  944,  V.  816,  A  Death 
in  the  Desert,  172.  See  note  on  IX.  1039. 

458.  prizer] = prize-fighter  ;  cf.  Luria,  I: 

once  the  brace  of  prizers  fairly  matched, 
Poleaxe  with  poleaxe,  knife  with  knife  as  good. 

In  As' you  like  it,  2.  3,  8,  Charles  the  wrestler  is  called  '  the  bonny 
priser  of  the  humorous  duke'. 


BOOK  V.— COUNT  GUIDO  FRANCESCHINI     99 
481.  /'/v  /'"-•''  rous     terms  ?],     i.e.     did     they     call     the     terms 

preposterous  ': 

488-9.  Pietro  of  Cortona  .  .  .  His  .scholar  Ciro  Ferri.]  Cf. 
IX.  114-17:— 

who  liath  Ion<4  surpassed  fh<-  Florentine, 
The  rHiinafe  and  .  .  .  what  if  I  dared  add, 
Kvt-n  liis  mailer,  yea  the  Cortonese, — 
I  moan  (ho  accomplished  Ciro  Ferri,  Sirs  ! 

Pietro  (Bem-ttini)  da  Cortona  (1597-1669)  is  best  known  for  his 
all.  iforic  al  ceiling-paintings  in  the  Pitti  Palace  at  Florence;  they 
an-  in  the  baroque  style  of  the  period.  In  some  of  them  he  was 
I  by  his  pupil  Tiro  Ferri  (1634-89),  a  now  forgotten  artist 
who — 'so  Bottini  was  given  to  understand  —  surpassed  Michael 
Aiiu'elo,  Raphael,  and  even  Pietro  himself ! — There  are  some  interest- 
ing allusions  to  this  Pietro  in  Browning's  Beatrice  Signorini. 

494.  I  falsified,  etc.]  On  the  subject  of  these  falsifications  the 
anti-Guido  pamphleteer  declared  that  the  Arezzo  tax-registers  proved 
that  Guido  did  not  possess  even  one  soldo  of  the  1700  scudi  which 
he  had  stated  to  be  his  income  in  the  inventory  of  his  property 
which  he  had  supplied  to  the  Comparini  (O.Y.B.  ccix.,  ccxi.,  E.L. 
211,  213).  His  supporter  admitted  that  his  income  was  much  less 
than  that  amount,  but  contended  that  he  had  over-stated  it  under 
pressure  from  Violante,  to  remove  Pietro's  misgivings  about  the 
proposed  marriage  (O.Y.B.  cxlii.,  E.L.  146).  Browning  makes 
Guido  defend  himself  here  in  an  airier  manner  (cf.  IV.  527-50) ; 
the  mis-statement  was  mere  '  garnishry '  which  did  not  affect  the 
real  *  gist '  of  the  bargain. 

523-4.]     Ecclesiastes  i.  14  s.egq. 

529.  spoons  Fire-new] = brand-new  ;  cf.  Soliloquy  of  the  Spanish 
Cloister,  m.,  'With  a  fire-new  spoon  we're  furnished'.  Shake- 
speare, who  is  said  to  have  coined  'fire-new',  often  uses  it  figuratively 
(King  Lear,  5.  3.  132,  Richard  III.,  1.  3.  256,  Twelfth  Night,  3.  2. 
23  ;  Armado  is  described  in  Love's  Labour's  Lost,  1.  1.  179,  as  'a 
man  of  fire-new  words ') ;  cf.  XL  364,  '  Our  fire-new  gospel  is 
re-tinkered  law'. 

Abanished  prince  will  endure  humble  fare,  just  as 
r  endures  fire,  but  will  be  sorely  tried  by  the  vulgar 
company  which  he  will  have  to  keep  ;  there  his  resemblance  to 
the  salamander  ceases — it  will  make  him  '  frizzle '.  But  to  the 
\vell-fod  Roman  bourgeois  and  bourgeoise  it  was  just  the  humble 
fare  at  Arezzo  that  was  unendurable  ;  to  the  other  kind  of  trial 
tney  were  not  exposed. 

•~>ll -2.]  'All  the  winter  long  little  portable  furnaces  smoke 
wherein  they  [the  great  brown  Roman  chestnuts]  are  roasting,  to 
!)«•  sold  .>{  t  \\-i-nty  for  a  baiocco,  and  many  an  old  wife  sits  by,  "  with 
ehestnuts  on  her  lap"  '  (Story,  Roba  di  Roma,  p.  382). 

542.  baioc.]     See  note  on  t.  324. 


100  THE  EING  AND  THE  BOOK 

546.  frizzles  at  the  babe  to  kiss.]  It  will  be  remembered  that  it 
was  at  the  *  babe  to  kiss  '  that  the  blue  candidate  at  the  Eatanswill 
election,  who  was  ready  to  do  everything  else,  was  inclined  to  boggle. 

558-66.]  'I  won't  answer',  says  Guido,  'in  the  high  tragic 
vein ;  I  simply  refer  your  lordships  to  the  evidence  of  comedies 
and  story-books  which  reveal  people's  true  selves,  to  show  that 
the  conduct  of  the  Comparini  was  due  to  "  purblind  greed  "  '. 

560.  Ser  Franco's  merry  Tales.]  Franco  Sacchetti  (c.  1335- 
1410)  was  a  younger  contemporary  of  Boccaccio  (1313-1375),  and 
a  writer  of  novelle  in  the  manner  of  the  Decameron.  Guido  should 
not  have  called  him  his  '  townsman ',  for  he  was  a  Florentine. 

There  is  another  reference  to  Sacchetti  in  V.  1153,  and  perhaps 
a  third  in  XL  261. 

562-3.]  After  '  a  vizard  from  a  face '  one  would  expect  '  its 
padding  from  a  body '  rather  than  '  a  body  from  its  padding '. — 
By  the  words  '  a  soul — it  styles  itself '  Guido  seems  to  mean  that 
the  writers  in  question  strip  away  all  the  claims  to  high  motives 
by  which  the  frothy  ignorance  of  fools  leads  them  to  believe  that 
they  are  actuated. 

581-2.]     Genesis  ii.  24  ;   Matthew  xix.  5. 

588-90.]  A  veiled  allusion,  I  think,  to  Pompilia's  indignant 
rejection  of  Girolamo's  immoral  advances  ;  see  640-41  below,  and 
the  note  on  II.  500. 

594.  troll]  Browning  means  by  '  to  troll '  to  say  glibly  or 
smoothly  ;  cf.  XII.  849,  '  Say  this  as  silverly  as  tongue  can  troll '. 
The  verb  is  used  both  by  Shakespeare  (Tempest,  3.  2.  126  ;  see 
Clarendon  Press  note  there)  and  by  Milton. 

597.  at  spring  of  year.]    During  carnival  ? 

617.]     See  Appendix  III. 

630.  cast  out,  and  happily  so.]  Happily  for  the  Comparini,  who 
were  thus  absent  from  Arezzo  when  '  the  abominable '  came  upon 
Pompilia.  Cf.  III.  531,  where  they  are  said  to  have  '  fled  away 
for  their  lives,  and  lucky  so '. 

632.  Woe  worth  the  poor  young  wife.]  In  the  phrase  '  woe  worth  ' 
(e.g.  in  '  Woe  worth  the  day ' — Ezekiel  xxx.  2)  *  worth  '  = '  becomes  ', 
*  is ',  or  else  '  let  it  become ',  '  let  it  be '.  '  Woe  worth  the  day '  is 
generally  explained  '  woe  be  to  the  day  '  ;  but  is  not  '  woe  '  in  such 
phrases  an  adjective  ?  Cf.  e.g.  Tempest,  5.  1.  139,  *  I  am  woe  for't ', 
Shakespeare's  71st  Sonnet,  8,  '  If  thinking  on  me  then  should  make 
you  woe '.  (In  Old  Mortality,  c.  vii.,  some  one  says  :  '  I  will  be  wae 
to  hear  o'  your  affliction'.) 

640-41.  the  satyr-love  Of  who  but  my  own  brother.]    See  note  on 

6^8.  Swans^a^e  soft.]  But  Pompilia  was  not  soft^as  a  swan ; 
she  provETTto be  a  cockatrice. 

672.  From  Thyrsis  to  Necera.]  These  names  of  pastoral  lovers 
have  found  their  way  from  Theocritus  and  Virgil  into  modern  poetry. 


V.—  COUNT  OUIDO  FRANCESCHINI    101 


>ental  roses  in  his  shoe.]     In  Hamlet  (3.  2.  288)  *  a  forest 

of    fr.-itlirr*  '   and    't\\o    IV.iviucial    roses  ou  my   ni/.ed  .shoes'  are 

mentioned  as  accessories  of  a  smart  actor's  costume.     The     l'io- 

viiiejal  roses'  are  ribb<  I  of  the  shape  and  colour  of  the 

double  damask  rose  called  Rose  de  Provence  or,  more  properly, 

de  Provins  (a  place  near  Paris  where  this  rose  is  said  to  have  been 

brought  by  the  crusaders).     Cf.  XI.  1100-3,  '  the  hundred-petalled 

ence  prodigy--^-.  the  kind  That's  queen  '. 

705.  To  dgrfiaivfartiervice],  i.e.  to  obey. 

—  .  at  th&taCStfSXa.]  The  Piazza  of  the  Pantheon  (Santa  Maria 
della  Rotonda).  '  You  will  rind  gathered  around  the  fountain 
in  the  Piazza-  ...  a  number  of  bird-fanciers  surrounded  by  cages 
in  which  are  multitudes  of  living  birds  for  sale.  Here  are  Java 
sparrows,  parrots  and  parroquets,  grey  thrushes  and  nightingales, 
redbreasts,  yellow  canary  birds,  beautiful  sweet-singing  little  gold- 
finches, and  gentle  ringdoves,  all  chattering,  singing,  and  cooing 
together  '  (Story,  Roba  di  Roma,  p.  380).—  The  Pantheon  itself  is 
commonly  called  the  Rotonda  by  Romans  ;  Gilbert  Burnet,  Guide's 
contemporary,  always  calls  it  by  that  name  in  his  Letters  from  Italy. 

708.  J  I  may  have  paid  far  too  much,  says  Guido,  but  I  want 
some  sort  of  value  for  my  money.  I  have  paid  '  my  name  and 
style,  my  hope  And  trust,  my  all'  (711-12). 

hoodwink,  starve  and  prpptity  tiu>i*i*my  bird.]  See  Shake- 
speare's England,  xxvii.  §  2  <rFalconryJ,^  the  Hon.  Gerald 
Lascelles),  where  the  process  of^S^d4wffncing  '  is  described.  To 
'  hoodwink  '  is  to  blindfold  by  throwing  a  hood  over  the  eyes  (?  the 
'  winkers  ').  Mr.  Lascelles  says  that  the  hawk  '  must  be  brought 
to  her  bearings  by  fatigue  —  never  by  starvation,  for  that  is  her  ruin  '. 
Bartholomew  Anglicus  (De  Proprietatibus  Rerum,  p.  120,  ed.  Steele) 
says  of  the  goshawk  :  *  She  must  have  ordinate  diet,  nother  too 
scarce,  ne  too  full.  For  by  too  much  meat  she  waxeth  ramaious 
[i.e.  slowj.  .  .  .  And  if  the  meat  be  too  scarce,  then  she  faileth,  and 
is  feeble  and  unmighty  to  take  her  prey  '. 

710.  should  she  prove  a  haggard.]  The  haggard  is  a  IjajKk.  which 
has  fully  moulted  at  least  once  before  she  is  trained.  If  fine-tempered 
and  naturally  docile  she  may  be  very  valuable,  for  the  falconer 
tit  ids  in  her  'no  amateur',  but  already  'a  professional  expert'. 
She  may  however  prove  *  untrainable,  or  be  more  trouble  to  reclaim 
than  she  is  worth  '  ;  and  Shakespeare,  like  Browning  here,  uses 
the  word  with  this  fact  in  view,  e.g.  in  Othello,  3.  3.  260-63  (Othello 
is  speaking  of  Desdemona)  : 

If  I  do  prove  her  haggard, 

Though  that  her  jesses  were  my  dear  heart-strings, 
I'ld  whistle  her  off  and  let  her  down  the  wind, 
To  prey  at  fortune. 

-  hakes  pear  e  '«  England,  loc.  cit. 


102  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

715.  my  f^tm^entle.]  The  term  was  applied,  according  to 
Mr.  Lascelles,  to  the  whole  species  of  peregrine  hawks.  '  Gentle ', 
according  to  a  writer  quoted  by  Professor  Dowden  on  Romeo  and 
Juliet,  2.  2.  160,  distinguished  the  nobler  peregrine  from  the  gos- 
hawk. 

723-4.]     1  Corinthians  vii.  9. 

727.]     Ephesians  v.  23  seqq. 

728-9.]  You  may  find  insubordinate  underlings  in  the  Church, 
just  as  you  may  find  refractory  wives  in  marriage. 

738.]  St.  Francis,  while  inculcating  labour,  taught  his  followers 
to  trust  to  heaven  for  the  supply  of  their  necessities. 

738.]  Did  St.  Francis  use  the  manna-metaphor  when  teaching 
his  disciples  to  take  no  thought  for  what  they  should  eat  ?  '  Quails  ' 
were  of  course  suggested  by  Numbers  xi.  31-2. 

740.  the  Levite-rule],  i.e.  the  rule  for  deacons  ;  '  levites  '  became 
a  name  for  deacons  in  very  early  Christian  times. 

748.  Put  case.]  Elsewhere  obsolete,  but  often  found  in  Browning ; 
cf.  e.g.  VIII.  1485,  IX.  307,  815. 

766.]     See  note  on  II.  658. 

768-72.]     The  story  is  told  with  full  detail  in  IV.  146-91. 

770.  by-blow  bastard-babe.]    See  note  on  IV.  612. 

781.  their  reckoning],  i.e.  their  punishment  (see  783). 

805.  them]  must  mean  Pietro  and  Violante,  to  whom  however 
reference  is  made  in  the  second  person  earlier  in  the  sentence. 

809.]  The  apodosis  to  the  long  conditional  clauses  which  begin 
here  does  not  come  till  827  ('  what  a  friend  were  he  ! ').  So  in  the 
long  sentence  938-66  the  apodosis  does  not  begin  till  963, 

811.  Locusta],  the  professional  female  poisoner  in  the  reigns  of 
Claudius  and  Nero  ;  we  read  of  her  in  Tacitus  and  Juvenal. 

816.  guarding,  guiding.]     See  note  on  451  above. 

823.  If  he  become  no  partner.]  Originally  '  Refuse  to  become 
partner '  ;  similarly  in  827  '  Ah,  if  he  did  thus  '  was  originally 
' Ah,  did  he  do  thus '.  The  reiteration  of  'if  keeps  the  structure 
of  the  sentence  clearer  as  we  read  ;  and  '  did  he  do  '  is  inelegant. 

835.]     For  the  letter  to  Paolo  see  Appendix  IV. 

839.  praises],  i.e.  of  Guido  ;  the  letter  says  :  ' .  .  .  wishing 
to  be  a  good  Christian  and  a  good  wife  to  Signer  Guido  my  husband, 
who  often  reproved  me  in  a  loving  manner,  and  said  that  one  day 
I  should  thank  him,  etc.'  (O.Y.B.  lv.,  E.L.  57). 

850.  the  Bilboa.]  Bilboa  (Bilbao)  in  Spain  was  famous  from 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  for  the  manufacture  of  iron  and 
steel.  Its  name  is  applied  by  Shakespeare  not  only  to  a  sword- 
blade  (Merry  Wives,  1.  1.  165,  3.  5.  112)  but  also  to  chains  (Hamlet, 
5.  2.  6,  '  Methought  I  lay  worse  than  the  mutines  in  the  bilboes  '). 

853.  practice],  i.e.  artifice. 

859.  Was  marching  in.]  '  Marching  in  mere '  originally.  The 
change  makes  '  I  myself,  etc.'  a  relative  clause  instead  of  an  apposi- 


nnnK  I'     OOUNT  OUIDO  VBANCB8CHIN1    m:j 

tion  ti>  tin-  '  I  '  <>f  line  S.'il.      hid   lirowniiiL'  think  th.it   alliteration 
serdone  in  '  my.-elf  marehiii'_r  in  mere  marital  '  ? 

ive'    nf   the   illustrated   edition    is   a   misprint  for 
'I  '. 

876.  ranij.\  Why  did  th.-  poet  alter  the  'called'  of  his  first 
edition  ''.  '  Called  '  keeps  up  the  idea  of  temptation,  and  'coppice 
c-alled  '  is  not  an  unpleasant  alliteration. 

878  seqq.]  The  assertion  that  I'ompilia  had  many  lovers  at 
ide  by  (iuido  in  the  Process  of  Flight,  and  was  quoted 
by  both  his  lawyers  in  the  murder-trial.  He  said  in  his  evidence: 
'  She  stand>  convicted  as  an  adulteress  .  .  .  for  many  like  excesses 
whieh  I  have  heard  since  that  she  committed  with  other  persons' 
(O.YJi.  oxxvii,  A'./..  1 :!.-»;  cf.  O.Y.B.  evil,  E.L.  116). 

897.  where  the  tlteatre  lent  its  lodge],  i.e.  its  '  box  '  ;  the  French 
loge. 

922.  Stans  pede  in  uno.]  From  Horace,  Sat.  1.  4.  10  ;  explained 
'  as  a  proverbial  expression  meaning  "  as  an  easy  thing  ",  something 
that  you  could  do  without  needing  both  feet  '  (\Vickham). 

''_':>.  In  the  one  case],  918-20  ;  '  plainsong  '  echoes  'plainly'. 

in  the  other},  921-2  ;  Guido  can't  make  his  defence  *  standing 
on  one  foot '  ;  he  aches  and  needs  a  chair. 

931],  i.e.  exhortation  backed  by  threats  of  small  penalties  and 
promises  of  small  rewards. 

933.  threatenings  .  .  .  slaughter.]    Acts  ix.  1. 

936.  the  dead  guilty  three.]  Compare  978  and  contrast  1687. 
See  Introduction  to  this  Book. 

938-66.]     See  note  on  809  above. 

948-51.]  Cf.  VII.  1249-51,  IX.  380-81.  Guide's  threats  to  kill 
Pompilia  by  poison  or  by  the  sword  are  often  mentioned  in  the 
reenrds  ;  the  evidence  for  them  is  Pompilia's  deposition  (O.Y.B. 
lxxxiii.-iv.,  E.L.  91-2):  'They  [Guido  and  Beatrice)  continued 
perpetually  to  threaten  my  life.  .  .  .  My  husband  continued  to 
ill-treat  me  and  to  threaten  my  life,  and  (said)  that  he  wished  to 
kill  me.  .  .  .  He  pointed  a  pistol  at  my  breast,  saying,  "  O  Christ ! 
who  keeps  me  from  laving  you  out  here  ?  "  .  .  I  was  afraid  that, 
if  he  didn't  kill  me  with  arms,  he  might  poison  me'. 

'. » ."» 1 .  l>  iKjaboo]  =  bogy. 

967.  Ifofefcu.]    John  xviii.  10;  cf.  IX.  1173. 

'.»71  :*.]    Matthew  xxvii.  5-8;  John  xiii.  26. 

987  seqq.]    O.Y.B.  v.-vii.,  E.L.  5-7,  and  elsewhere. 

100<>.  immoral)      eommunieat  ion-.       '  In- 

tflHgfiu-ing  '  is  applied  in   HV///r/-'x  Tnh-  ('2.  3.  68)  as  an  epithet  to 
a  go-between  in  such  communications. 

1006.]  There  is  much  in  the  love-letters  about  these  absences 
of  Guido. 

1012-13.  |  The  different  statements  of  Cuido's  nei'jht'oiirs  at.out 
the  hour  of  the  flight  echo  variations  in  the  depositions.  'At 


104  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

dawn  I  went  downstairs,  where  I  found  Caponsacchi ',  says  Pom- 
pilia  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxv.,  E.L.  93).  '  At  about  seven  hours  '  (i.e.  about 
1  A.M.  ;  see  note  on  IV.  1371)  'she  came  alone  to  the  gate',  says 
Caponsacchi  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxix.,  E.L.  96).  The  sentence  of  the 
Criminal  Court  says  alle  1  ore  di  notte  (0.  Y.B.  v.,  E.L.  5). 

1016.  your  own  cousin  Guillichini.]  For  Guillichini  and  his 
part  in  the  flight  see  note  on  II.  934. 

1018-19.  made  prize  of  all.  Including  your  wife.]  As  is  stated  in 
the  sentence  of  the  Criminal  Court  of  Florence,  O.  Y.B.  vii.,  E.L.  6. 

1020-29.]     See  note  on  VI.  1080-83. 

1026.  a  calash]  = Italian  calesse ;  the  word  is  applied  in  the 
records  by  Pompilia,  Caponsacchi,  and  the  lawyers  to  the  carriage 
used  in  the  flight. 

1036.]     See  above,  935  and  980-85. 

1040.  head  of  me,  heart  of  me,  etc.]  Cf.  Fifine  at  the  Fair,  Epilogue, 
I.,  '  Head  of  me,  heart  of  me,  stupid  as  a  stone  '. 

1046.]  In  Isaiah  xiv.  12  ('  How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven, 
0  Lucifer,  son  of  the  morning  ! ')  the  king  of  Babylon  in  his  fall 
is  compared  to  the  morning  star.  The  application  of  the  verse 
to  the  fall  of  Satan  from  heaven  is  as  old  as  St.  Jerome. 

1049-51.]     For  Caponsacchi's  'laic  dress'  see  note  on  II.  999. 

1055.  the  league,  the  one  post  more.]     See  note. on  III.  1201. 

1058.  —  the  tenderer  sex—.]  Cf.  IX.  225,  '  the  weaker  sex,  my 
lords,  the  weaker  sex  ! ' 

1077-8.]  Cf.  1082.  Guido  usually  speaks  of  Pompilia's  guilt 
as  having  been  indisputably  proved  at  the  time  of  the  flight,  but 
he  professes  to  have  been  ready  to  put  it  to  a  '  final  test '  (1626) 
by  his  '  Open  to  Caponsacchi  !  '  on  the  fatal  evening. 

1081.  thrice.]  Since  the  flight  Guido  had  only  once  sought 
unsuccessfully  a  legal  remedy  for  his  alleged  wrong,  viz.  in  the 
Process  of  Flight — or  twice,  if  we  are  to  include  the  proceedings  at 
Arezzo,  in  which,  however,  he  was  not  altogether  unsuccessful. 

1082-4.]  The  meaning  of  these  lines  is  clear  enough  as  far  as 
the  word  'blot',  but  the  following  words  ('which  breaks — for  fear 
of  mine ')  are  puzzling.  I  offer  an  explanation  with  no  great 
confidence. 

'At  the  time  of  the  flight',  says  Guido,  'it  was  perhaps  just 
possible  to  believe 'that  the  conduct  of  Pompilia  and  Caponsacchi 
was  a  passing  indiscretion,  but  by  the  time  of  the  murders  it  had 
been  proved  to  be  a  "  solid  "  crime  of  the  very  deepest  dye — a 
crime  in  the  presence  of  which  even  the  blackness  of  hell  turns  pale, 
loses  its  solidity,  and  falls  away  as  though  stripped  off  in  flakes '. 
It  does  so,  he  adds,  '  for  fear  of  mine '.  Of  my  what  ?  Apparently 
of  '  my  black  '  (i.e.  blackness)  or  of  '  my  blot '  ;  probably  the  latter, 
but  the  two  mean  much  the  same.  Can  '  my  blot '  (or  '  my  black  ') 
be  the  crime  with  which  I  confront  it,  viz.  that  of  Pompilia  a  nd 
Caponsacchi  ?  Perhaps  ;  but  '  blot '  may  have  had  a  dou\>  le 


BOOK  V.— COUNT  OUIDO  FRANCESCH1N1    105 

in.  anil!-  in  l'.i«i\\  ning's  mind,  referring  also  to  the  'ulcer'  engendeied 
in  Cindo's  Mini  (1108-70;    cf.  1706)  by  the  shame  to  \vhieh  lie  had 

I.Cdl 

1106-7.J     Acts  xxii.  3. 

1114.  amercement],  i.e.  penalty. 

1124.  my  own  sword.]    See  note  on  II.  1031. 

1125.  to  try  conclusions.}     *  Conclusions '  formerly  often  meant 
'  experiments ',  as  e.g.  in  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  5.  2.  358,  '  She  hath 
pursued  conclusions  infinite  Of  easy  ways  to  die ',  and  this  is  the 
meaning  of  the  word  in  the  phrase  '  to  try  conclusions '  as  used 
by  Shakespeare  ;    see  Hamlet,  3.  4.  195  and  Merchant  of  Venice, 
2.  2.  39  (where,  however,  young  Gobbo  corrupts  it  into  k  try  con- 
in- ions');  cf.  Fifine  at  the  Fair,  xxvn.,  where  'to  try  conclusions 
with  mankind '  is  explained  by  '  to  experiment  on '  men ;    ibid. 
Iv.     In  the  modern  use  of  the  phrase,  as  the  N.E.D.  points  out, 
'  conclusions '=  the  issue,  result,  as  here  ;  cf.  IV.  1187,  XI.  846. 

1128.]    The  comma  at  the  end  of  the  line  should  be  removed. 

1130.  with  proper  clapping  and  applause.}  See  note  on  II. 
1043-8. 

Il31.,4uccubus],)tcm&\e  demon. 

.  .  Now,  prose.}    See  note  on  VI.  1558-9. 

1141-9.]  In  the  love-letters  there  are  many  allusions  (1)  to 
//  Oeloso  and  (2)  to  his  absences  from  Arezzo  ;  also  (3)  to  the  colour 
of  the  wine  drunk  by  the  Franceschini  family,  e.g.  '  If  they  continue 
to  drink  the  red  wine,  I  let  you  know ' ;  '  The  Signora  is  drinking 
wine  .  .  .  red  like  ours  '  ;  *  With  respect  to  what  you  wish  to 
know  about  the  wine,  I  tell  you  that  it  is  red  just  now  ' ;  *  Tell  me 
what  have  I  to  do,  that  I  may  do  it '  (O.Y.B.  xcii.-vii.,  E.L.  100-4). 
As  to  the  wine,  Guido  dots  the  i's  and  crosses  the  t's. 

1152.  Both  in  a  breath  protested.}    See  their  depositions  (O.Y.B. 
Ixxxvi.,  xc.-xci.,  E.L.  94,  97-8). 

1153.  Sacchetti  again.}    See  note  on  560  above. 

1161.  by  my  fay.  J  Chaucer  writes  '  by  my  fey  '  ;  '  fey  '  =Frem  -h 
fei,  the  older  form  of  foi.  Shakespeare  has  *  by  my  fay  '  in  Hamlet, 
2.  2.  271,  Romeo  and  Juliet,  1.  5.  128. 

1174.  Law  renovates  even  Lazarus.}  By  '  law '  Guido  means 
*  Nature,  which  is  God'  (1171);  but  he  proceeds  to  identify  this 
law  with  the  law  administered  in  the  papal  courts  (1175-6). 

1175.]    Acts  xxv.  12.— See  note  on  II.  1018. 

1177-1239.]     See  note  on  IV.  1218-79. 

1197-8.]    Matthew  xviii.  12. 

1209-10.]     Catullus,  some  of  whose  poems  are  most  '  unseemly ', 

was  habitually  <  ailed  doctus  by  the  Roman  poets  who  followed  him 

-Tibulliis,  Ovid,  Martial.     Meanwhile  doctus  may  be  regarded  as 

mi-rely  a  standing  epithet  of  a  good  poet;    Horace,  for  instaiut, 

hkfl  <>t'  tin  i\y-«io\vn  as  the  reward  of  'learned  forehead.-*  ' 
(<ln<-tnriii.  i.  Catullus  •evr.-i-.-d  a  p.  i  feet  fascination  over 


106  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

the  Italians  '  after  the  Renaissance  (Burckhardt,  The  Renaissance 
in  Italy,  p.  264).  Of.  the  allusion  in  VI.  386-8. 

1214-25.]  I  shall  quote  the  decree  of  the  Court  in  the  Process 
of  Flight  in  the  note  on  VI.  2007-22.  It  will  be  observed  that 
Guido  follows  the  language  of  this  decree  closely  in  lines  1218-22, 
translating  literally  the  words  complicitas,  deviatio,  relegatus.  Lines 
1223-5  are  an  addition  of  Guide's  ;  no  sentence  was  pronounced 
upon  Pompilia,  who  was  merely  consigned,  pending  further  in- 
vestigation, to  the  Scalette. 

1249.   You  erred  i'  the  person.]    See  below,  1316  seqq. 

1264.  the  Helen  and  the  Paris.]  We  have  had  the  comparison 
of  Pompilia  and  Caponsacchi  to  Helen  and  Paris  already,  from 
Half-Rome  (II.  1003-6). 

1275-7.]  The  'sulphur'  and  the  ' sops-in-wine '  of  line  1277  are 
primarily,  as  the  context  shows,  the  'commiseration',  the  'grins', 
the  'sarcasms'  and  so  forth,  which  Guido  met  with  during  and 
after  his  return-  to  Arezzo  in  the  year  1697 ;  in  comparison  with 
these  indignities  he  professes  to  regard  the  bodily  torture  which 
he  has  just  undergone  as  the  merest  trifle.  But  his  metaphors 
have  probably  a  wider  reference,  including  all  his  mental  sufferings, 
real  or  pretended,  since  his  marriage  ;  '  Four  years ',  he  says  at  the 
beginning  of  his  speech  (see  above,  20-38),  'have  I  been  operated 
on  i'  the  soul ',  and 

This  getting  tortured  in  the  flesh 
Amounts  to  a1  most  an  agreeable  change. 

The  word  'sulphur'  is  used  in  IV.  1189  of  the  effect  alleged  to 
have  been  produced  upon  him  when  he  became  aware  of  the 
incidents  of  Pompilia's  flight;  in  V.  1136  he  speaks  of  the  pre- 
tended discovery  of  the  love-letters  as  showing  that  '  the  witches' 
circle'  was  'intact'.  'Sops-in-wine'  (of  which  Bacon  says  that 
they  are  more  potent  than  wine  itself)  may  have  been  suggested 
by  the  opiates  with  which  he  declared  that  Pompilia  had  drugged 
his  drink. 

1282.  Ultima  Thule.]   Virgil,  Georg.  1.  30.     The  island  of  Thule, 
first  mentioned  by  a  Greek  geographer  of  the  fourth  century  B.C., 
was  vaguely  placed  in  *the  far  north  by  later  writers ;    '  six  days' 
sail  north  of  Britain',  says  Pliny.     From  a  reference  in  Tacitus 
(Agricola,  10)  it  has  been  identified  with  Mainland  in  the  Shetlands  ; 
it  may  have  been  Iceland. 

1283.  Proximo,  Civitas.]    Civitavecchia,  40  miles  from  Rome — 
'  a  good  half-dozen  hours'  ride  off '  (1339,  below). 

1300.  Cancel  me  quick,  etc.]     See  note  on  III.  1480. 

1304.  The  Abate  is  about  it]  as  Guide's  representative  under  a 
mandatum  procurce  (0.  Y.B.  clvii.,  E.L.  162). 

1309-18.]  Arcangeli  says  that  Guido  postponed  his  vengeance 
'  so  long  as  he  had  a  hope  of  dissolving  the  marriage  on  the  ground 


I 


V.— COUNT  GUIDO  FRANCESCHINl    107 

•k«- about  the  person  married,  being  ignorant  of  the  passages 
in  tin-  Canon  Law  which  show  that  a  mistake  about  the  quality 
(unnliln.t)  of  tlu'  JH-I  int  make  a  mamage  void,  Imt  only  a 

mistake    al,out    the    ESTmdii  ".  /  .//.          ...     /.'./..     I  L'  I  ,    _fl, 

apposite  "Raclicl-Loflli  illustration  (from  ( ii-nr.-i.-  xxix.)  is  l>io\\  nniLr  B 
o\\  n. 

7.  this  their  house  is  not  the  house,  etc.]    A  mistake;    see 
Appendix  11. 

The  sentence  which  begins  here  does  not  end  till  1372. 
The  veil)  ('drowns')  to  which  'brother  Paul'  (1346)  is  the  nomi- 
nal i\v  docs  not  come  till  1368. 

1347.]     For  this  *  vain  attempt '  see  note  on  III.  1471-7. 

1357.  in  Ovid's  art],  as  displayed,  for  example,  in  his  A  rs  A  matoria. 

1358.  his  Summa.]    The  Summa  Theologies  of  Thomas  Aquinas 
(cf.  VI.  484,  1025),  the  text-book  of  Roman  Catholic  students. 

1359.  to  act  Corinna.]    The  Corinna  in  question  is  Ovid's  mistress, 
not  of  course  the  poetess  who  rivalled  Pindar,  though  the  B.  and 
H.  notes  so  explain. 

1365.  merum  sal.]  The  phrase  is  from  Lucretius  (4.  1162), 
who  says  that  a,  lover  will  pronounce  his  dwarfish  mistress  to  be 
xapiruv  pia,  tota  merum  sal  ('  from  top  to  toe  all  grace ').  In 
Afranius,  30,  quidquid  loquitur,  merum  sal  est,  the  meaning  is  prob- 
ably the  same.  Here  merum  sal  means  '  very  spicy '. 

1366-73.]    See  note  on  III.  1540-41. 

1372.  Britain  almost  divided  from  our  orb.]  Virgil,  Ed.  1.  67, 
penitus  toto  divisos  orbe  Britannos. 

1384-5.]  It  was  VioJante,  not  Pompilia,  who  being  refused  a 
fire  at  Arezzo  found  the  cold  intolerable ;  see  the  evidence  of  the 
servant  in  O.Y.B.  xlix.,  1.,  E.L.  49,  50. 

1389.ocrif/  with  the  /Vi^/V/^ffrf  f/""fTg^.  See  note  on  II.  1376-7. 

14fW-lf.  tn  thefttll'ern,ylc.\,  i.e.  in  the  pit  which  they  digged 
to  trap  me ;  on  tnU  tup  or  it  they  have  laid  the  '  paving-stone  of 
shame  '  to  prevent  my  escape. 

1112.  the  three  suits.]    See  note  on  IV.  1305-27. 

1450-52.]     Caponsacchi,  given  his  antecedents  as  described   by 

Browning,  would  have  been  more  likely  to  '  travesty  De  Raptu 

I!*  I'  ita     in  Latin  scazons  for  the  amusement  of  his  scholarly  friends 

VI.    1747)  than  to  hitch  Guide's  hap  'into  a  rattling  ballad 

rhyi: 

ll.~>t-.~».  '/"-  <  kristmas  time,  Beating  the  bagpipes.]  See  Story, 
liuba  di  Roma,  p.  8.  The  allusion  is  to  the  visit  paid  to  Rome 
in  December  by  peasants  from  the  Abrn/x.i  who  arc  called  pifferari. 
They  go  (or  went  formerly)  about  in  pairs,  one  jiiayin.n  on  the  bag- 
pipe (zampognd),  the  other  on  the  pastoral  pipe  (piffero).  'For 
the  month  before  Christmas',  wrote  Story  (about  1860),  'the  sound 
of  their  instruments  resounds  through  the  streets  of  Rome  wher- 
ever there  is  a  >hrine,  -wliether  at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  in 


108  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

the  depths  of  the  shops,  down  little  lanes,  in  the  centre  of  the  Corso, 
in  the  interior  courts  of  the  palaces,  or  on  the  stairways  of  private 
houses  '.  Mr.  Bagot  (My  Italian  Year,  c.  viii.)  says  that  the  practice 
is  centuries  old,  and  that  it '  seemed  to  bring  the  scene  at  Bethlehem 
more  vividly  to  the  imagination  than  any  of  our  Northern  carols  ' 
— seemed,  for  of  late  years  he  has  noticed  that  the  bagpipes  play 
'  rather  in  honour  of  the  wine-flask  than  in  that  of  the  JSIativity '. 

1469.  Lawful]    See  note  on  2027  below. 

1471.  last  Wednesday.]  According  to  one  of  the  lawyers  (0.  Y.B. 
clxxxiv.,  E.L.  189)  on  December  18,  which  was  a  Wednesday. 

1478.  he's  already  hidden  away  and  safe.]  Arcangeli  argues 
(0.  Y.B.  xxi.,  E.L.  22)  that  the  hiding  away  oi  the  boy,  if  he  was 
legitimate,  was  bound  to  excite  Guide's  anger ;  see  also  the  First 
Anonymous  Pamphlet,  0.  Y.B.  cxlviii.,  E.L.  152. 

1504-5.]  The  Leviathan-passage  in  Job  (chapter  xli.)  is  used 
again  in  VIII.  1738-42  (where  see  note),  and  more  elaborately  in 
X.  1102-11. 

1519  seqq.]  Contrast  Guide's  franker  words  about  a  son  and 
heir  in  XI.  1847  seqq. 

1549.  Quis  est  pro  Domino  ?]  Exodus  xxxii.  26  (A.V.) :  '  Then 
Moses  stood  in  the  gate  of  the  camp,  and  said,  Who  is  on  the  Lord's 
side  ?  let  him  come  unto  me  '  :  he  is  about  to  take  vengeance  on 
the  calf-idolaters.  The  actual  words  of  the  Vulgate  are  Si  quis 
est  Domini. 

1550-51.]  The  evidence  of  Guido  and  of  his  acc9mplices,  quoted 
by  Spreti  (O.Y.B.  cxxviii.,  cxxx.,  E.L.  135,  137), 'shows  that  the 
negotiations  between  them  took  place  at  Vittiano. 

1557.  brained  .  .  .  staked  .  .  .  paunched.]  Suggested  by  The 
Tempest,  3.  2.  96,  98,  '  That  thou  mayst  brain  him  ...  or  paunch 
him  with  a  stake '. 

1565.]  Cf.  VI.  2001,  '  in  a  clown's  disguise '.  The  prosecution 
argued  in  the  trial  that  it  was  an  aggravation  of  Guide's  crime  that 
he  entered  Pietro's  house  cum  mutatione  vestimentorum  (O.Y.B. 
Ixvi.,  E.L.  ,70) ;  in  such  a  case  the  authorities  regarded  a  homicide 
as  commissum  ex  insidiis.  See  the  answer  to  this  which  Browning 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  Arcangeli  (VIII.  1315  seqq.).  Arcangeli  is 
made  to  describe  the  dress  in  which  Guido  committed  the  murders 
as  the  same  as  that  in  which  the  Secondary  Source  says  that  he 
was  executed  (O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  266). 

1581.  on  Christmas  Eve.]  The  child  was  born  (see  note  on 
1471  above)  on  Wednesday,  December  18 ;  by  Tuesday,  December 
24,  the  news  having  travelled  to  Arezzo,  Guido  had  made  his  way 
to  Rome.  The  records  give  no  explanation  of  the  contrast  between 
his  hot  haste  to  make  the  journey  and  his  delay  when  he  had  made 
it — he  stayed  at  Rome  inactively  from  December  24  to  January  2. 
Browning  makes  Guido  give  such  an  explanation  in  the  next 
paragraph. 


)A'  V.-mUNT  CTJJDO  FRANCE^CHTNI    109 

158S.  .  mt/  !>r»!Jter's  once.]  Paolo's  villa  near  the  Ponte 

Molle  (see  note  on  TV.  1365). 

1597.  only  heard.]  Gives  a  better  rhythm  than  the  original 
'  heard  only  '. 

1013.  a  'liiifh-iratch-firk.]  Cf.  Mesmerism,  n.  :  'at  night,  when 
doors  are  shut  .  .  .  And  the  death-watch  ticks '. 

1020.  tJir.  experiment,  the  final  test.]    See  note  on  III.  1599. 

1634.  Opened.]  Note  the  effectiveness  of  this  fateful  word, 
beginning  the  line  and  abruptly  ending  the  paragraph. 

1655-7.  Violante  Comvarini  .  .  .  Opened.]  See  the  Secondary 
Source,  0.7. B.  212,  E.L.  263:  'The  door  was  opened  to  him. 
Immediately  the  scoundrel  Franceschini  .  .  .  leapt  upon  Violante 
who  had  opened  it,  and  dashed  her  dead  upon  the  ground '. 

1673.  Twenty  miles  off,  etc.]    See  note  on  HI.  1633-6. 

1683.  Do  you  tell  me,  four  ?]  This  seems  to  fix  the  date  of  the 
monologue  as  January  6  ;  but  see  the  Introduction  to  this  Book. 

1687.  my  wife  is  still  alive.]     See  Introduction. 

1694.  he  too  tells  his  story,  etc.]  See  Introduction  to  Book  VT.  ; 
Guido  is  mistaken  in  supposing  that  Caponsacchi's  story  will  be 
'  florid  '  and  '  smooth  '  ! 

1701.  who  took,  etc.],  i.e.  God. 

1722.  Did  I  so  scheme  f\     See  Introduction  to  Book  XL 

1723.  with  a  warrant,  etc.]    See  note  on  III.  1628-9. 

1725.  I  had  gained  the  frontier.]  The  Pope  (X.  830-32)  says 
that  with  horses  from  Rome 

'twere  the  easy  task 

Of  hours  told  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand 
To  reach  the  Tuscan  frontier. 

1737.  the  acquetta  and  the  silent  way.]    See  note  on  IV.  1069 : — 

The  silent  acqiieUn,  stilling  at  command — 
A  drop  a  day  i'  the  wine  or  soup,  the  dose. 

In  the  lines  which  follow  those  quoted  other  *  silent  ways '  are 
suggested  as  possible. 

1738.  Clearly  nit/  life  was  valueless],  or  I  shouldn't  have  risked 
I  did. 

1752-60.]     See  note  on  HI.  1471-7. 

1764.  either]  the  higher  law  or  the  law  of  the  land. 

1781.  Justinian's  Pandects.]  The  Pandects  (irdvSfKrai  =  '  all- 
receivers  ')  were  a  Digest,  made  by  Justinian's  orders  (A.D.  530-33), 
of  the  decisions  of  those  Roman  jurisconsults  who  had  been 
'patented',  i.e.  authorized  by  the  emperors  to  give  opinions  which 
were  to  have  legal  force  with  the  tribunals. 

1784.  lie  ftpepcl  fhe>/  called  but  iroitld  not  come],  i.e.  which  they 
called  for,  but  which  would  not  come.  The  omission  of  the 
relative  as  sul>jeet  after  its  omi  ..lijret  goes  beyond  the 

'ieenee  which  l?ro\viiini_r  usually  allows  himself. 


110  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1789.  Come,  unreservedly,— favour  none  nor  fear, — ]  '  None  ' 
is  absent  from  the  original  edition,  probably  by  a  mere  misprint. 
If  the  omission  was  deliberate,  '  favour  nor  fear  '  = '  neither  favour 
nor  fear ' — an  idiom  which,  though  not  uncommon,  would  be 
employed  very  harshly  here.  '  None  '  perhaps  improves  the  rhythm 
of  the  line. 

1794.  "  Specify  ?  "],  i.e.  Do  you  tell  me  to  specify  how  I  served 
the  Church  ? 

1795-6.]     See  note  on  III.  407-8. 

1801-2.]  The  cardinal  who  interposed  was  not,  as  here  stated, 
Guide's  late  patron  Nerli,  but  Paolo's  patron  Lauria,  who  died 
soon  after  the  marriage  ;  see  note  on  III.  481  seqq. 

1809.  /  wished  the  thing  invalid,  etc.]     See  note  on  III.  1480. 

1831-4.]    Of.  III.  972-1013. 

1848.  Rather  than]  '  side  with,  aid  and  abet '  (1845) ;  Browning 
has  forgotten  that  he  added  '  in  cruelty '. 

1852.  your  predecessors]  the  Bishop  and  the  Governor. 

1854.  their],  i.e.  posterity's. 

1860-65.]     Of.  X.  838-41. 

1865.  any  lie  will  serve]  to  secure  your  condemnation  by  posterity. 
You  may  be  condemned  on  any  of  the  (false)  grounds  mentioned 
in  lines  1855-65,  just  as  the  Arezzo  authorities  are  absurdly  con- 
demned on  the  grounds  mentioned  in  1835-51. 

1903-14.]  The  sentence  of  'the  Commissioner  at  Arezzo ',  con- 
firmed by  the  Criminal  Court  of  Florence,  is  given  in  O.Y.B.  v.- 
viii.,  E.L.  5-7.  Contrast  with  what  Guido  here  says  the  comments 
of  Caponsacchi  on  '  the  two  tales  to  suit  the  separate  courts '  (VI.^ 
2043-58),  and  the  Pope's  scathing  pronouncement  on  the  '  strange 
shameful  judgment '  of  the  court  at  Arezzo  (X.  834). 

1913.  the  Stinche.]    The  prison  at  Florence  ;  see  note  on  IV;  1516. 

1920.  which  the  aim  and  end.]  Originally  '  the  sole  aim  and 
end '  ;  here  as  elsewhere  Browning  added  on  revision  a  much- 
needed  relative  pronoun. 

1932.  comfit-pelting  past  discretion's  law.]  See  note  on  VII. 
1015.  The  confetti-throwing  during  Carnival  '  forced  every  one 
in  the  street  [i.e.  the  Corso]  or  within  reach  of  it  to  wear  a  shield 
of  thin  wire  netting  to  guard  the  face,  and  thick  gloves  to  shield 
the  hands  '  (Marion  Crawford,  Ave  Roma  Immortalis,  i.  p.  196). 

1957-82.]  Note  the  vigour  of  this  long  and  involved  sentence. 
Such  long  sentences  in  Browning  are  often  condemned,  but  they 
are  often  very  effective  ;  they  express  most  dramatically  the  per- 
sistency of  speakers  who  having  a  complicated  thought  or  emotion 
pressing  for  utterance,  utter  it  in  one  breath,  perhaps  ungrammatic- 
ally, with  all  its  complications.  We  may  compare  them  with  like 
sentences  in  Cromwell's  speeches,  or  again  in  St.  Paul's  epistles, 
many  of  which,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  were  not  deliberately 
written  by  their  author,  but  dictated  to  an  amanuensis. 


BOOK  V.— COUNT  GU1DO  FRANCESCHINI  1 1 1 

•  Tin-  ,Lrrammatieal  construction  i>  often  broken  .  .  .  from  a 
desire  to  clear  up  obscurities  at  once  and  to  forestall  possible 
misi -OIK •« -ptions.  His  style  .  .  .  hurries  eagerly  on,  regardless  of 
formal  rules,  inserting  full  explanations  in  a  parenthesis,  trusting 
to  repetitions  to  restore  the  original  connexion,  and  above  all 
depending  on  emphasis  to  drive  the  meaning  home '.  These  words, 
\\ritten  about  St.  Paul's  epistles  (Robinson,  Ephesians,  p.  47),  are 
just  as  applicable  to  many  passages  in  Browning. 

A  special  example,  where  persistency  of  purpose  is  admirably 
reflected  in  a  persistently  long  sentence,  will  be  found  in  the  poet's 
Mesmerism. 

1965-6],  i.e.  satisfy  their  otherwise  insatiable  hunger  for  vengeance 
upon  me  by  means  of  my  son,  as  explained  in  what  follows. 

<.  what  did  you  say  ?]  *  For  reparation,  etc.'  is  substituted 
for  '  for  justice ',  as  expressing  more  completely  the  purpose  of  the 
judges  in  the  Process  of  Flight. 

2003.  law's  mere,  executant.]  Professor  Hodell  notes  that  this 
is  '  possibly  suggested  '  by  a  passage  quoted  by  Arcangeli  in  O.  Y.B. 
xxviii.,  E.L.  29 :  pro  amore  pudicitice  porrigere  ferrum  mantis 
non  est  leges  cakare.  sedcondere. 

2009-11.  (^SQtdier-^eepetc.]    Cf.  Virgil,  Georg.  4.  237,  where  it 

is  said  that  bfee*^ 

vc  iieiium 

Moreibus  inspirant,  et  spicula  caeca  relinquunt 
Adfixae  venis,  animasque  in  vulnere  ponunt. 

'Exenterate'  (= disembowelled)  was — so  it  appears  from  the 
N.E.D. — first  anglicized  by  Southey. 

2014.  there's  the  mother's  age  to  help.]  Guido  parades  his  filial 
dutifulness,  just  as  Paolo  parades  it  on  his  behalf  in  III.  318.  Dr. 
Berdoe  very  strangely  supposed  that  the  reference  is  to  Pompilia 
('  he  has  work  to  do  ;  his  wife  may  live  and  need  his  help  ') ! 

2017.  The  fugitive  brother.]    Paolo  ;  see  note  on  III.  1540-41. 

2019.  suit  and  service.]    See  note  on  II.  286. 

2020.  those  stones  that  Shimei  flung.]    2  Samuel  xvi.  5-14. 

2021.  tlie  spirit-broken  youth,  etc.]     Girolamo ;    see  note  on  II. 
500-503.     Guido  must  have  had  his  tongue  in  his  cheek  here. 

2027.  Whom  law  makes  mine.]    See  above,  1469,  and  IX.  1324-7  : 

In  wedlock  born,  law  holds    . 
Baseness  impossible  :  since  "Jiliva  est 
Quern  nuptice  demonstrant,"  twits  the  text 
Whoever  dares  to  doubt. 

2027-8.]     Sec  note  on  <K5  a  I 

2037.]     The  '  when  '-clause,  \vhieh  ends  in  2047,  has  no  verb. 
L'oi.'i.    ni,  ti    of  fielinl.}     Cuido    uses    the    phrase    because    of   its 
application  in  1  Samuel  ii.  12  and  22  to  the  licentious  sons  of  Eli. 


BOOK  VI.— GIUSEPPE  CAPONSACCHI 

INTRODUCTION 

[N  Books  VI.  and  VII.  we  are  at  the  very  core  of  the  poem  ; 
they  set  forth,  in  the  noblest  verse,  the  noble  romance 
which  Browning  evolved  from  his  ignoble,  prosaTc7""un- 
romantic  Yellow  Book.  It  was  necessary  to  the  poet's 
design  that  his  two  chief  •  actors  should  '  say  their  say ' 1, 
and  for  a  monologue  by  Pompilia  an  occasion  was  suggested 
in  the  records  by  the  attestations  of  the  persons  of  credit 
who  attended  her  upon  her  death-bed2.  For  a  monologue 
by  Caponsacchi  the  records  suggest  no  occasion.  We  find 
assertions,  seemingly  unwarranted,  that  in  spite  of  his 
relegation  to  Civita  he  had  been  haunting  the  abode  of"" 
Pompilia3,  and  as  Guido  pleaded  the  alleged  fact  in  his 
defence  Caponsacchi  might  well  have  been  summoned  by 
the  prosecution  to  refute  them  ;  but  the  Yellow  Book 
conveys  no  hint  that  he  was  actually  summoned  either 
for  that  or  for  any  other  purpose.  The  poet  had  therefore 
to  create  his  occasion,  and  he  created  it  with  consummate 
judgment.  He  represents  his  hero  as  confronting  the 
judges  in  his  first  wild  sorrow  and  fierce  indignation,  as 
confronting  them,  not  as  a  mere  witness  to  answer  their 
questions,  but  as  amicus  curies*,  allowed  full  latitude  in 
that  character  ;  so  far  as  passion  does  not  choke  or  dis- 
cretion check  his  utterance  he  can  say  his  say  quite  freely. 
v  Caponsacchi's  monologue  is  in  the  strongest  contrast 
to  Pompilia's.  Hers  is  in  one  key  throughout  ;  her 

1  I.  1075.  2  o.Y.B.  lvii.-lx.,  E.L.  57-61. 

»  See  e.g.  O.Y.B.  xx.,  cxlviii.,  E.L.  2'.,  152  ;  cf.  e.g.  V.  1338-40. 
*  VI.  1630. 

112 


HOOK   VL— GIUSEPPE  CAPONSACCHI       113 

serenity  is  unbroken,  she  is  at  pence  with  God  and  with 
man.  In  his  there  is  a  constant  conflict  of  emotions; 
we  find  in  it  both  love  and  loathing,  withering  scorn  and 
the  tenderest  pity,  self -repression  and  the  frankest  self- 
revelation.  resignation  and  the  wildest  protests  against 
fate.  Amidst  all  the  wonderful  variety  of  his  speech 
certain  passages  fix  themselves  upon  the  memory.  Such 
are  those  in  which,  with  lively  wit  or  mordant'  satire,  he 
attacks  the  high  ecclesiastics  of  his  time,  their  opportun- 
ism, their  irreligion,  their  sordid  ambition,  their  frivolous 
dalliance,  their  scarcely  less  frivolous  scholarship.  Then 
;ain  there  are  his  fierce  outbreaks  upon  Guido.  Tn 
ifine  at  the  Fair  Browning  makes  his  Elvire's  husband 
declare  that  '  to  obtain  the  strong  true  product  of  a  man  ' 
you  must  'set  him  to  hate1',  and  with  that  the  poet,  I 
think,  agreed  ' 2 ;  his  hero  was  none  the  less — perhaps  he 
was  all  the  more — a  hero  to  him  because  his  hatred  was 
unmeasured.  There  was  a  moment,  Caponsacchi  says, 
when  lie  illicit  have  killed  his  enemy  : 

one  quick  spring, 

One  great  good  satisfying  gripe,  and  lo  ! 
There  had  he  lain  abolished  with  his  lie, 
Creation  purged  o'  the  miscreate,  man  redeemed, 
A  spittle  wiped  off  from  the  face  of  God  8 ; 

he  would  have  killed  him  with  the  savage  joy  with  which 
his  '  Italian  in  England  '  would  have 

grasped  Metternich  until 
I  felt  his  red  wet  throat  distil 
In  blood  thro'  these  two  hands ; 

but  he  lost  his  opportunity,  and  with  it  his  one  chance 
of  saving  Pompilia's  life.  Now  she  lies  dying,  and  in  a 
Dantcsque  passage  of  astonishing  power  he  pictures  the 
awful  doom,  worse  than  the  most  shameful  death,  that 
he  desires  for  her  murderer  4.  But  other  passages,  perhaps, 
are  even  more  arresting  :  the  brief  accounts  of  the  earlier 
appearances  of  Pompilia6;  the  description  of  the  mental 
conflict  which  followed  the  speaker's  first  resolve  ;  the 
concluding  lines,  in  which  the  nobility  of  the  thought  is 

1  Fifine  at  the  Fair,  LXXIX. 

2  See  Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  pp.  370-71.   Compare  the  passage  about '  Dante,  who  loved 
well  because  In-  tnt.  -.(  •  ,,,  One  Word.  M      .  '.  71.1476 

4  VI.  1'."  5  VI.  31)0,  411-U.  71  >lJ-'.i.  H37-i6. 


114  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

echoed  by  the  dignity  of  the  verse  ;  and,  most  of  all,  the 
long  story  of  the  flight.  R,  H.  Hutton  said  of  Browning 
that  '  there  is  no  narrative  force  in  him  at  all '  x — a  strange 
judgment  which  the  last-mentioned  passage  sufficiently 
refutes 2.  It  shows  the  poet's  complete  '  mastery  in  narra- 
tive ',  but  it  is  not  narrative  only ;  it  is  what  Professor 
Dowden  called  it,  '  record  winged  with  lyrical  enthusiasm  '  3. 
When  The  Ring  and  the  Boole  was  first  published  the 
objection  was  promptly  raised  that  it  is  wanting  in  the 
'  grandeur  '  which  in  a  poem  of  such  length  is  '  a  funda- 
mental and  indispensable  element ',  and,  more  particularly, 
that  its  hero  does  nothing  heroic  ;  '  the  action  of  Capon- 
sacchi ',  it  was  said,  '  is  not  much  more  than  the  lofty 
defiance  of  a  conventionality,  the  contemplated  penalty 
being  only  small.  .  .  .  There  was  no  marching  to  the 
stake,  no  deliberate  encountering  of  the  mightier  risks, 
no  voluntary  submission  to  a  lifelong  endurance ' 4.  It 
may  be  added  that  Caponsacchi  himself — the  Caponsacchi 
of  the  Yellow  Book — regarded  the  adventure  as  a  common- 
place (though  an  unpleasant  and  a  mildly  dangerous) 
duty  ;  and  even  as  we  read  the  poem  the  comparison  of 
the  man  to  a  soldier- saint,  a  slayer  of  dragons,  a  Saint 
George,  though  natural  enough  on  Pompilia's  lips,  seems 
fairly  to  invite  the  smiling  or  sneering  comments  which 
Browning,  who  himself  adopts  it,  puts  into  the  mouths  of 
Caponsacchi's  critics5.  His  action  is  certainly  'noble  and 
disinterested  ',  and,  though  the  Pope,  who  warmly  approved 
it,  regarded  it  as  too  theatrical  in  some  of  its  incidents6, 
he  was  perhaps  in  that  respect  somewhat  too  censorious. 
It  is  noble  and  disinterested,  but  it  does  not  make  Capon- 
sacchi a  Saint  George.  He  is  not  the  hero  in  action,  but, 
as  Browning  created  him,  he  has  the  '  grandeur  '  of  a  hero 
in  capacity  for  action,  in  mind  and  in  heart.  Under  the 

1  Literary  Essays,  p.  197.    In  the  same  essay  (p.  230)  there  is  an  admirable 
appreciation  of  Caponsacchi's  monologue,  which  the  writer  considered  '  the  finest 
effort  of  Mr.  Browning's  genius'. 

2  Browning's  admirers  will  be  provoked  to  cite  this  or  that  narrative  poem  in 
disproof  of  Mutton's  dictum.     The  poet  himself,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Gosse,  '  selected 
A  Forgiveness  as  a  representative  example  of  his  narrative  poetry  '. 

a  Dowden,  Browning,  p.  267. 

4  I  quote  from  an  article  by  the  Editor  (John  Morley)  of  The  Fortniyhtly  Review 
for  March  1, 1869.    The  last  instalment  of  the  poem  had  been  published  in  February. 

5  See  note  on  III.  1065-6. 

6  X.  1128-37, 


VI.—  GIUSEPPE  CAPON  SACC  11  1       li:> 

1  felicitous  annoy'   of  a    new  initial  inn  his  finely-tempered 

nature    >\\er|»s    a  \\a_v    all    the    frivolities    and    follies    which 
in  -min-hed  it  :    he  lays  aside  every  weight  — 

the  imprisonment 
<!i<-  Miit-M  :i>i<Io  weight  o'  the  world1— 


that    has   pulled   him  down;    he  becomes  capable  of  far 
grander  action  than  the  particular  call  which  comes  to 
him    demands.  -And    yet  Jt   is   upon   the   acceptance   or 
lion    of    that    call    that    his    spiritual    lutiuv    depends. 
leaders  ot  .browning  know  how  nrmlv  the  poet  believed* 
that  there  comes  to  a  man,  perhaps  once  only  in  his  mjeJ 
a  call  \\Tiich   involves  a   no  smaller  issue.     This   "doctrine 
of  the  great  hour  '  appears,  more  or  less  impressively,  in  - 
some  of  his  shorter  pieces,  in  Youth  and  Art,  for  instance, 
and  in  hi*  tilil>  r  visum  :   it  is  adopted  for  the  moment  by 
the  villain  of  The  Inn  Album  ;    it  startles  all  readers,  and 
vexed  >«>  i  n  e  .  \\  1  1  en  paradoxically  presented  in  The  Statue 
and  the  Bust.     To  Caponsacchi,   as  to  others,   came  the 
hour  for  choice  between  *  the  great  refusal  *  and  the  great 
acceptance  ot  the  testing  opportunity,  and  the  monologue 
describes  how  under  the  spell  of  Fompilia's  presence   he 
at  first  accepted  it  ;    how  in  her  absence  *  duty  to  God  ' 
and  '  duty  to  her  '  seemed  to  point  to  refusal  ;    how  when 
he   was   with   her   once   again   he   accepted   finally.  —  Mr. 
-terton  has  pointed  out  what,  as  he  says,  it  is  strange 
that  previous  critics  had  not  noticed2,  that  there  is  the 
closest  correspondence  between  the  problem  which  presented 
itself,   as  Browning  conceived,  to  Caponsacchi  and  that 
\\hieh  the  poet  was  himself  set  to  solve  in  his  own  great 
hour.     He  too  had  to  choose  between  the  chance  of  saving's 
a  life  by  a  defiance  of  conventional  (and  normally  sound)  L 
moralities  and  the  sacrifice  of  the  former  by  the  observance  [ 
of  the  latter.     He  chose  as  Caponsacchi  chose,  but  with 
h.:|>j)ier  results  ;    more  truly  than  his  hero  haud  cunctando 
rem  restituit*. 

\  I.     •:>:,!. 

In,.!,'  pp.  lo7-l<>.  -The  same  suggestion  is  mi-l.-.  perhaps 
Independently,  in  an  Italian  appreciation  <>f  ti  Zampini-Salaxar,  £• 

:>i>><-tt<i  llnrrftt-  llrnirniit'i.  n.  (11  i. 
hi- 


•Minis,   uliirh   an-   pnvi-i'ly   applicable  to    Hruwnini:  ami   hi-   marriage, 
i.-il  I'v   i;,,ttini  t.i  Caponsacchi  ami  tin-  ili-ht  in  l.\.  lonu.     Hut  Capon- 

sarrhi  djil  delay,  ami  (through  no  fault  <•!'  his  own)  he  faile  I  t.i  save  the  >it  nation. 


116  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

A  very  special  interest  will  be  found  to  belong  to  Book 
VI. — and  to  Book  VII. — when  .we  compare  the  '  ring  ' 
with  the  '  book ',  the  poem  with  its  source.  The  two 
monologues  are  primarily  based  on  the  depositions  made 
by  the  two  speakers  in  the  Process  of  Flight,  but  not  only 
do  they  add  very  largely  to  those  depositions,  they  are 
often  inconsistent  with  them,  just  as  the  depositions  are 
often  inconsistent  with  one  another.  When  Browning's 
Caponsacchi  asked  the  judges  in  the  murder-trial  to  turn 
to  his  deposition  in  the  Process  of  Flight 

and  see 
If,  by  one  jot  or  tittle,  I  vary  now  \ 

the  judges,  if  they  had  done  what  he  asked,  would  have 
had  to  say  that  he  varied  very  seriously ;  the  story 
which  he  is  made  to  tell  in  January  1698  both  adds  to,  and 
on  many  crucial  points  varies  from,  the  evidence  which 
the  real  Caponsacchi  gave  in  the  previous  May.  I  have 
noted  the  variations,  and  spoken  of  their  significance,  in 
Appendix  V.  ;  here  I  need  say  no  more  than  that  when 
a  reader  takes  them,  together  with  the  additions,  into 
account  he  will  find  that  the  essence  and  the  self-con- 
sistency of  the  story  as  Browning  tells  it  were  provided, 
not  by  his  Yellow  Book,  but  by  his  imagination  and  his 
art. 

For  a  characteristic  example  of  the  play  of  the  poet's 
fancy  upon  his  facts  I  may  refer  to  his  Caponsacchi's 
account  of  his  earlier  career.  The  Yellow  Book  tells  us, 
on  Pompilia's  authority,  that  '  with  other  young  men  of 
the  town  he  used  to  pass  before  the  house  [of  Guido]  and 
there  stop  to  talk  with  certain  donnicciuole ' 2.  The 
American  editor,  who  translates  donnicciuole  by  '  hussies ', 
thinks  that  Browning  '  may  have  read  into  the  word  some 
of  the  opprobrium  of  our  word  flirt  or  even  chippy  '- 
I  have  no  idea  how  much  opprobrium  this  latter  term 
connotes — ,  but  he  assures  us  that  '  no  such  sinister  mean- 
ing is  necessarily  implied  '  3  ;  according  to  Hoare's  Italian 
Dictionary  a  donnicciuola  is  nothing  worse  than  a  'weak 
stupid  woman'.  Meanwhile,  whatever  may  have  been 
the  precise  meaning  of  the  word  on  Pompilia's  lips,  the 

1  VI.  1644-5.  2  O.Y.B.  Ixxxiii.,  E.L.  91.  3  o.Y.B.  297. 


BOOK  VI.—  GIUSEPPE  CAPON  SACCH1       117 


iii  which  sh--  u-ed  it  became  the  foundation 
of  an  elaborat-e  structure  in^  the  poem.  Apart  from  his 
relations  with  Pompilia  the^  records  say  little  more  of 
(  aponsucchi  than  that  he  was  a^man  of  proved  spirit  and 
resolution,  jipt,  in  the  opiniopMof  an  ultimate  mend,  for 
a  Hazardous  adventure.  In  the  poem  he  had  been  f  a, 
squire  of  dames  '  who  flirted  with  countesses  old  and 
young,  '  a  fribble  and  coxcomb  ',  an  authority  on  fan- 
mounts  and  *  for  delicate  play  at  tarocs  ',  'a  prince  of 
sonneteers  and  lutanists  ',  'a  spiritual  Cupid  '.  All  this 
adds  greatly  to  the  liveliness  of  the  portrait  and  to  the 
graver  interest  of  the  drama,  but  its  only  real  foundation 
in  the  records  is  the  allusion  to  the  donnicciuole.  —  It  appears 
from  certain  passages  in  the  poem  that  Browning  was 
inclined  to  interpret  the  equivocal  Italian  word  in  pessimam 
partem.  His  Canon  Conti  expected  Caponsacchi  to  be 
attracted  by  '  Light-Skirts  '  at  the  theatre,  and  his  Guido 
is  represented  as  spreading  reports,  which  he  presumably 
expected  Aretine  society  to  find  credible,  that  his  enemy's 
steps  '  inclined  to  a  certain  haunt  of  doubtful  fame  '  which 
fronted  the  Franceschini  palace  l. 

Some  readers  of  The  Ring  and  the  Book  have  considered 
that  its  story,  like  that  of  Aurora  Leigh  2,  was  better  suited 
to  prose  fiction  than  to  poetry.  Whether  that  is  or  is 
not  so,  the  poet  at  any  rate  believed  that  the  Yellow  Book 
would  provide  a  good  plot  for  a  novel,  for  he  handed  it 
over  to  a  novelist-f  riend  soon  after  he  met  with  it  3  ;  and 
no  less  an  authority  than  Mr.  Henry  James  spoke  of  '  the 
sense,  almost  the  pang,  of  the  novel  '  suggested  to  him 
by  his  first  reading  of  the  poem  on  its  first  publication. 
In  a  brilliant  appreciation  which  he  gave  long  afterwards 
Mr.  James  declared  that  Caponsacchi  —  '  the  soul  of  man 
at  its  finest  '  —  must  in  a  novel  be  the  centre.  He  would 
as  novelist  add  certain  episodes  to  the  hero's  career.  He 
would  '  turn  Caponsacchi  on  earlier,  ever  so  much  earlier  ', 
place  him  at  Rome  in  pre-Arezzo  days,  bring  him  into 
contact  there  with  Guido  in  a  relation  which  would  make 
him  '  a  predestined  agent  '  in  the  coming  tragedy.  And 
'  as  the  very  end  and  splendid  climax  of  all  '  he  saw  Capon- 

\  I.   117-8;  II.  80K-7. 
-  Mrs.  Browning  herself  spoke  of  Aurora  Leigh  as  intended  to  be  a  '  novel- 

a  See  Ai>i>finli\  I. 


118  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

sacchi  admitted  alone  to  an  audience  in  the  Vatican ; 
*  there  ',  he  said,  '  is  a  scene  if  we  will !  '  l  The  scene 
would  in  some  of  its  incidents  have  recalled  the  impressive 
interview,  so  mysteriously  stage-managed,  between  another 
Pope  and  another  irregular  servant  of  the  Church  in 
Fogazzaro's  novel 2. 

NOTES 

7.  Six  months  ago.]    In  May  1697,  during  the  Process  of  Flight ; 
more  precisely  '  eight  months  since ',  as  in  I.  1053,  1063. 

8.  you  same  three.]     See  note  on  I.  952. 
12.]     The  line  must  be  scanned  thus  : — 

Laughter  |  no  lev  |  ity  noth  |  ing  indec  |  orous,  lords 

(J.  B.  Mayor,  Chapters  on  English  Metre,  p.  215).  Anapaests  (ww~~), 
of  which  there  are  three  in  this  line,  abound  throughout  the  poem  ; 
Professor  Mayor  found  88  in  the  first  200  lines  of  Book  IV.,  against 
an  average  of  30  in  passages  of  the  same  length  in  Tennyson's  blank 
verse. — For  indecorous  he  quotes  Aristophanes'  Apology,  line  135  : 

More  decent,  but  indecorous  enough. 

This  is  a  false  quantity ;  when  '  decorous  '  means  '  beautiful '  it 
comes  from  decorosus,  and  the  o  is  short ;  when  it  means  '  seemly  ' 
— '  indecorous  '  in  these  passages  means  '  unseemly  ' — it  comes 
from  decorus,  and  the  o  should  be  long. 

19.  we  are  bound  believe.]  Cf.  89  below,  '  Was  he  bound  brave 
the  peril  ?  '  ;  Fifine  at  the  Fair,  LXVII.,  '  was  bound  acknowledge '. 

31.  to  lounge  a  little.]     Cf.  II.  1181. 

34.  Judge  Tommati.]    See  note  on  IV.  1308-16. 

36.  was.]    A  correction  of  the  original  '  is '. 

49-59.]  John  xix.  23,  24;  cf.  X.  1526.  We  have  here  the 
Gospel  story  as  embroidered  by  such  painters  as  Teniers. 

80.  and  taught  you]  by  our  evidence  in  the  Process  of  Flight 
(O.Y.B.  Ixxxiv.,  Ixxxix.,  E.L.  92,  96). 

92.  /  held  so],  i.e.  that  he  was  bound  to  brave  the  peril. 

122.  priest  and  trained.]  Gives  a  better  rhythm  than  the  original 
'  a  priest  trained '. 

124.  her.]  Emphatic  ;  the  word  is  a  great  improvement  on 
the  unemphatic  '  one  '  of  the  first  edition. 

134.  Chop-fallen.]     See  note  on  XI.  788. 

136.]  There  should  be  a  note  of  exclamation  after  '  law ',  as 
in  the  first  edition. 

148.  the  quenched  flax.]     Isaiah  xlii.  3  ;  see  below,  170-72. 

1  Quarterly  Review,  July  1912  :   '  The  Novel  in  The  Ring  and  the  Book  '. 
2  II  Santo,  c.  vii.,  §  II. 


VI.    QIU8SPPJB  CAPONSACCH1 


I  ."»<•>.  irhtit'.t  ///.-•  -sV;//c,  //ie  o///f/-  fMttrnt(ilf.\  'Civility  and  the 
mode  '  personified  ;  see  note  on  II.  1473. 

188.  «  Iti'li   il.\     See  note  on  IV.  1220. 

:M7.   /////«'/•////»•/*////],  i.e.  'from  the  point'  (219). 

I'll  -14.  |  Dors  Browning  here  follow  some  tradition  which 
\\ould  explain  '  to  mock  with  '  and  the  words  which  follow  ? 

226.  wait  !\     \  think  he  means,  till  1573  seqq. 

228-35.  J     Cf.  11.  1249-50: 

True  Caponsicchi,  of  old  Head-i'-the-Sack 

Th:U  fought  at  Fiesole  er<>  Flm-em  •»•  was. 


The  Florentines  'ruined  Fiesole'  in  1125,  and  Dante  makes  his 
aneestor  Cacciaguida,  who  was  killed  in  the  second  crusade  (Paradiso, 
\~t.  139-48),  i.e.  about  1148,  say  that  in  his  time  Caponsacco  'had 
already  come  down  from  Fiesole  into  the  market-place',  i.e.  into 
the  Mercato  Vecchio  of  Florence  (Paradiso,  16.  121-2).  The  Capon- 
sacchi  had  been  a  distinguished  family  at  Fiesole,  and  they  became 
no  less  distinguished  in  their  new  home  ;  they  had  their  palace, 
with  its  tower  no  doubt  (233),  in  this  same  Mercato  Vecchio  —  now 
an  ugly  modern  square,  the  Piazza  Vittorio  Emanuele.  —  A  lady 
of  the  house  married  Folco  Portinari  and  became  the  mother  of 
Dante's  Beatrice. 

I  do  not  understand  the  date  which  Caponsacchi  gives  so  precisely 
in  lines  234-5.  He  says  that  Fiesole  was  ruined  and  that  his 
ancestors  migrated  to  Florence  386  years  before  the  year  in  which 
he  is  speaking  (1698),  that  is  to  say  in  1312.  But  the  real  date 
of  the  ruin  of  Fiesole  was  1125,  and  that  of  the  migration,  if  not 
1125,  must  certainly,  according  to  Dante,  have  been  earlier  than 
that  of  Cacciaguida's  departure  for  the  East  in  1147.  Is  it  possible 
that  Browning,  who  must  have  had  the  passage  from  the  Paradiso 
in  mind,  forgot  for  the  moment  that  Dante  was  not  speaking  in 
his  own  person  in  that  passage,  but  quoting  his  ancestor  ?  The 
Paradiso  was  written  approximately  in  (a  little  later  than)  i:>li'. 

237-8.  a  branch  Are  ttte  Salviati  of  u*.]  What  was  once  the 
palace  of  the  Salviati  still  exists  ;  it  stands  at  the  corner  of  the 
Corso  and  the  Via  dpi  Proconsolo. 

242.  an  Hind  nil  ion.]  This  use  of  the  word  for  a  person  who 
makes  a  name  illustrious  is  common  enough  in  French. 

•2  \  '.  »-56.]  '  The  Granduke  Ferdinand  '  of  this  passage  is  Ferdinand 
II.  (1621-70);  he  was  the  son  of  Cosimo  II.  (1609-21),  and  the 
idson  of  Ferdinand  I.  (1587-1609),  the  Grand  Duke  of  The 
tittituv.  (iml  lit*'  />n«t. 

There  is  1  think,  no  statue  of  Cosimo  II.  at  Arezzo,  but  there 
is  one  of  Ferdinand  I.  ;  it  stands  in  front  of  the  Duomo.  The 
'  father"  of  line  iM.'J  should  perhaps  he  understood  as  'grandfather'. 
hixti'tft  in  I  In-  >'(/</.  \  In  II.  788  (  'aponsaeehi  is  spoken  of 
as  'a  bishop  in  the  hud  '.  ., 


120  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

280-89.]  It  is  a  Jewish  and  Mohammedan  tradition  that  the  true 
name  of  God  is  unknown  to  the  uninitiated  ;  '  Jehovah  '  is  '  another 
set  of  sounds  '  substituted  for  it  by  a  '  jumble  '  of  '  consonants 
and  vowels ',  and  in  reading  '  Adonai  '  is  used  instead.  The  true 
name  was  engraved  on  Solomon's  ring  ('his  holy  ring  Charactered 
over  with  the  ineffable  spell ' — Aurora  Leigh,  p.  85) ;  its  jjge  had 
a  Compelling  force  enabling  Solomon  to  summon  powers  of  heaven 
anoearth  to  '  pile  him  a  palace  straight '  (Abt  Vogterji  and  obliging 
those  who  saw  the  charactery  to  speak  truth  (Solomon  and  Balkis). 

282.  boggles  at.]  '  To  boggle '  means  '  to  start  aside,  like  a 
frightened  horse  '  ;  N.E.D.  connects  the  word  with  '  bogle ',  the 
spectre  supposed  to  cause  the  fright.  It  occurs  in  All's  Well,  5.  3. 
232,  '  you  boggle  shrewdly,  every  feather  starts  you  ',  and  is  common 
in  Browning.  Bottini  uses  it  twice  (IX.  551,  1379) ;  cf.  Ned 
Bratts  :— 

this  and  't  other  lout,  struck  dumb  at  the  sudden  show 
Of  red  robes  and  white  wigs,  boggled  nor  answered  "  Boh  !  "- 

and  Pietro  of  Abano  : — 

Grant  me  now  the  boon  whereat  before  you  boggled. 

The  present  line,  or  rather  the  lines  which  it  suggested  to  Calverley — 
It  takes  up  about  eighty  thousand  lines, 
A  thing  imagination  boggles  at — , 

brought  a  rare  word,  with  the  help  of  the  journalist,  into  every- day 
English. 

317-18.]     Philemon  10,  18-19. 

319-20.  the  right-hand  with  the  signet-ring  .  .  .  to  shake  and  use.] 
Cf.  810-11  below,  and  XII.  551-2  : 

Mouth  as  it  made,  eye  as  it  evidenced, 
Despairing  shriek,  triumphant  hate  ; 

and  Cristina  and  Monaldeschi  : 

blessed  and  cursed 
Faith  and  falsehood — 

i.e.  blessed  faith  and  cursed  falsehood. 

323.  letting  Fenelon  know  the  fool  he  is.]  Cf.  XII.  65,  and  see 
Appendix  VII.  The  passage  suggests,  perhaps  wrongly,  that 
Fenelon  was  deemed  heretical  before  he  published  his  Maximes 
in  1697. 

333.  a  Marinesque  Adoniad.]  The  Neapolitan  Giovanni  Battista 
Marino  (1569-1625)  was  the  fashionable  poet  of  his  time  at  Rome  ; 
he  visited  Paris  and  was  in  high  favour  there  with  Louis  XIII. 
Referring  to  the  Adone,  his  most  famous  poem — an  epic  more 
than  twice  as  long  as  The  Ring  and  the  Book — ,  Milton,  who  calls 
its  author  dulciloquus,  justly  says,  canit  Assyrios  divum  prolixus 


BOOK  VI.— GIUSEPPE  CAPONSACCHI   121 

amorea  (Mansus,  11).  Marino's  licentiousness  and  affectations — 
the  ruphuists  of  Italy  became  known  as  .Marinisti — gave  him  a 
great  vogue  at  a  time  of  immorality  and  literary  decline,  but 
Caponsarchi.  when  his  higher  nature  asserts  itself,  'doubts  much  ' 

it  .Marino  really  be 
A  better  bard  than  Dante  after  all 

(below,  457-8). 

346.  the  Pieve],  the  Church  of  S.  Maria  della  Pieve,  of  which 
Caponsacchi  was  a  Canon. 

349.  at  tarocs.]  Cf.  XII.  224.  Tarocchi  is  '  a  game  of  cards 
in  which  there  were  ti ve  sets  or  suits  of  ten  cards  each ',  played 
formerly  in  the  selectest  circles ;  the  cards  used  were  sometimes 
real  works  of  art  (see  Ruskin's  Works,  Library  Edition,  xx.  p.  335, 
note).  The  game  engrosses  the  abundant  leisure  of  the  humbler 
folk  of  Fogazzaro's  Piccolo  Mondo  Antico. 

358-9.  grunts  And  snuffles]  with  satisfaction  at  the  flattery  and 
contempt  for  other  handlers  of  his  subject — Molinism,  no  doubt. 

362.  somebody],  the  speaker. 

379.  many  an  inch  beyond  the  tonsure's  need.}  See  note  on  II. 
787. 

387-8.  chasms  Permissible  only  to  Catullus],  who,  in  the  middle 
of  the  second  line  of  an  '  elegiac  couplet ',  permits  himself  '  pauses  ' 
and  '  chasms ',  i.e.  leaves  syllables  unelided  contrary  to  the  rules 
of  his  metre  ;  e.g.  (I  quote  from  Ellis's  text) : — 

66.  48,  luppiter,  ut  Chalybum  |  oinne  genus  pereat. 

67.  44,  Speret  nee  linguam  |  esse  nee  auriculam. 

68.  178,  A  quo  sunt  primo  |  omnia  nata  bona. 
99.      8,  Guttis  abstersti  |  omnibus  articulis. 

389.  break  Priscian's  head.]  Priscian  was  a  famous  grammarian 
of  the  sixth  century  A.D.  ;  '  to  break  Priscian's  head  '  (diminuere 
Prisciani  caput)  became  proverbial  for  « to  write  or  speak  bad  or 
unclassical  Latin'.  In  Love's  Labour's  Lost,  5.  1.  31,  the  school- 
master Holofernes  says  of  a  piece  of  baddish  Latin  that  it  is  '  Priscian 
a  little  scratched  ' ;  cf.  Pope,  Dunciad,  3.  161-2  : — 

Some  free  from  rhyme  or  reason,  rule  or  check, 
Break  Priscian's  head  and  Pegasus's  neck  : — 

and  Butler,  Hudibrasy  2.  3  : — 

held  no  sin  so  deeply  red 
As  that  of  breaking  Priscian's  head. 

Below  (VIII.  166)  the  phrase  is  varied  ;  Arcangeli  expects  that  his 
rival  will  'break  Tully's  [i.e.  Cicero's]  pate '. — After  reading  the 
unelassical  Latin  of  the  day's  oHiee  ( 'aponsaeehi  will  find  the  classical 
Ovid  a  relief. 


122  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

393-433.]     See  note  on  IV.  944  for  the  importance  of  this  theatre- 
incident,  which  Pompilia  also  describes  very  fully  (VII.  947-1030).  J 
The  descriptions  involve  no  idle  repetition  ;    Browning's  ability 
to  give  variety  to  different  tellings  of  the  same  story  is  as  con- 
spicuous here  as  elsewhere  in  the  poem. 

402.  facchini],  porters. 

406.  the  Rafael]  There  is  no  Raphael,  I  think,  in  the  cathedral 
or  elsewhere  at  Arezzo. 

413.  cousin]  in  the  wider  sense  ;  Conti's  brother  had  married 
Guide's  sister  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxiii.,  E.L.  91). 

416.  Married  three  years  since.}  As  Browning  supposed,  in 
December  1693  (really  in  September;  see  Appendix  III.).  The 
poet  assigns  the  theatre-incident  to  March  1697  (VII.  951) ;  it 
was  important  for  his  purpose  to  represent  it  as  occurring  not  long 
before  the  flight.  The  records  leave  it  undated. 

424.  The  two  old  .  .  .  family  spectres.}     Pietro  and  Violante. 

439.  /  have  touted  low], '  bowed  to  the  ground  ',  i.e.  (here)  abjectly 
apologized  ;  the  verb  is  used  reflexively  in  IX.  13,  '  Up  comes  an 
usher,  louts  him  low'.  It  is  common  in  English  literature  from 
Piers  Plowman  onwards  ;  cf.  e.g.  Chaucer,  Monk's  Tale  : — 

To  which  ymage,  bothe  yonge  and  oold 
Commanded  he  to  loute  ; 

and  Spenser,  Faery  Queene,  1.  1.  30  : 

He  faire  the  knight  saluted,  louting  low. 

457-8.]  See  note  on  333  above.  Caponsacchi's  doubt  may  be 
compared  with  the  avowed  heresy  of  his  contemporary,  Colonel 
Esmond,  who  '  put  Shakespeare  far  beyond  Mr.  Congreve  and 
Mr.  Dryden '  (Esmond,  i.  3). 

462.  lancet-windows.]     See  note  on  975  below. 

463.  go  eat.]    Cf.  '  gone  play  '  (472),  '  go  pray  '  (1882). 

463.  the  Archbishop's  ortolans.}  Ortolans  are  a  delicacy  for 
epicures ;  in  Pippa  Passes  (III.  ad  fin. )  a  poor  girl  regards  it  as  a  luxury, 
which  she  hopes  rather  than  expects  to  enjoy,  to  have  her  polenta 
sliced  '  with  a  knife  that  has  cut  up  an  ortolan  '.  In  the  prologue 
to  Ferishtatis  Fancies  Browning  makes  an  ingenious  use  of  the 
Italian  way  of  cooking  these  birds. 

467.  canzonet.}  Like  some  one  in  The  Princess  Caponsacchi,  accord- 
ing to  Browning,  had  been  'a  rogue  of  canzonets  and  serenades '. 

472.  play  truant  in  church.}  For  a  sly  jest  in  the  same  vein 
see  IX.  670-72. 

479.  you  say.}     See  above,  369. 

483-1151.]  Caponsacchi's  account  here  of  his  adventures  with 
Pompilia  is  in  many  respects  inconsistent  with  his  deposition  in  the 
Process  of  Flight.  See  Introduction  to  Book  VI.  and  Appendix  V. 


HOOK  VI.  GIUSEPPE  CAPONSACCHI   123 

ls|.  flfemma".]  Tin-  Smnma  Theologice  of  Thoma.-  Aquinas  ; 
M-I-  note  on  V.  ! 

Is'.i.    /.•  em    .  £.&   liou    it    may  leave. 

4<)0.  to  cunn<ct  extremes],  i.e.  to  bridge  over  the  'gap  'twixt 
what  is,  what  should  be ',  to  turn  aspiration  into  achievement. 

503.  There  came],  i.e.  when  there  came. 

522.]     Cf.  553-4,  608-9,  VII.  1052-3. 

539.  W hat  fund  of  satisfaction,  etc.]  Caponsacchi  is  represented 
as  supposing  that  Guido  was  really  jealous  of  him,  and  that  he 
sent  Maria  with  the  forged  letter  in  order  to  discover  whether 
his  jealousy  was  well-grounded  or  not.  Had  Caponsacchi  '  kicked 
his  messenger  down  stairs '  he  would  have  seen  that  it  was  not, 
and  his  heart  would  have  been  *  set  at  ease '. — The  story  .of.,  the* 
lovfijattoro  which  is  given  in  Book  VI.  is  wholly  different  from 
tfiat  of  the  real  Caponsacchi ;  it  is  a  masterly  inventing  rrf  tho 
poet's. 

5o£  Thyrsis  .  .  .  Myrtilla.]     See  note  on  IX.  541.     These  and 

other  conventional  names  of  pastoral  lovers  occur  often  in  the 
love-letters  pjce4uced  durimj^ibe  Process  of  Flight. 

582.  the/wonr at  her  Mreasy\  A  commonplace  of  poetry  ;  the 
thorn  at  the  nightmgale^Htjfeast  was  invented,  like  the  Philomela- 
Itys  legend,  to  explain  the  supposed  melancholy  of  the  nightingale's 
song.  It  is,  ofcpjiseey  really  the  male  bird  that  sings. 

588-9.  his  tftgbear^  .  .  Canon  Conti.]  Suggested  by  a  passage 
in  Pompilia/s  ctegosition.  O.Y.B.  lxxxiii.-iv.,  E.L.  91-92;  see 

-  Mark  ix.  48. 
Cf.  VII.  1023. 

653-4.J  l^ufTTfjIIiifaeposed  in  the  Process  of  Flight  that  at  an 
interview  with  Caponsacchi  she  had  begged  him  to  avoid  the  street 
in  which  the  palace  stood,  because  his  passing  along  it  brought  her 
into  trouble  with  Guido  ;  and  that  he  had  answered  that  Guido 
could  not  prevent  his  going  along  that  street  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxiv., 
E.L.  92). 

668.  our  church.]    The  Duomo,  not  the  Pieve  ;  see  above,  400. 

685.  tempts, — thinks  he.]  An  improvement  on  fhe  '  may, — 
he  thinks  '  of  the  first  edition. 

704.  griefful.]  The  N.E.D.  quotes  from  Drummond  of  Haw- 
thornden  (1585-1649):  'to  deliver  her  grief -ful  body  to  the  rest 
of  a  retired  grave '. 

707.  Our  Lady  of  all  the  Sorrows.]  '  All  the  Sorrows '  are  the 
Septem  Dolores  of  the  B.V.M.  which  give  their  name  to  a  holy  day 
in  the  Roman  t'hinvh.  They  are  the  Prophecy  of  Simeon  (cf. 
Luke  ii.  35,  '  a  sword  shall  pierce  through  thy  own  soul  also '), 
the  Flight  into  Egypt,  the  three  days'  loss  of  Jesus,  the  meeting 
with  Him  on  the  way  to  Calvary,  the  Crucifixion,  the  |w<-»-nt  from 
the  Cross,  the  Entombment. 


124  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

The^Mater  Dolorosa  of  art  is  sometimes  represented  with  seven 
swords  piercing  her  bosom  or  threatening  her  head  (Mrs.  Jameson, 
Legends  of  the  Madonna,  pp.  36-7). 

725-880.]  Pompilia's  every  word  at  this  momentous  interview 
has  been  burnt  into  Caponsacchi's  memory ;  she  herself  reports 
what  she  said  more  briefly — '  in  some  such  sense  as  this,  whatever 
the  phrase  '  (VII.  1418-42). 

747.]  The  word  '  dare '  is  absent  from  between  '  not '  and 
'  abstain  '  in  the  first  edition  ;  its  insertion  shifts  the  accent  from 
'  that '  to  '  strait ',  which  is  its  proper  place. 

771.  at  once],  i.e.  all  at  once,  as  in  1224. 

785.]  The  full  stop  (instead  of  a  comma)  at  the  end  of  this 
line  in  the  illustrated  edition  is  of  course  a  mere  misprint. 

808-9.]  '  My  leaving  Guido  would  mean  that  so  far  as  he  is 
{  concerned  I  should  be  as  good  as  dead  (i.e.  he  would  be  rid  of  me) 
without  any  sin  on  his  part  (he  would  not  have  killed  me) ;  more 
death  than  that  (i.e.  my  actual  death  by  his  hand)  he  would  have 
to  answer  for '.  For  Guide's  '  own  soul's  sake ',  therefore,  Pompilia 
entreats  Caponsacchi  to  '  hinder ',  by  helping  her  to  leave  him, 
'  the  harm  '  her  husband  intends  to  do  her  (see  above,  761-2). 

811.  to  pay  and  owe],  i.e.  to  pay  death  and  owe  life  ;  see  note 
on  319-20  above. 

844-5.  The  love  .  .  .  Of  his  brother.]     See  note  on  II.  498-501. 

862.]  You  become  mixed  up  with  the  dream,  and  much  of  what 
the  dream  tells  me  of  you  is  mere  '  delusion '  (874). — For  '  gets 
to  involve  '  see  note  on  IV.  1541 : — 

,, — 

Men,  plagued  this  fashion,  get  to  explode  this  way. 

873.  Though  you  have  never  uttered  word  yet.]  Cf.  VII.  1444, 
But  the  assertion  that  Pompilia  first  had  speech  with  Caponsacchi 
at  this  interview  is  flatly  contradicted  by  her  deposition ;  see 
note  on  653-4  above  and  Appendix  V. 

898-9.  was  found  Your  confidence  in  error.]     See  above,  663-6. 

909.  that  first  simile.]    Above,  671. 

919.  my  miracle,  etc.]  That  Pompilia  had  summoned  him  and 
signified  her  choice  of  him  was  a  miracle  that  did  not  need  proof 
outside  itself  ;  just  as  the  miracle  of  912-15  did  not  require  as  proof 
the  story  of  the  scorpion  hatched  in  Madonna's  mouth  (910-11). 

937-73.]  See  Dowden,  Browning,  p.  265,  for  some  admirable 
remarks  on  this  fine  passage. 

948.]     2  Corinthians  v.  17  ;  cf.  Revelations  xxi.  4,  5. 

960-61.]  Plato  uses  his  reed-pen,  as  Thomas  Aquinas  uses  his 
quill,  to  '  whisk  off  '  the  fly. — He  is  called  '  sinner ',  in  contrast  to 
'  Saint '  Thomas,  because  according  to  the  orthodox  creed  he  lived, 
like  Euripides, 

Under  conditions,  nowise  to  escape, 
Whereby  salvation  was  impossible, 


BOOK  VI.    f.'/rxKPPE  CAPONSACCHI       li>r> 

and   Iterance  hi.-  impulse*  and  a.-|>ir  at  ii  m-  after  truth 
\veie  I  i.  \\ilhoiil    a   warrant   or  an  aim  '   (X.    His- 

'.Mil.  ''<>m    the    river  ( 'e|»hissus  which  flows 

\thens,  not  of  course  from  the  Boeotian  Cephissus  (as  Berdoe 
explains). 

'.MKi-7.  tin-  inillnlttry  pang  .  .  .  Felicitous  annoy.}  See  the  note 
on  the  similar  language  which  the  Pope  uses  in  the  same  connection 
in  X.  1211. 

968.  As  ivhen  the  virgin  band,  etc.]  Suggested  partly  by  Revela- 
tions xiv.  4. 

975.  the  pillared  front  o'  tlie  Pieve.]  Illustrations  of  this  pillared 
front  are  given  in  the  1898  edition  of  The  Ring  and  the  Book  (facing 
p.  204)  and  in  Treves  (facing  p.  88).  Note  the  round  arches  of  the 
three  lower  arcades.  The  Pieve  dates  from  the  early  thirteenth 
century;  the  Duomo,  with  its  lancet  windows  (above,  462),  was 
iw-u'iui  in  1277. 

977-8.]     Revelations  xxi.  9,  '  the  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife '. 
988.  his  corona],  i.e.  his  beads. 
1000.  scrannel  voicftff  SeeNnotc  on  I.  1201. 
1002-9.]     The  *  h&ctec-fmiJx,  the  'hips  andljaws',  refer  to  the 
idle  dalliance  of  984  and  95J2;  '  the  scven-foklxtfiigon^is  the  ( 'hureh, 
which  warns  Caponsacchi  off  '  the  thing  of  lir^^f^ojj) ',  Pompilia. 
'  The  fabled  garden  '  is  the  garden  of  the  Hesprfides,  the  golden 
apples  of  which  were  watched  by  the  dragon  Ladon. 

1010-13.]     The  duty  of  obedience,  which  had  been  '  struck  into  ' 
Caponsacchi  '  by  the  look  o'  the  lady '  (cf.  434  and  704),  gave  him 
its  first  call  through  the  voice  of  the  Church  (1000-1),  which  he  took    , 
for  the  authoritative  voice  of  God  (1013).     The  voice  demanded 
from  him  an  act  of  self-sacrifice  ;  it  bade  him  *  leave  that  live 
passion '   and   abandon   the  proposed   adventure ;    he   could  not 
refuse  its  call  to  the  obedience  to  which  he  was  so  newly  pledged. 
Therefore,  during  the  two  days  following  upon  his  conversation    } 
with  Pompilia,  he  took  no  steps  towards  fulfilling  the  promise  he  I 
had  made  her  to  act  at  once  (881-94). 

That  he  in  fact  took  no  such  steps  appears  from  the  depositions. 
Caponsacchi  notes  the  delay,  but  does  not  explain  it  (O.  Y.B.  Ixxxix., 
A'.  A.  96).     Pompilia  says  that  she  complained  that  he  had  broken 
his  promise  ;   that  he  excused  himself  on  the  ground  that  he  could 
find  no  carriage  at  Arezzo  ;   that  she  rejoined  that  in  that  case  he 
should  have  found  one  elsewhere  (O.T.B.  Ixxxv.,  E.L.  93).      Like 
the  rest  of  the  romance,  the  story  of  the  conflict  in  Caponsacchi's  -. 
mind  and  heart  between  the  claims  of  what  seemed  to  be  his  duty    L 
U  (Jod  and  those  of  a  chivalrous  and  spiritual  passion  is    ( 
Browning's  '  fancy  added  to  the  fact'.     Nowhere  does  the  poet's 
i uiaLrination][work|more  nobly. 

1017.  bow  the  Jtead],  i.e.  to  the  Master  :    to  do  his  duty  to  God 
i»t  duty  to  her  ( 1030). 


126  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1022.  noon  broadened.]  Cf.  A  Dream  of  Fair  Women :  '  Morn 
broadened  on  the  borders  of  the  dark '. 

1030.  Duty  to  God  is  duty  to  her.]  Treves  (p.  264)  finds  in  these 
words  an  assertion  'that  the  saving  of  this  fettered  and  unhappy 
woman  was  a  devotional  act '.  The  context  shows  that  this  is  a 
misinterpretation. 

1036-9.]  With  the  punctuation  given  in  the  text  '  I  should 
sin  '  would  be  the  apodosis  to  '  Could  she  but  know  '  (which  is 
certainly  not  intended),  and  the  '  that '  in  1037  would  have  nothing 
depending  on  it.  The  —  in  1039  should  be  removed  and  the  colon 
changed  to  a  note  of  exclamation.  Caponsacchi  is  meant  to  say : 
'  If  only  she  could  know  that  I  should  sin  if  by  sinning  I  could 
procure  some  real  good  to  her  ! ' 

1045.  he.]     Grammar  requires  '  him '. 

1046.]  With  the  indignant  exclamation  '  I  fear  the  sword  of 
Guido  !  '  the  sentence  breaks  off  ;  there  is  no  apodosis  to  the  *  if  '- 
clause  which  begins  in  1042. 

1059.  go  minister.]     Cf.  1882,  'go  pray'. 

1078.  there's  new  moon  this  eve.]  Caponsacchi  is  supposed  to 
be  speaking  on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  April  21.  In  a  letter  to 
Lord  Courtney  of  Penwith  (see  note  on  III.  1065-6)  the  poet  wrote  : 
'  In  order  to  be  quite  sure  of  the  age  of  the  moon  on  the  occasion 
of  Pompilia's  flight,  I  procured  De  Morgan's  register  of  lunar  risings 
for  the  last — I  forget  how  many  hundred  years '.  Treves  (p.  168) 
says  that  '  by  the  use  of  the  Metonic  Cycle  it  appears  that  the  day 
of  the  new  moon  was  April  23rd '. 

1080-84.]  Cf.  1089-90.  The  passage  is  very  puzzling.  Pompilia, 
says  Caponsacchi,  is  to  '  take  '  (i.e.  pass  through)  the  San  Clemente 
gate,  for  that  is  the  only  gate  unguarded  at  night ;  and  she  is  also 
to  climb  '  the  low  dilapidated  wall '  by  the  Torrione.  But  surely, 
if  he  meant  her  to  climb  the  city-wall,  he  did  not  mean  her  to  '  take  ' 
any  gate,  guarded  or  unguarded. 

Referring  to  the  records  we  find  Caponsacchi  deposing  that  he 
promised  Pompilia  to  await  her  early  in  the  morning  at  the  San 
Clemente  gate,  that  Pompilia  came  alone  to  that  gate  at  '  about 
seven  hours'  (i.e.  at  about  1  A.M.),  that  they  entered  the  carriage 
together  at  that  gate,  and  drove  round,  outside  the  city-wall,  to 
the  San  Spirito  gate,  '  which  goes  towards  Perugia  '  ;  while  Pom- 
pilia declared  that  she  came  downstairs  at  dawn,  joined  Capon- 
sacchi there,  went  with  him  to  the  San  Spirito  gate,  and  found  the 
carriage  waiting  outside  it  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxix.,  Ixxxv.,  E.L.  96,  93). 
The  two  depositions,  it  will  be  observed,  are  at  variance  on  many 
points,  but  they  both  imply  that  some  gate  was  passed  through 
by  Pompilia,  and  neither  of  them  speaks  of  her  climbing  the  wall 
either  by  the  Torrione  or  elsewhere. 

A  third  account  of  the  flight  is  given  in  the  '  Sentence  of  the 
Criminal  Court  of  Florence '.  It  states  that  the  gates  being  closed 


BOOK  VI.— GIUSEPPE  CAPON SACCHI       127 

tin-  fugitives  ( 'limbed  the  wall  by  the  Torrione,  and  that  on  arriving 
at  the  Cavallo  I  DM  outside  the  San  Clemente  gate  they  found  the 
carriage  there  (O.Y.B.  v.,  E.L.  5). 

The  Sentence  says  nothing  about  the  San  Spirito  gate,  on  which 
point  we  should  probably  supplement  it  from  Caponsacchi's  deposi- 
tion  ;  I  nit  the  account  it  gives  is  free  from  the  difficulty  mentioned 
at  the  beginning  of  this  note,  and  if  supplemented  as  proposed  it 
is  clear,  complete,  and  consistent  with  topography  (for  which  sec 
Treves,  pp.  167-70).  It  is  followed,  with  this  supplement,  in  the 
story  which  Browning  attributes  to  Guide's  Aretine  neighbours 
(V.  1020-29).  The  account  which  he  attributes  to  Caponsacchi  is 
an  attempt  to  reconcile  irreconcilables. 

The  San  Clemente  gate,  with  the  adjacent  great  bastion 
the  Torrione,  is  at  the  extreme  north  of  Arezzo.     The  San 
gate,  to  which  the  fugitives  drove  from  the  San  Clemente,  is  at  the 
>outh  of  the  town  ;   the  Perugia  road,  by  which  they  were  to  travel 
towards  Rome,  passes  through  it  (1146-7). 

1099-1 103.  J  Legend,  following  the  hint  of  John  xx.  24,  25, 
says  that  St.  Thomas  was  not  present  with  the  other  disciples 
at  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin,  and  was  sceptical  about  it;  that 
to  convince  him  of  the  fact  she  threw  down  her  girdle  to  him.  A 
citizen  of  Prato  near  Florence  possessed  himself,  we  are  told,  of 
this  girdle  at  Jerusalem  during  the  first  crusade,  and  brought  it 
home  with  him  ;  the  sacratissinia  cintola  delta  Madonna  is  pre- 
served in  Prato  Cathedral.  The  story  of  the  girdle  was  often 
pictured  by  Italian  artists,  e.g.  by  Raphael  in  his  *  Coronation ', 
now  in  the  Vatican. 

1110-11.]  For  Browning's  change  of  the  date  of  the  flight 
(which  really  occurred  on  April  29)  and  for  his  reason  for  changing 
it  see  note  on  III.  1065-6. 

1116.  the  octave.]  Easter  Day  in  1697  was  April  14  ;  its  octave 
therefore  included  Sunday,  April  21.  The  servant  is  supposed  to 
be  speaking  on  Monday,  April  22. 

1120.  laic  dress.]    See  note  on  II.  999. 

1129.]    See  note  on  1851-3  below. 

1147-8.]  The  vetturino  who  drove  the  fugitives  from  Arezzo 
only  took  them  the  first  stage  (17  miles),  viz.  to  Camoscia  under 
Cortona  (O.Y.B.  vi.,  E.L.  5). 

1161.  God's  sea.]  Revelations  xv.  2  ;  *  the  sea  whose  fire  was 
mixt  with  glass  In  John's  transcendent  vision  *  (Sordello,  I.  364-5). 

1170.  who  name  Parian — coprolile.]  Coprolite'is  the  petrified 
excrement  (Kfapot)  of  carnivorous  reptiles  ;  beds  containing  it  are 
worked  as  a  source  of  artificial  manure.  Compare  with  this  reference 
to  it  George  Bubb  Dodington,  n.  (in  Parleyings) : — 

No  matter  if  tin-  ore  1W  which  /cal  <l<-'\ 

BO  gold 


128  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Ruskin  (Stones  of  Venice,  i.  c.  xxvi.  §  5)  '  thought  it  unnecessary 
to  warn  the  reader  that,  while  he  might  legitimately  take  the  worm 
or  reptile  for  a  subject  of  imitation,  he  was  not  to  study  the  worm 
cast  or  coprolite '. 

1176-1417.]  See  Introduction  to  Book  VI.— The  route  taken 
by  the  fugitives  was  that  familiar  to  pre-railway  travellers  between 
Florence  and  Rome.  After  leaving  Arezzo  it  passes  Camoscia 
(below  Cortona),  the  north  end  of  Lake  Trasimene,  Perugia  and 
Assisi  (see  note  on  1203-5),  Spello,  Foligno  (where  it  joins  the  Via 
Flaminia,  the  '  consular  road '  from  Rimini  to  Rome),  Spoleto, 
Terni,  Civita  Castellana.  By  this  route  the  Brownings  often 
travelled  to  and  from  Rome,  not  always  without  adventure  (see 
Letters  of  E.  B.  Browning,  ii.  pp.  295-6,  298) ;  the  journey  took 
five  or  six  days.  Of  their  visits  to  Rome,  however,  only  one  (that 
of  the  winter  of  1860-61)  took  place  after  the  finding  of  the  Yellow 
Book 1,  and'  the  poet  never  crossed  the  Apennines  again.  Perhaps, 
like  Caponsacchi  (VI.  1208)  and  Pompilia  (VII.  1531),  he  'forgot 
the  names '  of  places  at  which  he  imagined  incidents  to  have  occurred 
during  the  flight. 

A  full  description  of  the  road  from  Arezzo  onwards,  and  of  the 
towns  and  post-stations  upon  it,  will  be  found  in  Treves  (Part  ii. 
c.  iv.).  Sir  Frederick  gives  the  precise  distances  from  place  to 
place  and  suggests  a  time-table  for  the  fugitives'  journey,  but  only 
now  and  then  attempts  to  locate  incidents  unlocated  by  the  poet. 

1199.  the  determined  morning.'}  Cf.  IX.  243 ;  contrast  '  the 
doubtful  morn ',  1430  below.  Perugia  is  46  miles  from  Asezzo  ; 
the  fugitives,  according  to  Browning,  must  have  gone  somewhat 
more  than  that  distance  ('  we  have  passed  Perugia',  1203)  by  '  the 
determined  morning '.  Now  they  had  left  Arezzo  (at  the  earliest) 
about  1  A.M.,  and  Treves  calculates  that  the  average  pace  maintained 
during  the  flight,  excluding  stoppages,  was  about  five  miles  an 
hour,  or,  including  them,  about  three2.  During  the  first  part  of 
the  journey,  the  road  being  '  practically  level ',  and  the  fugitives 
being  anxious  to  get  a  good  start,  they  perhaps  went  faster ;  but 
even  so  the  morning  must  have  been  very  fully  '  determined  ' 
before  they  reached  a  point  beyond  Perugia.  (In  II.  978  the 
speaker  estimates  that  the  stage  from  Castelnuovo  to  Rome — about 
fifteen  miles — is  '  four-hours' -running'.) 

1203-5.]  They  no  doubt  left  both  Perugia  and  Assisi  (the  '  holy 
ground '  of  St.  Francis),  as  they  had  left  Cortona,  on  their  left 


1  Sir  F.  Treves  says  (p.  112)  that  '  apparently  the  last  occasion  on  which  the 
Brownings  resided  in  Rome  was  in  the  winter  of  1859  '  (i.e.  before  the  Yellow 
Book  was  found),  and  he  implies  (p.  172)  that  it  was  only  in  1854  that  they  went 
there  by  the  Perugia  route.     Mrs.  Browning's  letters  show  that  he  is  mistaken 
on  both  points. 

2  Much  the  same  as  that  of  English  coaches  at  about  the  same  date;(Macaulay, 
History,  c.  Hi.). 


BOOK  VI.— GIUSEPPE  CAPONSACCHI   129 

hand  ;  to  go  up  and  down  the  hills  upon  which  these  towns  stand 
would  have  been  a  waste  of  time. 

1214.  This  was — /  know  not  where.]  Possibly  where  the  road 
crosses  the  Chiaggio ;  or  perhaps  somewhat  further  on.  The 
*  great  hill '  may  be  Monte  Subasio,  familiar  to  visitors  to  Assisi. 

1226-7.]  '  This  good  which  I  feel  may  be  the  good  for  which 
t  hat  pain  was  ;  if  it  is  not,  I  fear  that  the  hope  of  cure  is  gone  '. 

1234.  /  did  not  like  that  word.]  For  it  implied  that  she  was  no 
more  to  him  that  any  other  woman  whom  he  might  help.  See 
below,  1274,  1319,  1382-3. 

1235-45.]  The  passage  suggests  the  influence  of  the  poet's 
wife  ;  see  Introduction  to  Book  VII.  Lines  1242-5  in  particular 
might  come  strajgLt4r.om  Aurora  Leigh. 

1246.  the<3ow4aJJ,^The  flower  of  the  dandelion. 

1254.]     Th'TbTshop's  villa  must  be  near  Spello. 

1262-5.]  Caponsacchi  has  learnt  how  hollow  the  ecclesiasticism 
of  the  time  is  ;  '  he'll  no  more  '  of  it ;  doesn't  the  Bishop  see,  as 
he  sees,  that  it  is  out  of  date  ? — For  the  rochet  see  1878  below. 

1267.  7  can  neither  read  nor  ivrite.]    See  Appendix  IV. 

1271.  ^Gabriel's  song.]  An  adaptation,  I  suppose,  of  the  words 
of  the  Annunciation. — The  Sapphic  hymn  appointed  in  the  breviary 
for  the  feast  of  St.  Gabriel  the  Archangel  (April  18)  is  not  more 
concerned  with  Gabriel  than  with  Michael  and  Raphael. 

1273.  proper  to  us  travellers.]     Raphael  was,  in  Milton's  words 
(Paradise  Lost,  v.  221-2), 

the  sociable  spirit,  that  deign'd 
To  travel  with  Tobias  ; 

See  the  book  of  Tobit,  passim.  The  breviary  contains  the  following 
prayer  for  the  feast  of  St.  Raphael  the  Archangel : — 

Deus,  qui  beatum  Raphaelem  Archangelum  Tobiae  famulo  tuo 
comitem  dediati  in  via  :  concede  nobis  famulis  tuis  ;  ut  ejusdem  semper 
protegamur  custodia,  et  muniamur  auxilio. 

1274.  7  did  not  like  that,  neither.]    Because  she  spoke  of  him  as 
a  priest ;  see  1382-3. 

1275.]  '  In  the  determined  morning '  they  were  somewhere 
between  Perugia  and  Assisi  (1199,  1203).  Foligno  is  about  21 
miles  from  the  former  and  10  from  the  latter ;  if,  therefore,  they 
reached  Perugia,  as  Trove*  suggests,  about  noon,  and  if  when  they 
reached  Foligno  it  was  dark,  they  must  have  made  this  part  of  the 
journey  very  leisurely. 

1277-9.]  The  distance  by  road  from  Foligno  to  Rome  is  about 
88  miles;  the  driver  calculates  that,  with  good  luck,  they  will 
cover  it  in  24  hours  including  stoppages. 

1291.  We  did  go  on  all  night.]  It  appears  from  the  records 
that  Guido  declared  '  in  his  confession '  that  he  had  ascertained 


c 


130  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

that  the  fugitives  '  slept  together  at  Foligno  in  the  osteria  of  the 
posthouse  '  (0.  Y.B.  cxxvii.,  E.L.  135).  Treves  maintains,  perhaps 
too  confidently,  that  the  time  of  their  arrival  at  Castelnuovo  (at 
sunset  the  next  day)  proves  that  '  any  but  the  briefest  halt  at  any 
place  on  the  journey'  was  quite  'impossible'  (p.  205).  Foligno 
is  about  72  miles  from  Castelnuovo. 

1302-3.]  Psalm  Ixviii.  1.  Mr.  R.  E.  Prothero  (The  Psalms  in 
Human  Life,  p.  31)  makes  the  interesting  suggestion  that  Browning's 
use  of  the  quotation  may  be  '  an  echo  of  St.  Antony ',  who,  when 
sorely  beset  by  the  temptations  of  the  world  and  the  flesh  in  the 
forms  of  fiends,  drove  them  off  by  chanting  Psalm  Ixviii.  So, 
he  suggests,  Caponsacchi,  hearing  Pompilia  moan  in  her  fevered 
dreams,  and  seeing  her,  as  he  imagined,  wave  away  an  evil  spirit 
that  assailed  her,  cried  '  Let  God  arise,  etc.'. 

1311-12.]    Of.  VII.  1564-5. 

1320-40.]  Pompilia  also  mentions  the  incident  (VII.  1555-9). 
'  I  think',  says  Treves  (p.  191),  '  this  must  have  happened  at  Torri- 
cella',  but  Torricella  is  at  a  much  earlier  stage  in  the  journey, 
N.E.  of  Lake  Trasimene ;  it  was  passed  early  on  the  first 
morning  of  the  flight. 

1347.  my  own  church.']     Cf.  VII.  20. 

1374.  or  else  from,  etc.]    The  cause  here  mentioned  has  been 
already  suggested  in  1372  ('  unborn  '). 

1375.  Such  as  is  put  into  a  tree.]  .  Cf.  X.   1073-81,  where  the 
Pope  speaks  of  plants  and  animals  as  being 

all  in  a  common  pact 
To  worthily  defend  the  trust  of  trusts, 
Life  from  the  Ever  Living. 

It  is  a  breach  of  the  common  pact  that  brings  swift  retribution  on 
the  mother  in  Ivan  Ivanovitch. 

1389.  whose  name  ?]  Gaetano  was  the  name  designed  by  Pom- 
pilia for  her  unborn  child,  '  for  a  reason  '  (VII.  30)  given  in  VII. 
101-7. 

1396.   Whom  the  winds  carry.]     Psalm  xviii.  10. 

1398.  The  old  tower,  etc.]  Treves,  who  gives  (pp.  217-30)  an 
interesting  account  of  Castelnuovo,  shows  that  Browning's  descrip- 
tions of  the  place  here  and  in  I.  508-9  are  '  singularly  inapplicable  '. 
The  post-house  where  the  fugitives  passed  the  night  and  the  prison 
in  which  they  were  afterwards  lodged  may  still  be  seen. 

1405.  Setting.]  On  the  important  discrepancy  between  Capon- 
sacchi's  and  Pompilia's  statements  about  the  time  of  the  arrival 
at  Castelnuovo  see  the  note 'on  VII.  1580-84  and  Appendix  V. 

1414-16.]  It  appears  from  the  records  that  the  host  made  a 
deposition  and  was  cross-examined  (O.Y.B.  cxlv.,  ccxiv.,  E.L.  149, 
216)  about  the  circumstances  of  the  night  at  Castelnuovo,  but  it 
is  not  there  stated  that  he  pressed  the  fugitives  to  stay. 


BOOK  VI.— GIUSEPPE  CAPONSACCHI   131 

1427-9.]    All  this  (cf.  II.  975-7,  III.  1196-1202,  V.  1052-62)  is 
I  on  statements   in  the  O.Y.B.  (clxxxi.,  ccxxi.,  E.L.  187,  222), 
but  it  is  contradicted  by  Caponsacchi  in  his  deposition  (O.Y.B. 
1\ \\i\.,  II. I..  1)7).     See  Appendix  V. 

1444.  an  April  day.}  According  to  Browning  the  day  was 
Wednesday,  April  25  ;  it  was  in  fact  Tuesday,  May  1. 

1455-6.*]     See  note  on  1291  above. 

1459.  Vulcan  pursuing  Mars.}  This  story  from  the  Odyssey 
is  also  introduced  in  III.  1450-55  and  in  IX.  868-77  (where  see  note). 

1461.  not  without  my  Cyclops.}  The  Cyclopes  of  the  Odyssey 
were  lawless  Sicilian  shepherds  ;  later  accounts  made  them  servants 
of  Vulcan,  forgers  of  thunderbolts  (e.g.  Euripides,  Ale.  5). 

1487.  Moliere's  self.}  When  Moliere  died  in  1673  his  fame  was 
already  firmly  established  in  Italy  as  in  England. 

1518-20.]  Note  the  insistence  on  '  the  blood-red  day-break '  ; 
cf.  1525,  1545,  1602,  and  see  note  on  1405:  } 

1528.  Away  from  between  me  andfhell  !j    *  Between   me   and    "~1 
hell '  comes  as  a  surprise  ;  contrast  wHbjjrthc  language  attributed 
to  Prmjpilifl.  when  referring  to  the  same  occa«ioTrin  III.  1154-6  : 

Count  Guido  once  more  betwee6, heavepr and  me, 
For  there  my  heaven  stood,  my  sStvTuion,  yes — 
That  Caponsacchi  all  my  heaven  of  help. 

(Cf.  III.  1344-7  and  VII.  1595,  where  she  speaks  of  her  hus__ 
again  on  the  same  occasion,  as  '  that  ipp-Mnnlr  'twixt  the  sun 
me  '.)  Even  in  the  present  context  Caponsacchi  calls  Guido 

the  opprobrious  blur 
Against  all  peace  and  joy  and  light  and  life. 

— Violently  aroused  at  sunrise  from  a  deep  sleep  on  '  a  strange  bed  ', 
distracted  by  all  she  sees  in  what  she  is  elsewhere  represented  as 
describing  as  '  a  strange  room  like  hell,  roaring  with  noise,  ruddy 
with  flame  '  (III.  1151-2),  Pompilia  for  one  bewildered  moment 
identifies  the  *  light  like  blood '  which  fills  the  window  (line  1520) 
with  the  fires  of  hell.  Before  that  window,  between  her  and  those 
fires,  stands  *  the  black  figure  '  of  Guido,  whose  abhorred  embracing 
seems  to  her  a  far  worse  fate  than  the  '  hell '  which  his  figure  inter- 
cepts ;  she  can  accept  hell  as  heaven's  '  just  award  '  rather  than 
bear  *  love-making  devils '. — She  is  indeed  at  a  point  of  anguish 
where  heaven  and  hell  are  as  one  ;  remove  the  *  devils ',  and  she 
can  plunge  into  the  purity  of  hell's  flames  and  find  God  there. 

The  blood-red  sunrise  of  that  terrible  morning  brought  with  it 
the  calamity  portended  the  evening  before  by 

the  sudden  bloody  splendour  poured 
Cursewise  in  day's  departure  by  the  sun 

(I.  511-12). 


132  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1544.  the  sword  thai  hung  beside  him.]    See  note  on  II.  1031. 

1558-9.]  For  the  '  amorous  pieces '  see  Appendix  IV.  On 
'  verse  and  prose '  cf.  1660  below  and  V.  1140,  II.  1075  ;  both  the 
communications  produced  by  Guide's  lawyers  as  written  by  Capon- 
sacchi  (O.  Y.B.  xcviii.,  E.L.  105-6)  are  in  prose,  but  there  are  allusions 
in  the  correspondence  to  amorous  pieces  in  verse.  On  Guide's 
expectation  of  finding  what  he  professed  to  find  at  the  inn  (or  in 
the  prison)  at  Castelnuovo  see  1668-73  below.  Can  it  be  believed 
that  the  alleged  correspondents  would  both  have  carried  about 
with  them,  and  been  so  careless  with,  these  incriminating  documents? 

1560-63.]  Contrast  II.  1043-8  and  IX.  929-42,  where  Pompilia's 
resolute  defiance  is  represented  as  having  caused  a  general  revulsion 
of  feeling  in  her  favour. 

1573-4.]    Cf.  223-6  above,  and  see  note  on  V.  143. 

1578.  for  reasons  good.]  The  reasons  alleged  by  Bottini  in 
defence  of  Caponsacchi's  '  laic  garb  '  are  given  in  the  note  to  II.  999. 

1600.  fulgurant.]  Elsewhere  Browning  applies  the  epithet  only 
to  Jupiter,  its  rightful  owner ;  see  Bordello,  v.  44  : — 

Careful,  Jove's  face  be  duly  fulgurant ; 
and  Imperante  Augusto  Natus  Est : — 

yon  gold  shape 

Crowned,  sceptred,  on  the  temple  opposite — 
Fulgurant  Jupiter. 

Cf.  Cicero,  Div.  2.  18.  43 :  love  tonante,  fulgurante,  comilia  populi 
habere  nefas. 

1611.  Far  beyond  "friend".]  He  was  glad  that  she  had  called 
him  '  my  friend '  (1383),  but  she  had  since  spoken  of  him  as  her 
'guardian  and  saviour'  (1542). 

1625-7.]     See  VIII.  366-80,  note. 

1636.  As  friend  of  the  Court.]    See  Introduction  to  Book  VI. 

1645.  by  one  jot  or  tittle.]  See  Introduction  to  Book  VI.  and 
Appendix  V. 

1657.  when],  i.e.  if,  and  only  if ;  cf.  1666.  For  Pasquin  see 
note  on  XII.  141 ;  the  pasquinade  here  mentioned  is,  I  think, 
imaginary. 

1662-5.]  During  the  Process  of  Flight  Caponsacchi  was  shown 
two  love-letters  which  had  been  offered  as  evidence  against  him. 
Having  examined  them  both  he  said  of  one  of  them,  '  It  was  not 
written  by  me,  though  the  handwriting  has  some  resemblance  to 
mine  '  ;  and  of  the  other,  '  It  was  most  certainly  not  written  by 
me,  the  handwriting  is  not  mine,  and  has  indeed  no  resemblance 
to  mine  whatever '  (0.  Y.B.  xc.,  E.L.  98). 

1666.  Bembo's  verse  /]  '  You  might  as  well  say  it  is  Bembo's 
while  you  are  about  it ;  why,  it  is  such  stuff  as  any  scholar  and 
gentleman  would  scorn  to  write'. — Pietro  Bembo  (1470-1547)  was 


BOOK  VI.— GIUSEPPE  CAPONSACCHI   133 

secretary  to  Caterina  Cornaro,  ex- queen  of  Cyprus  (the  '  Kate  the 
Queen  '  of  the  song  in  Pippa  Passes),  at  Asolo  ;  he  was  afterwards 
Cardinal  and  secretary  to  Leo  X.  There  is  an  allusion  to  him,  as 
the  supposed  coiner  of  the  verb  asolare,  in  the  Dedication  of  the 
Asolando  volume.  Bembo  was  a  great  scholar,  a  '  thorough  purist ' 
(as  Browning  calls  him)  in  language,  and  an  elegant  writer  both  of 
prose  and  verse ;  '  all  Italy ',  says  Burckhardt  (Renaissance  in 
Italy,  p.  267),  '  learnt  by  heart '  many  of  his  epigrams. 

1667.  The  tract  '  Do  Tribus '],  i.e.  the  De  Tribus  Impostoribus 
(viz.  Moses,  Christ,  Mohammed),  a  tract  of  uncertain  date  ascribed 
to  a  certain  Ochinus,  whom  Sir  Thomas  Browne  described  (Religio 
Medici,  i.  §  20)  as  '  that  Villaine  and  Secretary  of  Hell '. 

1691.]  O.  Y.B.  Ixxiv.  (E.L.  81) :  patitur  relevantissimam  excep- 
tionem  publici  meretricii,  et  tanquam  unica  (i.e.  unsupported)  nihil 
probat.  Cf.  0.  Y.B.  cclii.,  E.L.  249. 

It  is  sometimes  difficult  to  scan  the  Latin  which  Browning  takes 
from  his  documents  and  prints  as  verse,  but  there  is  no  such  difficulty 
here  ;  the  line  has  a  double  (or  '  feminine  ')  ending  (sub  im  \  putd  \ 
t\6  |  ne  mer  \  etri  \  cis).  When  Latin  is  quoted  such  endings  are 
common  (cf.  IV.  1577,  IX.  523,  524,  etc.),  otherwise  they  are  rare, 
in  The  Ring  and  the  Book. — Double  endings,  as  every  one  knows, 
occur  more  often  in  Shakespeare's  later  than  in  his  earlier  work ; 
thus  there  are  said  to  be  33  per  cent,  of  them  in  The  Tempest,  but 
only  4  per  cent,  in  Love's  Labour's  Lost.  Exactly  the  opposite  is 
the  case  with  Browning's  blank  verse.  I  found  18  double  endings 
in  100  lines  of  the  early  Paracelsus  (1835)  and  14  in  100  lines  of 
Pippa  Passes  (1845) ;  these  percentages,  however,  are  much  above 
the  average  percentage  in  those  two  poems.  I  have  also  taken 
at  random  100  lines  of  each  of  four  of  the  poet's  later  blank- verse 
poems — Prince  Hohenstiel-Schwangau  (1871),  Red  Cotton  Night-Cap 
Country  (1873),  The  Inn  Album  (1875),  Ferishlah's  Fancies  (1884)— 
and  have  found  in  them  no  double  endings  at  all. — In  the  poet's 
translation  of  the  Agamemnon  (1877)  the  dialogue  is  given  in  blank 
verse  with  double  endings  only. 

1695.    0'  the  first  night.]    See  note  on  1147-8  above. 

1697.  frenetic],  i.e.  mad,  passionate ;  a  favourite  word  of 
Carlyle's.  In  Fifine  at  the  Fair,  v.,  '  frenetic  to  be  free  '=  passion- 
ately desiring  freedom.  *  Frantic  '  is  the  same  word. 

1697-1704.J  Cf.  IX.  686-93.  The  evidence  of  Borsi  was  much 
discussed,  and  effectively  riddled  by  the  prosecution,  in  the  murder- 
trial  ;  but  the  point  here  made  against  it  was  first  raised  after 
Uuido's  execution,  when  in  the  proceedings  taken  to  clear  the 
reputation  of  Pompilia  Lamparelli  suggested  that  Borsi  might 
have  been  compelled  to  depose  to  the  kissings  '  by  the  tedium  of 
his  secret  prison  '  (O.Y.B.  ccliii.,  E.L.  249). 

A  criminal  charge  was  brought  against  him  before  '  the  Com- 
missary of  Arezzo,'  probably  soon  after  the  flight,  for  having  helped 


134  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

the  fugitives  ;  on  his  return  to  Arezzo  after  driving  them  one 
stage  (to  Camoscia)  he  was  perhaps  arrested  immediately,  i.e.  at 
the  end  of  April  or  the  beginning  of  May.  We  are  not  told  when 
the  Commissary  acquitted  him,  but  the  acquittal  was  not  confirmed 
till  December  24  (O.Y.B.  viii.,  E.L.  7).  He  may  therefore  have 
suffered  '  some  weeks  '  or  some  months  '  of  sharp  imprisonment ' 
(cf.  IX.  689,  'after  long  rotting  in  imprisonment'),  and  in  view 
of  the  partiality  shown  towards  Guido  by  the  Arezzo  authorities 
he  may  have  thought  it  well  to  let  '  his  obduracy  melt '  and  to 
make  such  a  confession  as  Guido  desired. 

1714-15],  i.e.  (but  had)  played  discreetly,  (had  neither)  ruffled 
gown  nor  ripped  the  cloth. 

1729,  1732.]     Genesis  xxxix. 

1742.  The  pettiness  o'  the  forfeiture.]  Cf.  30  above  :  '  the  jocular 
piece  of  punishment '. 

1747.  '  De  Raptu  Helense '.]  A  Greek  hexameter  poem  (EX^T/s 
apirayiri)  by  Coluthus  of  Lycopolis  in  Egypt  (c.  500  A.D.)  ;  a  bad 
imitation  of  Homer.  A  MS.  of  this  '  Rape  of  Helen ',  the  only 
surviving  piece  of  its  author,  was  found  in  Calabria  by  Cardinal 
Bessarion  (1389-1472),  whose  collection  of  MSS.  formed  the  nucleus 
of  the  library  of  St.  Mark's  at  Venice.  Among  the  treasures  of 
the  French  sculptor  in  Pippa  Passes  is  a  De  Raptu  Helence — 

This  minion,  a  Coluthus,  writ  in  red 
Bistre  and  azure  by  Bessarion's  scribe. 

1751.  Scazons.]  A  Scazon  (<rKa.fav,  '  limping ')  is  an  iambic 
line  of  six  feet,  the  last  of  which  is  a  spondee  or  trochee  ( —  —  or 
—  w),  and  not  an  iambus  as  in  the  ordinary  iambic  line.  Catullus 
and  Martial  both  wrote  poems  in  scazons,  of  which  the  following 
are  typical  lines  : — 

Vale,  puella.     lam  Catullus  ob  |  durat. 
Apollinarem  conveni  meum,  |  scazon. 

Some  scazons  from  the  Prologue  of  Persius  are  quoted  in  the  note 
to  IX.  453-6.  Contrast  the  ordinary  iambic  line  : — 

Phaselus  ille,  quern  videtis,  hos  |  pites. 

Caponsacchi  is  advised  to  make  the  Cardinal  his  friend  for  life 
by  sending  him  a  copy  of  scazons  in  one  line  of  which  he  has  put 
(as  though  by  inadvertence)  an  iambus  in  the  last  foot  for  the 
Cardinal's  acumen  to  detect. 

1757.  these],  i.e.  of  course,  'the  religion  and  justice  here'.  It 
is  strange  that  Dr.  Berdoe  should  have  thought  that  '  these  '  meant 
'  verse ' :  he  supposed,  apparently,  that  Caponsacchi  took  his 
friends'  advice  and  travestied  De  Raptu  Helence  at  Civita  ! 

1767.]     Luke  vi.  38. 

1771.  would  personate  Saint  George.]     See  note  on  III.  1065-6. 


BOOK  VI.— GIUSEPPE  CAPONSACCHI    135 

177  >  tumid  '.  'might',  must  be  emphasi/<  d. 

178<>.  t  and  gospel.]  Browning  gets  rid  of  the  anapaests 

(  \VITI-  the  law  and  the  gos|pel] ')  which  gave  a  less  good  emphasis 
in  tin-  first  edition. 

1792.  cartulary],  i.e.  register. 

1819.  daring  try  be  good.]  Note  the  twice -repeated  omission 
of  '  to  '  before  infinitive  ;  for  the  omission  after  '  try  '  cf.  VII.  880. 

1820-21.]  For  the  'Prince  o'  the  Power  of  the  Air'  see  note  on 
I.  567.  The  meaning  of  '  the  Lord  of  Show '  is  clear  enough  ;  I 
don't  know  whether  Browning  coined  or  borrowed  the  phrase. 

1824-5.]     Vocati\v>. 

1831.  failure  or  success],  i.e.  whether  the  flight  failed  or  succeeded. 

1836.  we  who  led  the  days,  etc.]  according  to  the  discredited 
Margherita  (above,  1674  seqq.). 

1838-9.]  This  argument  in  the  fugitives'  favour  is  used  both 
by  Bottini  (O.Y.B.  Ixxii.,  E.L.  79),  by  the  author  of  the  Second 
Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  ccxx.,  E.L.  221),  and  by  Lamparelli 
(O.Y.B.  ccxlix.,  E.L.  246).  Cf.  III.  1128-30. 

1842.  we  made  aware  of  us]  by  our  prompt  appeal  at  Castelnuovo 
to  the  Roman  Court  (above,  1575-83).  See  note  on  II.  1018. 

1851-3.]  Cf.  1129,  'Use  and  wont  recognized  the  excepted 
man '.  The  need  for  deceit  and  evasion  in  exceptional  circumstances 
may  be  paramount ;  but  it  '  ought  never  to  come  to  a  man  twice. 
If  he  finds  thAt-aocessity  twice,  he  may,  I  think,  be  looked  at  with 
the  beginning  of  a  suspicion  '  (Chesterton,  Browning,  p.  108). 

1855.  dealing  so  ambiguously  as  gave.]  Ungrammatical ; 
Browning  should  have  written  either  '  ambiguous  '  or  '  as  to  give '. 

1877.  the  world's  musk.]    Cf.  I.  929,  II.  825. 

1878.  the  rochet.]    A  short  tight-sleeved  surplice,  *  the   proper 
vestment  of  bishops,  prelates,  and  canons'. 

1879-80.]     '  These  good  things  '  don't  ring  true. 

1884.  Did  not  I  say  .  .  .  ?]     See  204  seqq. 

1890.  as  I  said]  in  1473  seqq. 

1905.  Not  death,  etc.]    Contrast  the  Pope,  X.  2117  seqq. 

1917.  to  cramp  him],  i.e.  to  give  him  a  secure  hold-by,  as  with 
a  cramp-iron. 

1928-54.]  The  passage  is  surely  suggested  by  the  Inferno, 
but  a  critic  in  The  Edinburgh  Review  (July  1869,  p.  184)  said  of  it 
that  it  '  is  eminently  French  in  character,  and  certainly  suggests, 
if  it  was  not  suggested  by,  the  manner  of  M.  Hugo '. 

1932.  Whom  is  it,  straining  onward  still,  he  meets  ?]  Originally 
Browning  wrote,  '  Lo,  what  is  this  he  meets,  strains  onward  still  ?  ', 
the  last  words  of  which  misrepresent  his  meaning. 

1934.  prize],  the  French  prise. 

1940.  mopjand  mows],  i.e.  grimaces  ;  see  note  on  I.  572. 

I '.  >  I  .">. ^gmatch^ke.  smapkrfiavour.- 

1950f  cockatrice/.  .  .(basilisk.]    Ti^  two     names     'are     used 


136  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

interchangeably  by  Shakespeare '  (Shakespeare's  England,  i.  p.  519 ; 
cf.  p.  496).  Cf.  Bartholomew  Anglicus,  De  Proprietatibus  Rerum, 
p.  144,  ed.  Steele  :  '  The  cockatrice  hight  Basiliscus  in  Greek '. 

1959.  the  lady's  mind],  i.e.  her  good  judgment  in  taking  such 
a  man  as  myself  for  her  helper. 

1975.]     See  1321  seqq. 

1990.  Painters  would  say,  etc.]  But  Carlo  Maratta,  the  then 
famous  painter,  is  made  to  say  (III.  63)  that  '  A  lovelier  face  is 
not  in  Rome '. 

1998.  just  to  disfigure.]     See  note  on  VIII.  1221-5. 

2001.  in  a  clowj&s  disguise.'}     See  note  on  V.  1565. 

2006.  For  wTiat  and  by  whom?]  If  it  had  not  been  for  accidents, 
which  forced  Guido  to  confess  his  guilt,  his  lawyers  could  have 
invented  a  plausible  tale,  representing  Caponsacchi  as  the  murderer. 
See  VIII.  361-81,  and  cf.  XL  1707-24. 

— .  It  is  too  palpable]  that  vindication  of  his  honour  was  not  his 
real  motive. 

2007-22.]  The  Decretum  Relegationis,  dated  September  24, 
1697,  which  sent  Caponsacchi  to  Civita  Vecchia,  was  drawn  up  in 
terms  : — 


Joseph.  Maria  Caponsacc  hius  de  Aretio  pro  complicitate  in  fuga,  & 
deuiatione  Franciscae  Comparing,  &  cognitione  carnali  eiusdera  relegatus 
per  triennium  in  Ciuitate  Vetula  (0.  Y.B.  xcix.,  E.L.  106). 

At  the  instance  of  Lamparelli,  Procurator  of  the  Poor,  who  defended 
the  fugitives  in  the  Process  of  Flight,  the  judges  afterwards  sub- 
stituted for  pro  complicitate — eiusdem  the  words  pro  causa  de  qua 
in  actis  (or  in  Processu),  i.e.  for  the  reason  with  which  the  pro- 
ceedings were  concerned.  So  far  both  sides  agreed  ;  see  e.g.  O.  Y.B. 
clxvii.,  E.L.  175  (Bottini),  and  O.Y.B.  cxxvi.,  E.L.  134  (Spreti). 

The  question,  however,  what,  if  any,  was  the  significance  of 
the  substitution,  was  hotly  disputed  during  the  murder-trial. 
Guide's  lawyers  contended  that  it  had  practically  no  significance, 
that  it  was  merely  made  '  by  way  of  indulgence  to  the  still- asserted 
honour  of  the  woman  and  to  the  dignity  of  the  Canon '  ;  they 
denied  that  the  judges  meant  to  make  any  real  correction,  such  as 
the  insertion,  which  appears  to  be  suggested  by  the  other  side, 
of  the  word  prcetensa  ('alleged')  before  cognitione  carnali  (O.Y.B. 
cxii.,  cxxvi.,  E.L.  120,  134).  The  prosecution  rejoined  (1)  that 
the  original  wording  of  the  decree  was  a  blunder,  '  a  penman's 
error '  (below,  2019),  '  not  in  agreement  with  the  proofs  '  ;  that 
it  stated  the  grounds  on  which  the  charge  was  based,  not  the  reasons 
for  the  sentence  (cf.  IX.  1527-9),  and  that  it  was  corrected  accord- 
ingly ;  (2)  that  the  use  of  causa  (not  causis)  in  the  amended  form 
of  the  decree  proved  that  Caponsacchi  was  relegated  for  one  reason 
only,  which,  it  is  urged,  was  his  complicity  in  the  flight ;  (3)  that, 
f  the  graver  charge  against  him  had  been  regarded  as  established, 


BOOK  VI.— GIUSEPPE  CAPONSACCHI    137 

he  would  have  been  punished  far  more  severely  (O.Y.B.  clxvii., 
ccxxi.,  E.L.  175,  223). 

2009-10.  title  O'  the  sentence.]  The  word  'title  '  (titulus)  means 
the  reasons  stated  in  the  decree.  See  IX.  1527-61. 

2013.  Probationis  ob  defectum.]  Gambi  asserts  (0.  Y.B.  Ixii., 
E.L.  66)  that  '  it  was  resolved,  because  of  defect  of  proof  of  adultery, 
that  the  Canon  should  be  relegated  to  Civita '. 

2016.  to  amuse  The  adversary.]  Suggested  by  the  Second 
Anonymous  Pamphlet,  which  says  (O.Y.B.  ccxv.-vi.,  E.L.  217) 
that  the  judges,  '  nauseated  by  the  importunity '  of  the  Frances- 
chini  brothers,  sent  Caponsacchi  to  Civita  '  to  give  them  some 
satisfaction  in  their  pressing  solicitations  rather  than  because  of 
the  claims  of  justice  '. 

2024-5.  Not  what  I  wish  true.  .  .  .  It  is  not  true.]  He  professes 
not  to  believe,  because  he  wishes  not  to  believe,  that  she  applied 
to  Conti  and  Guillichini  before  applying  to  him  ;  he  would  rather 
that  she  should  have  turned  to  him  first. — Pompilia  made  different 
but  not  necessarily  inconsistent  statements  about  her  action  in 
this  matter.  She  said  in  her  deposition  :  '  Not  knowing  to  whom 
to  have  recourse  to  put  this  wish  of  mine  [i.e.  her  wish  to  flee  to  Rome] 
into  execution,  and  thinking  that  either  from  relationship  or  from 
friendship  to  my  husband  no  one  in  the  place  would  help  me,  I 
resolved  in  the  end  to  speak  of  it  to  Caponsacchi,  because  I  heard 
it  said  that  he  was  a  man  of  resolution  '  (O.  Y.B.  Ixxxiv.,  E.L.  92-3). 
She  wrote,  a  few  days  earlier,  to  Pietro  :  '  I  am  imprisoned  here 
at  Castelnuovo  for  having  fled  with  a  gentleman  whom  you  don't 
know,  but  he  is  related  to  the  Belichini  [a  slip  of  the  unpractised 
penwoman  or  of  the  printer  for  Guillichini ;  the  name  is  printed 
Quilichini  in  another  place,  O.Y.B.  Ixxi.]  who  was  at  Rome;  I 
was  to  have  come  with  him,  but  owing  to  illness  he  could  not  come. 
This  other  gentleman  however  came,  and  I  came  with  him  because 
my  life  was  not  worth  an  hour's  purchase '  (0.  Y.B.  civ.,  E.L.  160 ;  cf. 
IX.  477,  and  see  Appendix  IV. ).  It  will  be  noticed  that  she  mentions 
Conti  in  neither  place,  but  both  in  the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet 
(O.Y.B.  ccxvii.,  E.L.  219)  and  in  the  Secondary  Source  (O.Y.B.  210- 
211,  E.L.  261-2)  he  is  said  to  have  been  *  the  mediator  of  the  flight '. 

2032.  dead,  poisoned  a  month  ago.]  The  authority  for  this  is 
the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (loc.  cit.) :  *  it  being  public  talk 
and  rumour  that  he  died  about  a  month  ago  under  a  similar 
suspicion  [of  poison] '. 

2036.  had  come],  i.e.  would  have  come  ;  Conti  did  not,  apparently, 
give  evidence  in  the  Process  of  Flight. 

2037-8.  condemned  .  .  .  To  the  galleys]  at  Portoferraio  in  Elba. 
See  O.Y.B.  vii.,  E.L.  1. 

2040.  A  fortnight  since.]  The  Governor's  sentence  was  finally 
confirmed  by  the  Florence  Court  on  December  24,  1697,  just  a 
fortnight  before  ihu  date  assigned  to  Caponsacchi's  speech. 


138  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

2043.  two  tales  to  suit  the  separate  courts.]  See  Guide's  remarks 
on  this  point,  V.  1906-8. 

2054.]    A  relative  clause. 

2061.  the  letter],  i.e.  apparently,  the  attestation  given  in  O.  Y.B. 
Ivii.-lviii.,  E.L.  57-8.  This  attestation,  however,  is  dated  January 
10,  some  days  after  the  supposed  date  of  the  speech. 

2077.]     Cf.  VII.  1841-3  (Pompilia)  :— 

So,  let  him  wait  God's  instant  men  call  years ; 
Meanwhile,  hold  hard  by  truth  and  his  great  soul, 
Do  out  the  duty  ! 

and  X.  1210-12  (The  Pope). 

2099-2100.]  Plutarch's  Parallel  Lives,  the  aim  of  which  is 
hortatory  rather  than  purely  biographical,  are  in  sets  of  two  ;  in 
each  set  a  Roman  and  a  '  Grecian  '  are  put  side  by  side. 

2104.  from  such  communion],  that  of  the  '  imagined  life  '  of  line 
2081.  But  for  all  his  resolution  Caponsacchi  cannot  '  pass  content ' 
from  the  imagined  life  with  Pompilia  to  the  real  life  without  her. 


BOOK  VII.— POMPILIA 

INTRODUCTION 

WE  are  told  on  high  authority  that  when  Book  VII.  was 
first  published  (in  January  1869)  people  who  on  the  appear- 
ance of  earlier  portions  of  the  poem  had  taken  exception 
to  the  sordid  character  of  Browning's  story  became  con- 
vinced that  '  the  subject  was  not,  after  all,  so  incurably 
unlovely  ',  but  that,  nevertheless,  there  was  '  a  comparative 
disappointment '  at  the  presentation  of  Pompilia 1.  If 
there  was  any  such  disappointment — I  know  of  no  other 
evidence  of  •  it — it  soon  passed  away.  A  succession  of 
most  felicitous  eulogies  2  of  the  poet's  conception  and  of 
the  verse  in  which  he  embodied  it  has  '  vindicated  the 
fame  '  both  of  heroine  and  of  poet ;  no  other  part  of  the 
poem  has  won  so  enthusiastic  and  so  unqualified  an  admira- 
tion from  the  critics,  and  their  judgment  has  been  accepted 
by  all  readers,  critical  and  uncritical,  now  for  a  full  half 
century.  In  its  general  tenour  it  stands  unchallenged, 
and  it  would  be  worse  than  superfluous  to  repeat  in  feebler 
words  what  has  been  said  so  often  and  so  well ;  but  on 
one  or  two  particular  points  a  few  observations  may  be 
offered. 

Browning,  as  every  one  knows,  has  been  charged  with 
the  '  defect  in  his  dramatic  art  '  that  the  people  whose 
thoughts  he  professes  to  express  in  their  own  way  '  use 
Browning's  speech  and  think  his  thought '.  Professor 
Walker,  for  instance,  tells  us  that '  simple  child  as  Pompilia 
is,  there  is  a  depth  of  philosophy  in  her  utterances  that 

1  Mr.  John  .Murl.-y  in  the  Fortnightly  Review,  March  1,  l&r,  .  :U2. 

2  None  of  them,  perhaps,  is  more  felicitous  than  that  ot  .Mr.  Btopfard  Brooke 
in  his  /  171,  408-U). 

139 


140  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

is  not  in  strict  keeping  with  her  character  '  ;  and  that 
'  she,  like  all  Browning's  men  and  women,  uses  the  abrupt 
vivid  language  of  the  poet ' 1.  On  the  former  point  I 
shall  speak  in  a  moment ;  what  are  we  to  say  about  the 
latter  ?  Is  it  true  that,  to  quote  another  exponent  of 
the  same  opinion,  '  the  child- wife  Pompilia  tells  her  story 
in  much  the  same  language  as  her  elderly  and  wicked 
husband,  Count  Guido,  and  the  young  Canon  Caponsacchi ; 
and  all  talk  a  good  deal  more  like  Robert  Browning  than 
any  other  human  creature  before  or  since  '  2  ?  No  doubt 
a  student  of  Browning's  style  and  manner  will  find  then- 
presence  in  the  utterances  of  all  his  characters  in  The, 
Ring  and  the  Book,  just  as  a  student  of  Shakespeare  will 
find  evidence  of  Shakespeare's  style  in  the  utterances  of 
all  the  characters  'in,  let  us  say,  The  Tempest'*.  Pom-, 
pilia,  like  Guido,  Caponsacchi,  and  the  rest,  '  docks  the; 
smaller  parts-o' -speech  ',  practises  economy  in  the  use  of 
articles  and  of  relative  pronouns,  omits  a  '  to  '  before  her 
infinitives ;  in  these  and  other  ways  she  speaks  Browning's 
speech.  But  then  Browning  himself  speaks  in  so  many 
profoundly  different  ways,  adapts  his  diction,  his  manner, 
his  rhythm  with  such  wonderful  flexibility  to  the  sorts 
and  conditions  of  his  personae,  to  the  thoughts  and  passions 
which  he  makes  them  express  !  In  the  childlike  Pompilia 
he  created  a  character  unusual  in  his  poetry  and  the  style 
of  her  monologue  is  therefore  unusual ;  its  simple  diction 
with  its  girlish  colloquialisms,  its  limpid  and  pellucid  flow, 
may  make  it  seem  at  times  that  (in  the  words  of  M.  Berger) 
ce  ne  soit  plus  Browning  qui  ecrive  avec  une  telle  simplicite 
claire  et  douce  .  .  .  Id  plus  de  recherche  d'effet,  plus  de 
complication  de  pensee,  plus  de  rhetorique  meme  sincere, 
rien  que  des  paroles  simples,  presque  waives  d'une  enfant 
a  I'dme  pure*. 

With  the  simplicity  of  language,  manner,  and  rhythm 

^  there  is  combined  in  Book  VII.,  as  M.  Berger  notes,  a 

simplicity  of  thought.     Pompilia  lies  upon  her  death- bed, 

pierced   with   '  twenty-two    dagger- wounds,    five   deadly ', 

and  her  survival  is  a  marvel ;  she  speaks,  naturally  enough, 

1  The  Age  of  Tennyson,  p.  230. 

2  From  Mr.  Frederick  E,y land's  Selections  from  Browning,  p.  xvii. 

3  Symons,  Introduction  to  Browning,  p.  20. 

4  Pierre  Berger,  Browning,  p.  210. 


BOOK  VII.—POMPILIA  141 

'  with  a  little  disorder  at  first ',  giving  utterance  to  her 
reflexions  '  as  they  come '.  But  she  does  not  suffer  '  too 
much  pain';  the  disorder  disappears  asfshe  tells  with 
artlos  charm  of  this  or  that  incident  oflier  girlhood, 
and  hints  as  she  proceeds  at  the  horrors  of  her  later  years, 
ha  If -forgetting  them  at  times  or  putting  them  aside.  Her 
mind  and  soul  are  at  peace  ;  she  holds  fast  to  her  faith 
in  God  ;  she  rejoices  in  God's  gift  to  her  of  a  son  ;  she 
ivmcinhcrs  affectionately  such  affection  as  it  has  been 
granted  her  to  know  ;  she  can  forgive  or  finds  excuses — 
poor  excuses  but  sincere — for  the  malignant  hatred  which 
has  mangled  her  body  and  would  have  ruined  her  soul ; 
and  all  her  strength  returns  to  her  as  she  vindicates  the 
purity  and  reverently  recalls  the  devotion  of  her  '  soldier 
saint '  whom  she  will  meet  again  in  heaven.  For  the 
rest,  she  '  endeavours  to  explain  her  lif e  ' l,  but  it  has  been 
a  tangle  which  she  cannot  unravel ;  of  one  of  its  per- 
plexities she  can  only  say, 

Think  it  out,  you  who  have  the  time  !  *  ^ 

— Ette  ne  comprend  pas,  mais  se  rfaigne ;  she  feels  that 
she  is  but  an  ignorant  child.  As  the  Pope,  when  recording 
her  purity,  her  patience,  her  faith,  her  return  of  right  for 
wrong,  of  '  most  pardon  for  most  injury  ',  says  of  her  : 

It  was  not  given  to  Pompilia  to  know  much, 
Speak  much,  to  write  a  book,  to  move  mankind, 
Be  memorized  by  who  records  my  time  3. 

It  is  of  this  unsophisticated  spirit  (who  has,  however, 
been  memorized  and  has  profoundly  moved  so  much  of 
mankind  as  has  read  her  story)  that  we  are  told  that  she 
had  a  philosophy  and  that  it  was  Browning's.  A  philo- 
sophy, whether  Browning's  or  another's  ?  When  she  says 
in  her  simple  way, 

The  saints  must  bear  with  me,  impute  the  fault 
To  a  soul  i'  the  bud,  so  starved  by  ignorance, 
Stinted  of  warmth,  it  will  not  blow  this  year4, 

a  professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  finds  in  the  lines  a  valuable 
corrective  of  the  '  sceptical  philosophy  '  which  was  destined 

1  So  Browning  summarizes  her  monologue  in  I.  1  mi. 
VII.  709.  1020-2.  <  VH.  1515-17. 


142  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

to  '  come  down  like  a  blight '  upon  the  poet x,  but  surely 
they  have  no    philosophical  import  whatever ;    the  flair 
of  the  professor  leads  him  astray.     Or  again,  when  she 
lies  serene  in  her  last  hours,  when  she  says  of  herself, 
Being  right  now,  I  am  happy  and  colour  things  2, 

and  speaks  of  God  as 

ever  mindful  in  all  strife  and  strait  .  .  . 
Till  at  the  last  he  puts  forth  might  and  saves  3, 

her  words  are  used  as  that  famous  lyric  is  used  in  which 
JPippa,  cheered  by  the  brilliant  sunrise  of  her  new-year's 
Holiday,  sees  everything  couleur  de  rose — 

Morning's  at  seven ; 

The  hill-side's  dew-pearled ;  .  .  . 

God's  in  his  heaven — 

All's  right  with  the  world  ! 

— the  two  children  are  quoted  as  if  they  stated  a  reasoned 
conclusion  in  support  of  Browning's  optimistic  theory4. 
They  both,  I  imagine,  say  precisely  what  any  poet,  optimistic 
or  otherwise,  would  have  made  them  say  if  only  he  could 
have  made  them  say  it  so  finely  ;  given  their  characters 
and  their  circumstances,  their  utterances  are  in  any  case 
entirely  right.  Out  of  their  mouths  is  perfected  praise 
-and  not  philosophy5. — From  the  philosophical  standpoint 
Pompilia,  for  all  her  experience,  is  still  a  child  ;  from  other 
points  of  view  she  is  indeed  more,  but  half  her  charm  is 
her  childlike  charm  ;  and  instead  of  endowing  her  with  a 
philosophy  we  shall  more  wisely  enjoy  such  characteristic 
passages  as  those  in  which  she  speaks  of  Tisbe  and  herself 
before  the  tapestry,  or  describes  what  she  saw  and  dimly 
understood  of  the  stormy  interview  in  the  Via  Vittoria, 
or  pictures  the  delightfully  domestic  scenes  at  the  Villa 
till  all  turns  suddenly  into  tragedy  with 

A  tap  ;  we  started  up  ;  you  know  the  rest  ! 

1  Jones,  Browning  as  a  Philosophical  and  Religious  Teacher  (edition-of  1896), 
p.  333. 

2  VII.  354.  *  VII.  1386-8. 

4  Jones,  op.  cit.  pp.  90,  95. — On  the  alleged  optimism  of  The  Ring  and  the  Book, 
see  the  Introduction  to  Book  XII. 

5  The  sophistication  of  poor  Pippa  is  carried  far  in  an  excellent  edition  of 
Paracelsus  by  M.  L.  Lee  and  K.  B.  Locock,  p.  42.    Her  '  God's  in  his  heaven,  etc.' 
requires,  it  appears,  a  'clue',  which  'Transcendence  rather  than  Immanence 
provides'.  « 


BOOK  VIL—POMPILIA  143 

Pompilia,  however,  as  I  have  said,  is  more  than  a  child. 
She  is  a  mother,  and  she  is  one  of  the  two  parties  in  the 
spiritual  romance  which  gives  its  supreme  interest  to  the 
poem. 

'  Womanliness  '.  says  the  unnamed  heroine  of  The  Inn 
Album,  '  means  only  motherhood  ' 1  ;  but,  though  the 
poet  portrays  many  kinds  of  womanliness,  it  has  been 
observed  that  motherhood  (like  fatherhood)  finds  little 
expression  in  his  poetry,  only  perhaps  in  his  Pompilia  ; 
in  Ivan  Ivdnovitch  a  defective  sense  of  it  meets  with  a 
terrible  punishment.  In  The  Ring  and  the  Book  it  is 
treated  with  a  penetrating  comprehension,  with  a  richm 
of  sentiment,  enshrined  in  most  melodious  verse.  In  some 
places,  indeed,  Pompilia  is  just  the  happy  young  mother, 
the  Madonna  of  many  merely  delightful  Italian  pictures  ; 
her  prattle  about  her  boy  and  her  delight  in  him  are  like 
the  prattle  and  the  delight  of  other  young  mothers,  but 
with  their  charm  immeasurably  enhanced  by  the  beauty  ^ 
of  some  stray  thoughts  2  and  not  only  by  the  music  of 
her  words.  But  there  is  a  rarer  beauty  and  a  deeper 
insight  in  other  passages  where  the  full  significance  of 
maternity  is  revealed  8  or  the  dawn  of  the  maternal  instinct 
portrayed  ;  see  especially  1222  seqq.,  the  loveliest  lines, 
perhaps,  in  the  whole  poem. — Mindful  of  what  was  said 
in  the  first  paragraph  of  this  Introduction  I  must  not 
linger  upon  this  jioly  ground  ;  I  leave  it  with  a  reference 
to  some  fine  criticism  in  Mrs.  Orr's  Life  of  the  poet.  '  The 
sudden  rapturous  sense  of  maternity ',  she  wrote,  '  which 
in  the  poetic  rendering  of  the  case  becomes  Pompilia's 
impulse  to  self -protection,  was  beyond  her  age  and  her 
culture  ;  it  was  not  suggested  by  the  facts  ;  and,  what 
is  more  striking,  it  was  not  a  natural  development  of 
Mr.  Browning's  imagination  concerning  them '.  Mrs.  Orr 
insisted  that  the  '  parental  instinct  was  among  the  weakest 
in  his  nature ',  and  continued :  '  The  ingenuously  un- 
bounded maternal  pride,  the  almost  luscious  maternal 
sentiments,  of  Pompilia's  dying  moments  can  only  associate 
themselves  in  our  mind  with  Mrs.  Browning's  personal 
utterances,  and  some  notable  passages  in  Casa  Guidi 

i  The  Inn  Album,  p.  186.  ,-../.  \  II.  »:.,  J77-8,  1657-8. 

3  See  e.g.  VII.  620-25,  1690-93.  174U-G7. 


144  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Windows  and  Aurora  Leigh 1.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Browning's  spiritual 
presence  on  this  occasion  ' — the  writer  had  in  mind  the 
dedication  in  Book  I. — '  was  more  than  a  presiding  memory 
of  the  heart.  I  am  convinced  that  it  entered  largely  into 
the  conception  of  Pompilia  and,  so  far  as  this  depended 
on  it,  the  character  of  the  whole  work ' 2. 

Yet  deeper  even  than  her  maternal  instinct,  more  vital 
in  Browning's  whole  conception,  is  Pompilia's  mystical 
devotion  to  Caponsacchi.  The  sense  of  motherhood, 
aroused  on  that  bright  spring  morning  at  Arezzo,  gave 
her  an  energy  and  a  courage  of  which  before  she  had  shown 
I/  little  sign  ;  but  the  most  notable  manifestation  of  this 
courage  and  energy  was  given  on  '  the  impulse  to  serve 
God', 

Not  save  myself, — no — nor  my  child  unborn  !  s — 

it  occurred  when  Guido  was  arresting  Caponsacchi  at 
Castelnuovo  and  she  found 

Not  my  hand  simply  struck  from  the  angel's,  but 
The  very  angel's  self  made  foul  f  the  face 
By  the  fiend  who  struck  there. 

'  That ',  she  says, '  I  would  not  bear,  that  only  I  resisted  !  ' ' 
— Again  it  is  to  the  vindication  of  her  '  far  beyond  friend  '  5 
that  her  thoughts  most  constantly  revert : 

I  must  lay  my  babe  away  with  God, 
Nor  think  of  him  again,  for  gratitude. 
Yes,  my  last  breath  shall  wholly  spend  itself 
In  one  attempt  more  to  disperse  the  stain, 
The  mist  from  other  breath  foul  mouths  have  made, 
About  a  lustrous  and  pellucid  soul  .  .  . 
Giuseppe-Maria  Caponsacchi !  6 

And  when,  after  her  very  last  words  about  her  boy,  she  has 
bidden  farewell  to  the  friends  at  her  bedside — 

I  thank  and  bless  you  every  one  ! 
No  more  now  :  I  withdraw  from  earth  and  man 
To  my  own  soul,  compose  myself  for  God 7 — 

she  must  needs  add,  '  Well,  and  there  is  more  '  ;    and  her 
monologue  ends  with  '  the  exalted  fervour  of  her  invoca-  ^ 
tion '  of  *  the  lover  of  her  life,  her  soldier-saint ', '  its  blending 

1  See  the  last  page  of  Part  II.  of  Oasa  Guidi  Windows,  and  the  Sixth  Book  of 
Aurora  Leigh. 

2  Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  pp.  270-72.  a  VII.  1600-1601.  4  yil.  1619-22. 
*  VI.  1611.                                           6  VII.  930-35,  941.            ?  VII.  1768-70. 


BOOK  VIL—POMPILIA 


145 


l>intuul   ivstasy  with  half-realized  earthly  emotion  '  V 
Of  •  iLT'is  which  describe  the  sudden  origin  of  her 

faith  in  Caponsacchi 2,  the  development,  during  the  journey 
fnun  Arezzo,  of  her  devotion  to  the  '  one  heart  that  gave 
her  all  the  Spring'3,  I  will  not  speak;  nor  need  I  dwell 
on  the  difference,  most  delicately  but  yet  sharply  drawn, 
In -tween  the  feeling  of  the  man  for  the  woman  and  of  the 
woman  for  the  man  ;  she  will  not  call  hers  love,  for  she 
has  known  that  word  too  often  profaned.  The  difference 
is  deep,  far  deeper  than  the  difference,  deep  as  that  also 
is,  between  the  circumstances  under  which  the  two  speakers 
'  say  their  say '. 

I  have  sought  to  show  in  Appendix  V.  that,  though 
Browning  never  would  admit  it,  his  Pompilia  is  by  no 
means  the  same  person  as  the  Pompilia  of  the  Yellow 
Book,  and  I  have  argued  that  the  contrast  between  these 
two  Pompilias,  for  more  than  one  reason,  deserves  careful 
study — for  this  reason  especially,  that  such  study  will 
enhance  immensely,  and  in  unexpected  ways,  the  student's 
admiration  of  the  poet's  creative  genius  and  of  this 
particular  creation. 


NOTES 

1-2.]  Pompilia  was  born,  according  to  the  baptismal  register, 
on  July  17,  1680  (O.Y.B.  civ.,  E.L.  159);  she  is  speaking  on 
January  6,  1698. 

4.  Lorenzo  in  Lucina.]    See  note  on  II.  6. 

8-9.  'tis  writ  tliat  I  was  married,  etc.}  Browning  had  not  seen 
the  entry  in  the  marriage  register ;  he  misdates  the  marriage  and 
mis-states  its  incidents  (see  note  on  II.  70  and  Appendix  III.). 

10.  When  they  insert  my  death,  etc.]  See  the  extract  from  the 
register  of  deaths  (printed  in  Treves,  p.  300)  and  Appendix  II. 
ad  fin.  The  register  mentions  neither  what  Pompilia  would  wish 
to  be  omitted,  nor  (of  course)  what  she  would  wish  to  be  added. 

14.  Exactly  tivo  weeks.]  Nearly  three ;  if  the  only  statement 
on  the  point  in  the  records  (Bottini's  in  O.Y.B.  clxxxiv..  A'./,.  189), 
which  Browning  seems  to  accept  (see  note  on  V.  1471),  is  correct, 
tin  l>oy  was  born  on  December  18. 

16,  17.J    Search  for  an  entry  of  the  boy's  baptism  has  been 


Mrs.  Orr,  l.if<-,  p.  272, 


note  on  IV.  944. 


3  VII.  1527. 

L 


146  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

made  in  the  registers  of  San  Lorenzo  and  six  adjoining  parishes, 
but  without  success  (Treves,  pp.  125,  300). 

22.  what  the  marble  lion  meant]    The  two  lions  in  the  portico 
of  San  Lorenzo,  one  on  each  side  of  the  door,  are  much  older  than 
the  church  itself.     That  to  the  right  of  the  door,  which  '  has  a 
singularly  benevolent   and  even  fatuous  expression',   is  playing 
with  a  mannikin  who  strokes  his  breast  (or  mane) ;    that  to  the 
left,  '  with  an  aspect  of  extreme  ferocity ',  is  perhaps  '  eating  the 
figure  of  a  prostrate  man '  (according  to  Treves,  has  a  headless 
animal,    apparently    a    dog,    between    its    forepaws).     Browning, 
perhaps  misled  by  Leighton  (see  note  on  II.   6),  mis-states  the 
position  of  the  ferocious  lion  (line  25). — According  to  an  authority 
quoted  by  Hare  (Walks  in  Rome,  i.  p.  45-;   cf.  Treves,  p.  120)  the 
lions  symbolize  respectively  '  the  benignity  of  the  Church  towards 
the   neophyte   and   the   docile ',    and   her    '  severity   towards   the 
impenitent  and  heretical '. 

23.  With  half  his  body  rushing  from  the  wall]    The  lions  '  appear 
to  be  emerging  from  the  wall,  since  only  the  heads  and  the  shoulders 
of  the  beasts  are  in  evidence  '  (Treves,  p.  119). 

27.  to  be  buried  there,  I  hope.]  See  Appendix  II. — A  cemetery 
is  attached  to  the  church,  and  tombstones  cover  the  floor  of  its 
portico. 

30.  Oaetano,  for  a  reason.]     Browning  found  the  boy's  name 
in  the  Secondary  Source,  O.Y.B.  211,  E.L.  263  :    '  Pompilia  bore  a 
son,  to  whom  she  gave  the  name  Gaetano,  to  which  saint  she  had 
dedicated  herself.     Gaetano,   archbishop  of  Teate   (Chieti),   was 
the  founder  of  the  order  of  Theatins  (called  after  his  see).     He 
lived  from  1480  to  1547,  but  was  not  canonized  till  1671. — Browning 
represents  Pompilia  as  having  fixed  on  the  name  for  her  child,  if 
a  boy,  eight  months  before  its  birth  (VI.  1389),  and  as  giving  a 
reason  for  the  choice  of  name  below,  100-107. 

31.  Don  Celestine],  her  confessor  on  her  death-bed. 

32-3.  he  it  was  Baptized  me.]  A  slip  of  Browning's,  as  the 
baptismal  certificate  (O.Y.B.  civ.,  E.L.  159)  shows. 

38.  twenty-two  dagger-wounds.]    O.  Y.B.  212,  E.L.  263. 

42.  baptized  and  hid  away.]    See  V.  1478,  note. 

46.  two  days  after  he  was  born.]  It  would  then  be  time  for  him 
to  be  baptized  ;  see  note  on  IV.  214. 

57.  we  know  where.]     See  below,  235-7. 

65.  gets  to  be.]  See  below,  110,  118,  332,  and  the  note  on  IV. 
1541. 

82.]     On  the   question,  '  could  Pompilia  write  ?  '  see  Appendix 

103-5.]     See  note  on  30  above. 

139.  one  surprising  day]  in  April  or  May  1694,  soon  after  the 
return  of  the  Comparini  to  Rome. 

153.  Guard  them  and  guide  them.]    See  notes  on  II.  944,  V.  451. 


BOOK  VIL— POMPILIA 


147 


156-7.]     Refers  to  the  suit  for  divorce. 

160-74.]     See  Introduction  to  this  Book. 

175-80.]  Pompiliii  was  questioned  in  court  about  the  love- 
Appcmlix  IV. 

189-91.]    Diana. 

I '.»:;-(>.]  Daphne,  who  when  pursued  by  Apollo  was  turned  into 
a  bay  tree  (Ovid,  Met.  1.  548-52). 

193.  such.']  This  colloquial  use  of  '  such '  occurs  again  in  265, 
368,  1236 ;  it  suits  the  simple  style  of  Pompilia's  monologue, 
compare  e.g.  A  Lovers'  Quarrel,  x. : 

Or  I  tint  your  lip 
With  a  burnt  stick's  tip 
And  you  turn  into  such  a  man  ! 

207-8.]    See  V.  1478,  note. 

217-18.]    See  Appendix  II. 

230.  Our  cause  is  gained.]  He  means,  I  suppose,  that  the 
Court,  by  first  consigning  Pompilia  to  the  Scalette,  and  then  allow- 
ing her  to  keep  to  the  Comparini-home  pro  carcere,  has  shielded 
her  from  Guido. — Neither  of  his  '  causes '  in  the  courts  had  as  yet 
been  won. 

235.  at  tJie  other  villa,  we  know  where.]  See  above,  57,  and 
Appendix  II. 

238.  wine  sincere  outside  the  city  gate.]  Cf.  1  Peter  ii.  2,  '  as 
newborn  babes,  desire  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word '.  This  use  of 
*  sincere  '  is  now  obsolete,  but  the  Italian  sincero  has  this  meaning. 

The  carrettieri  who  bring  wine  into  Rome  '  do  not  enjoy  a  very 
good  reputation  for  honesty  '  ;  they  dilute  the  wine  on  the  journey. 
'This,  however,  is  the  least  danger  which  the  wine  incurs.  As 
soon  as  it  enters  the  gates  it  is  destined  to  far  worse  adulteration 
of  every  kind,  and  lucky  is  he  who  gets  a  bottle  of  pure  and  sincere 
wine  from  any  osteria,  pot-house,  or  drinking-shop  within  the  walls  ' 
(Story,  Roba  di  Roma,  p.  325). 

The  passage  shows  that  Browning  placed  the  villa  which  he 
made  the  scene  of  the  murders  inside  the  walls  of  the  city. 

245.  shall  to  bed.]  Cf.  Hamlet  2.  2.  521,  '  It  shall  to  the  barber's, 
with  your  beard  '. 

262.  through  the  seven.}     What  are  they  ?     Not,  I  think,   the 

ii  basilicae  maiores  of  Rome,  for  the  Ara  Cseli,  in  which  the 

!•• -presentation   here    mentioned   is   specially  splendid   and   which 

I  Metro  must  surely,  therefore,  have  visited,  is  not  one  ofcthem. — 

Representations  of  the  birth  of  Christ,  called  presepi  (presepio= 

'  m;uiLr'T  ').  .ire  given  at  many  chun-hi-s  in  Uoinc  from  Christmas  to 

tth -Ni'jht;  see  descriptions  in  Story,  Roba  di  Roma,  pp.  74-7, 

Bagot,  My  Italian  Year,  c.  viii. 

267.  A  tap  :  we  startnl  u  />  :  I/OK  know  the  rest.]  The  single 
line  is  more  effective  than  a  description.  Pompilia  does  not  dwell 


148  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

on  horrors ;  indeed,  she  says  that  they  have  passed  from  her 
memory  (see  below,  584-602). 

279.]  A  badly-written  line.  The  reader  at  first  supposes  that 
the  word  '  that '  echoes  the  *  that '  at  the  end  of  the  previous  line, 
and  refers  to  the  imaginary  falsehood  described  in  275-8 ;  but 
when  he  comes  to  the  words  '  and  all  harm  did '  he  finds  that  this 
interpretation  is  mistaken,  and  that  the  '  that '  of  line  279  refers 
to  the  real  falsehood  of  Violante,  described  in  270-74. 

286.]  The  bargain  between  Violante  and  Pompilia's  real  mother 
was  struck  (according  to  IV.  186-8)  six  months  before  Pompilia's  birth. 

291-2.]    Of.  879-94  below. 

300-301.  who  would  frown  thereat?  Well,  God,  you  see!}  The 
effectively  abrupt  introduction,  in  the  simplest  words,  of  the  thought, 
what  God's  judgment  on  the  matter  in  hand  is  or  may  be,  is  char- 
acteristic of  the  poet.  Compare  the  '  But  what  will  God  say  ?  ' 
in  The  Worst  of  it,  v. ;  the  '  And  yet  God  has  not  said  a  word ' 
at  the  end  of  Porphyries  Lover ;  see  also  I.  582.  An  impression 
of  the  same  sort  is  produced  by  the  last  words  of  the  parable  called 
Fears  and  Scruples  :  '  What  if  this  friend  happen  to  be — God  ?  ' 

302.  that}  is  surely  misplaced ;  its  right  place  would  be  after 
the  *  because  '-clause,  at  the  beginning  of  304. 

315.  let  it  go  nor  keep  it  fast.}  She  could  not  let  the  falsehood 
go  by  admitting  the  truth,  e.g.  at  the  time  of  the  marriage -negotia- 
tions ;  nor  could  she  maintain  it  right  through  to  the  end. 

320.  to  make  amends},  i.e.  to  Pompilia ;  to  give  her  a  position 
about  which  there  should  be  no  ambiguity ;  see  below,  328  seqq. 
The  reference  is  not  to  Violante's  making  amends  to  God  by  her 
confession  during  the  jubilee  of  1694. 

323.]    See  note  on  III.  250. 

325.  a  speech.}    Such  a  speech  as  that  reported  in  III.  264-372. 

330.]    See  above,  303. 

333.]    Genesis  ii.  24,  Mark  x.  8. 

335.  Should  in  a  husband  have  a  husband],  i.e.  a  real  husband, 
not  a  sham  one  as  her  reputed  parents  had  been  sham  parents. 

351.  that],  i.e.  from  the  fact  that. 

375.  This  may  have  made  the  change  too  terrible.]  Contrast 
117-18  above. 

379.  the  same  eve.]    A  mistake  ;  see  note  on  II.  70. 

380-81.]     See  Appendix  III. 

390.  the  slim  young  man.]  Perseus  with  the  winged  sandals, 
rescuing  Andromeda. 

395-8.]  The  description  of  Guido  is  taken  from  the  Secondary 
Source  ;  see  note  on  IV.  717-19.  Professor  Hodell  justly  remarks 
that  *  the  Poet  has  probably  stepped  beyond  dramatic  propriety ' 
in  putting  the  description  (which  she  repeats  in  443)  into  the  mouth 
of  Pompilia  (O.Y.B.  298) ;  it  is  out  of  keeping  with  her  character 
and  the  occasion. 


BOOK  VIL—POMPILIA  149 

398.J     JSoc  note  on  X.  724. 

423.  Master  M<ilj,ichi.]    Malpichi  (or  Malpighi)  of  Bologna  was 
f 


tin  LMvutrM  biologist  of  his  time.  Gilbert  Burnet,  afterwards 
William  III.'s  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  wrote  in  1685  after  a  visit  to 
Bologna  :  '  I  saw  not  one  of  the  chief  Glories  of  the  Place  ;  for 
the  famous  Malpighius  was  out  of  Town  while  I  was  there  '  (Some 
Letters,  edition  of  1724,  p.  191).  Malpighi  came  to  Rome  in  1691 
to  be  physician  to  the  Pope  ;  he  died  in  1694  (cf.  XII.  39).—  The 
Comparini  were  fortunate  in  securing  the  great  man  as  a  general 
practitioner  ! 

426.]     See  note  on  II.  70. 

427.  the  Lion's  mouth],  i.e.  the  Via  della  Bocca  di  Leone.  If 
you  go  by  this  street  from  the  Via  Vittoria  to  San  Lorenzo  you 
have  only  to  walk  over  a  little  '  bit  of  Corso  '.  —  Browning  lodged 
in  the  Via  della  Bocca  di  Leone  during  two  visits  to  Rome. 

435.   Who  proved  the  brother.]    A  mistake  ;  see  note  on  II.  361. 

440.  Two  tapers.]  Cf.  II.  360,  where  Half-Rome  says  that  the 
marriage  took  place  'o'  the  sly  ...  by  a  hasty  candle-blink  '. 
See  Appendix  III. 

445.  0'  the  chancel]  Within  'the  little  marble  balustrade' 
of  II.  20. 

449-50.]  Ephesians  v.  23,  24.  —  As  in  the  miracle  at  Cana  in 
Galilee  (John  iv.)  the  water,  resigning  its  own  properties,  sub- 
mitted to  identification  with  the  wine,  so  hi  marriage  the  wife 
should  submit  herself  to  her  husband  as  the  Church  submits  her- 
self to  Christ.  Is  the  priest's  symbolical  interpretation  of  the 
miracle  an  accepted  piece  of  Catholic  exegesis  ? 

463.  the  gutter's  roaring  sea.]  Open  drains  ran  down  the  middle 
of  most  of  the  streets,  the  Corso  included^(see-Tr^yes,  p.  106)  ; 
the  rain  would  swell  them  into  *  roaring  «6as  '.  N 

465.  Trussedup  in  church  .  .  .  by  mc^fhtt  kite]  —  I-was  nearly 
coming,  says  rietro,  like  a  kite  into  your  omiecoto-^Cne  church), 
trussing  you  both  up  like  a  pair  of  pigeons  and  carrying  you  off. 

472.  the  next  three  weeks.]    See  Appendix  III. 

482-583.]  Based  on  a  few  words  in  the  Second  Anonymous 
Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  ccx.,  E.L.  212):  'After  a  few  days,  it  having 
been  discovered  by  Pietro  that  the  marriage  was  an  accomplished 
fact,  though  he  vigorously  denounced  the  proceeding,  nevertheless, 
since  "  what  has  been  done  cannot  be  undone  "...  the  poor 
old  man  was  compelled  to  drink  the  cup  of  his  bitternesses  '. 

503.  The  done  thing,  undone?]  See  the  last  note.  The  pro- 
verbial words  quoted  in  the  Italian  pamphlet  are  given  in  Latin  : 
factum  infectum  fieri  non  potest.  Plautus  has  in  his  Aulularia 
(4.  10.  15)  Factum  est  iUjidj  fieri  infectum  non  potest. 

578.  the  at*t  gawrtaferaO^Cfc  XL  978. 


590-9 1.<s6/ea/  and^mru^oats^etc.]    A  familiar  sound  to  Pompilia, 
town-bird   thmgh^ahf    wasf^Srr   Story,   Roba  di  Roma,  p.    362: 


150  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

'  Every  morning  flocks  of  goats  are  driven  [from  the  Campagna] 
or  led  into  the  towns,  where  they  may  be  seen  crouching  in  the 
streets,  while  the  goat-herd  sells  their  milk  fresh  from  the  udder 
to  his  various  customers,  who  come  to  the  door  and  call  for  him  '. 

606.  those  points  of  my  support.]    They  are  stated  in  617-25. 

608.  opposite  the  Spanish  House],  i.e.  the  house  of  the  Spanish 
ambassador,  which  gives  the  Piazza  di  Spagna  its  name. 

620-25.]     See  Introduction  to  this  Book. 

620.  blest  bliss.]  '  Blest '  may  be  a  misprint ;  the  first  and  second 
editions  have  '  best '. 

628.  help  me  find.]     Cf.  X.  1831-2,  '  helped  produce  '. 

634-5.  a  light  That's  later  than  my  life-time],  i.e.  that  first  came 
to  her  when  on  her  death- bed. 

640.  To  get  enriched.]  See  note  on  IV.  1541.  Colloquial  uses 
of  '  to  get '  are  specially  common  in  this  Book. 

647.  he  began  deception  first],  i.e.  by  representing  himself  as  having 
a  considerable  income;    cf.  III.  275-7  and  (e.g.]  O.Y.B.  209,  E.L. 
259 :    '  when  they  (i.e.  the  Franceschini)  had  made  it  appear  that 
their  income  was  of  considerable  amount,  they  succeeded  in  their 
intent ;   although  it  was  afterwards  found  that  their  entire  capital 
did  not  amount  to  the  total  of  their  income '  as  they  had  stated 
it  in  writing.     See  also  0.  Y.B.  ccxi.,  E.L.  213. 

648.  in  one  point],  i.e.  their  maintenance  at  Arezzo. 

655.]  The  emphatic  '  Wrong '  at  the  beginning  of  the  line 
does  duty  for  two  syllables  ;  cf.  XI.  521. 

677-80.]  Cif^a.  Pompilia's  deposition,  O.Y.B.  lxxxiii.-iv.,  E.L. 
91-2.  .^  \ 

678.  A^ure^L])  See  above,  398,  and  X.  724. 

695-7  IQI^lttHsSr  pathetic  anxiety  to  find  excuse  for  Guido 
Pompilia  would  fain  believe  that  tout  comprendre  c'est  tout  pardonner  ; 
she  declares  that  as  she  reaches  a  fuller  understanding  of  his  treat- 
ment of  her  she  finds  that  she  has  little  to  forgive  (cf.  631-7).  If 
r-she  had  only  understood  his  'true  intent',  which  she  misunder- 
Lstood  and  thwarted  ! — But  it  is  obvious  to  the  reader  that  a  com- 
prehension of  Guide's  true  intent  could  only  make  his  conduct 
less  forgiveable.  She  had  supposed  that  his  motive  was  mere 
jealousy  and  that  his  aim  was  to  keep  her  and  Caponsacchi  apart ; 

Cit  turned  out  that  his  motive  was  malignant  hatred,  that  his  aim 
was  to  bring  them  together  and  drive  them  into  crime. — A  mis- 
giving that  her  attempt  at  palliation  fails  comes  over  her  as  sh 
develops  it  (see  Introduction  to  Book  VII.). 

For  the  complete  forgiveness  which  Pompilia's  heart  prompts, 
and  for  which  her  head,  even  in  her  weakness,  would  gladly  find 
reasons,  cf.  1707-39  below. 

734.  barely  twelve  years  old.]  She  was  well  over  thirteen  ;  born 
July  17,  1680 ;  married  September  6  (Browning  supposed,  late 
in  December),  1693. 


BOOK  VI1.—POMP1LIA  151 

736.)     Cf.  472  above. 

748.]  All  this  was  suggested,  as  Professor  Hodell  joints  out, 
by  a  passage  in  a  letter  produced  in  the  Process  of  Flight  (O.Y.B. 
liv..  A'.  I.  .  .V>j.  written  by  some  one  at  Arezzo  to  Pietro  at  Rome; 
the  u  liter  says  that  Pompilia,  soon  after  the  departure  of  the  Coin- 
pal  ini,  fece  strepito  grande,  perche  non  voleua  andare  a  dormire  col 
<>r  Guido;  cf.  O.Y.B.  cvi.  (E.L.  114). 

TIL'.  ]     Genesis  i.  28. 

808-14.]     See  note  on  II.  500-503. 

821.]    Matthew  xiii.  34. 

823.  a  flower  -fig,  the  prime  boast  of  May.]  Of  May  ?  '  There 
an-  two  crops  of  tigs  orreach  tree.  The  first  ripen  in  July,  and  are 
called  fichi-fiori,  or  flower-figs  '  (Story,  Roba  di  Roma,  p.  385). 

829.  The,  tree  should  bear  an  apple.]  The  Archbishop,  who 
thinks  fit  to  play  the  humourist,  remembers  that  he  has  lately 
referred  (line  765)  to  '  the  apple  '  plucked  from  a  tree  in  the  Creator's 
'  orchard  '. 

857-8.]  'The  eye  of  God',  says  Pompilia,.  'penetrated  the 
ruined  outside  of  my  life,  and  saw  that  the  reason  why  I  was  care- 
less of  appearances  was  that,  through  my  following  the  Arch- 
bishop's advice,  my  soul  was  desecrated  and  its  light  quenched  '. 

860.  freed]  expresses  Pompilia'  s  meaning  better  than  '  saved  ', 
for  which  it  was  substituted  in  the  second  edition  ;  the  change 
was  also  required  by  the  presence  of  '  save  '  in  line  861. 

861-2.]  They  said  that  Pompilia  was  not  merely  a  bad  wife, 
and  therefore  '  wanton  ',  but  was  cynically  wanton  ;  for  she  didn't 
care  to  save  appearances  by  dissembling  her  aversion  for  her  husband. 

869.  mud  so  murk.]  'Murk',  like  'dusk'  (I.  593),  is  common 
enough  as  an  adjective  in  modern  poetry  (cf.  e.g.  Luria,  m.,  '  the 
murk  mid-forest')  ;  '  murky',  which  has  superseded  it  in  modern 
prose,  was  rare  before  the  seventeenth  century  ('  Hell  is  murky  ' 
occurs  in  Macbeth,  5.  1.  41). 

877.  hate],  i.e.  of  her  own  child,  whom  she  was  ready  to  sell  to 
Violante. 

879-94.]    Cf.  291-2  above. 

880.  try  be  good.]    Cf.  VI.  1819,  '  like  daring  try  be  good  '. 

893-4.]     Cf.  281-4  above. 

911.  whose  tonsure  the  rich  dark-brown  hides.]    See  II.  787,  note. 

915-16.  lay  so  light,  etc.]    Cf.  VI.  1410-14. 

930-31.]    That  being  so,  gratitude  compels  me  to  dismiss  Gaetano  """" 
from  my  thoughts  and  to  spend  my  last  breath  in  showing  that 
Caponsacchi  is  '  purity  in  quintessence  '  (925). 


935.  lustrou^Md^eJJ/ufld  soul.]    When  The  Ring  and  the  Book 
was  published  RossettihaoTin  thlTMS.  of  his  Love's  Noctnm  : 

Fair  with  honourable  eyes, 
Lamps  of  a  pellucid  soul. 


152  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

To  avoid  the  charge  of  plagiarism  he  sacrificed  '  pellucid ',  sub- 
stituting in  successive  editions  '  an  auspicious  soul '  and  '  a  trans- 
lucent soul '  (Sir  Edward  Cook,  Literary  Recreations,  p.  292-3). 

950.  /  was  at  a  public  play.]    Cf.  VI.  394-433,  and  see  note  on 
IV.  944. 

951.  In  the  last  days  of  Carnival  last  March.]    Easter  Day  in 
1697  was  April  14 ;    Ash  Wednesday  was  therefore  February  27 
and  Carnival  was  over  before  March  began.     The  date  of  the  theatre- 
incident  is  not  fixed  by  the  records. 

952.  but  now  know  well.]    She  knows  that  she  was  taken  there 
as  a  lure  to  Caponsacchi. 

979.  By  the  dust-handful],  pulveris  exigui  iactu  (Virgil,  Georg.  4.  87). 

988.  my  husband's  cousin.]  '  Cousin '  is  used  in  the  wider 
sense  of  the  word.  Conti's  brother  had  married  Guido's  sister ; 
see  note  on  IV.  381  seqq. 

992.]     Psalm  Iv.  6. 

1015.  My  cornet  battered  like  a  cannon-ball.]  The  confetti  thrown 
during  Carnival  '  sting  like  small  shot '  (Crawford,  Ave  Roma 
Immortalis,  i.  p.  196).  A  cornet  is  '  a  paper-twist '  (VI.  409) 
such  as  grocers  use. 

1029.  0  Christ,  what  hinders,  etc.]  From  Pompilia's  deposition, 
O.Y.B.  Ixxxiv.,  E.L.  92:  Tornati  che  fussimo  a  Casa  mi  appunto 
vna  Pistola  in  petto  dicendo — Oh  Cristo  chi  mi  tiene,  che  non  ti  stenno 
qu\,  ammiri  bene  il  Caponsacchi,  se  non  vuoi,  che  te  facci  cosi,  e  non 
ti  ammazzi. 

1041.  pink],  i.e.  pierce ;  see  note  on  II.  1038. 

1046.  "  Let  God  save  the  innocent  !  "]  She  remembers  the  prayer 
suggested  to  her  by  Pietro  on  another  occasion  (see  527  above). 

1053.]    Cf.  VI.  521-2,  554. 

1057.  On  this  the  thrust  and  that  the  shame.}  See  above,  1030. 
For  the  form  of  expression  cf.  III.  570-71,  '  this  the  poisoner  And 
that  the  parricide '. 

1064-90.]    Caponsacchi,    says    Margherita,    is    in    real    danger 

from  Guido,  who  does  not  threaten  in  sport.     To  be  sure,  he  did  not 

stab  the  serving-man  or  poison  the  stranger  who  crossed  his  path 

in  his  irregular  amours ;    he  had  the  former  sent  off  to  the  wars, 

he  married  off  the  latter  to  an  unattractive  '  somebody  else '.     But 

r~Caponsacchi  comes  between  him  and  his  lawful  lady-wife,   and 

I    being  a  priest  he  can  neither  fight  nor  marry ;    to  get  rid  of  him 

' — he  must  and  he  will  kill  him.     You  should  put  him  on  his  guard. 

1099.  There  is  no  other  help.]  But  there  is  this  help, '  or  we  should 
craze '.  '  Craze ',  properly,  as  the  passive  participle  shows,  an 
active  verb  (= French  ecraser)  and  so  used  by  Milton,  is  neuter 
here,  as  twice  in  Paracelsus :  I.  ('  Till  I  near  craze '),  v.  ('I  shall 
craze  like  him '). 

1125.  'My  idol/']  One  of  the  love-letters  begins  with  Amato 
Idolo  mio  (O.  Y.B.  xcvii.,  E.L.  104). 


BOOK  VIL—POMPILIA  153 

1 143.  a  star.]    See  note  on  1405  below. 

1145.  The  impuxth  note  on  111.  403. 

lir><>.  /recent \,  i.e.  anticipate. 

1 1  :>±  the  pretty  verse,  etc.]  No  pieces  of  verse  were  produced 
among  the  love-letters,  but  the  letters  contain  allusions  to  verses 
sent  by  the  lover;  one  of  these  letters  is  signed  Mirtillo  (1153). 
Berdoe  tells  his  readers,  in  his  note  on  '  A  sonnet  from  Mirtillo ', 
that  Mirtillo  '  was  probably  a  minor  poet  of  the  period  '  ! 

1173.  /  am  the  Pope,  am  Sextus,  now  the  Sixth.]    Cf.  XI.  705.— 
A  lunatic  might  declare  that  he  was  Sixtus  Sextus,  but  no  pope 
has  chosen  to  be  that.     The  last  Pope  Sixtus  was  the  Fifth  (1585- 
1590). 

1174.  Oiat  Twelfth  Innocent,  proclaimed  to-day],  i.e.  on  July  12, 
1691,  when  PompUia  was  close  upon  eleven  years  old. 

1188.  by  Saint  Joseph.]  She  selects  her  saint  with  a  reference 
to  Caponsacchi's  Christian  name. 

1196-7.  Even  when  I  found,  etc.]  Cf.  XI.  852-7.— PpmjSilia 
means  that  people  could  only  '  take  in '  the  fact  oTTine  mutual 
love  of  Caponsacchi  and  herself  by  supposing  it  to  be  illicit  love. 

1200.  It  had  got  half  through  April.]  For  the  use  of  '  got '  see 
note  on  IV.  1541.— Easter-Day  (April  14)  was  just  past ;  cf.  VI. 
1116,  note. 

1208.  the  Archbishop  gets  him  back  to  Rome.]  In  one  of  the  love- 
letters  *  Mirtillo  '  (writing  as  Caponsacchi  on  the  evening,  apparently, 
of  the  Saturday  after  Easter)  is  made  to  say :  *  I  should  like  to 
know  if  you  can  start  on  Sunday  evening,  that  is,  tomorrow  evening, 
because,  if  we  don't  start  tomorrow  evening,  God  knows  when  it 
will  be  possible  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  carriages,  for  the  Bishop 
is  to  leave  here  with  three  carriages  on  Wednesday  '  (0.  Y.B.  xcviii., 
E.L.  105). 

1210.  Even  Caponsacchi.]  Caponsacchi  speaks  in  his  deposi- 
tion of  his  intention  to  go  to  Rome  as  having  been  formed,  and 
mentioned  to  Conti,  irrespectively  of  Pompilia  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxviii., 
E.L.  96). 

1215-19.]  Spinello  Aretino  (c.  1323-1410)  'painted  various 
stories  of  St.  Michael  the  archangel,  in  the  chapel  dedicated  to  that 
saint,  which  is  now  used  as  a  belfry  ',  in  the  church  of  San  Francesco 
at  Arezzo ;  and  in  his  old  age  he  '  undertook  to  paint  certain  stories 
from  the  life  of  St.  Michael  for  the  Brotherhood  of  Sant'  Agnolo 
in  that  city '  (Vasari,  Lives  of  the  Painters,  i.  258,  269).  Browning 
here  refers  to  a  famous  fresco  in  San  Francesco  in  which  the  arch- 
angel combats  the  dragon ;  it  is  described  by  Mrs.  Jameson  in  her 
Sacred  and  Legendary  Art,  pp.  108-9. 

Lanes  1218-19  suggest  the  comparison,  so  often  made  in  the 
poem,  of  Guido  to  a  dragon  from  whom  Pompilia  must  be  delivered 
by  a  '  soldier-saint '  (see  note  on  III.  1065-6,  and  below,  1323-4). 

li'iTi-36.]     Nature    is    in    sympathy    with    the    speaker. — Such 


154  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

natural  pictures  as  we  have  here,  painted  with  a  few  strokes  of  the 
brush,  often  occur  in  Browning's  earlier  poems,  not  so  often  in 
The  Ring  and  the  Book,  and  still  less  often  in  the  poet's  later 
work. 

1236.  such  sky  /]     See  note  on  193  above. 

1249-51.]  See  V.  948-51,  where  Guido  tells  the  judges  that  his 
threats  of  '  desperate  doings '  with  sword  and  pistol  were  mere 
'  bugaboo-and-baby-work '. 

1253-4.]     Cf.  1283-5  below. 

1267-8.]  The  Governor  wrote  to  Paolo  (August  2,  1694)  that 
the  Comparini  '  had  taken  all  the  jewellery  from  the  lady- wife, 
which  I  forced  them  to  give  back  to  her '  (0.  Y.B.  Ixxxi.,  E.L.  90). 
The  statement  was  confirmed  by  Guide's  evidence  in  the  Process 
of  Flight  (O.Y.B.  ciii.,  E.L.  111). 

1274.  who  had  spoke  the  word  wrought  this],  i.e.  the  word  which 
prompted  the  Governor's  threat ;  the  speaker  of  the  word  was  of 
course  Guido. 

1277.  snicker.]     See  note  on  I.  429. 

1282-1302.]     See  note  on  III.  1015  seqq. 

1306.  To  Guillichini,  that's  of  kin.]     See  note  on  II.  934. 

1309.  Then  I  tried  Conti.]    See  note  on  VI.  2024-5. 

1319.  not  quite  so  bold,  etc.]  It  was  probably  from  Conti  that 
Pompilia  heard  that  Caponsacchi  era  huomo  risoluto  (see  her  deposi- 
tion, O.Y.B.  Ixxxi v.,  E.L.  93);  the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet 
says  that  Conti  advised  Pompilia  to  secure  his  assistance  in  her 
flight,  because  his  spirit  hauerebbe  superato  ogni  cimento  (O.Y.B. 
ccxiv.,  E.L.  215).  Allusions  to  his  courage  or  recklessness,  his 
boldness  or  audacity,  are  frequent  in  the  records. 

1323.  he's  your  true  Saint  George.]     See  note  on  III.  1065-6. 

1326-7.  that  piece  P  ZHTFtefc] — A  Saint  George  by  Vasari,  over 
the  high  altar. 

1336.  this  intends  to  say]  do  vuol  dire,  cela  veut  dire. 

1351.  on  one  leg,  like  the  sentry  crane.]  'After  [companies  of 
cranes]  fall  to  the  earth,  for  to  rest  .  .  .  they  ordain  watches  that 
they  may  rest  the  more  surely,  and  the  watches  stand  upon  one 
foot,  and  each  of  them  holdeth  a  little  stone  in  the  other  foot, 
high  from  the  earth,  that  they  may  be  waked  by  falling  of  the 
stone,  if  it  hap  that  they  sleep '  (Bartholomew  Anglicus,  De  Pro- 
prietatibus  Berum,  pp.  130-31,  ed.  Steele). 

1369.  To  play  with  silk,  and  spurn  the  horsehair  springe.]  In 
the  first  edition  '  the  silk '.  Apparently  a  metaphor  from  catching 
small  birds  who  are  to  be  attracted  by  bright-coloured  silk  in  which 
a  horsehair  springe  is  hidden. 

1405.  a  star.]  The  star  is  Caponsacchi,  who  was  to  lead  her 
steps  to  the  birthplace  of  her  child  (see  below,  1448-50 ;  cf.  Matthew 
ii.  9).  But  Caponsacchi  is  her  '  star '  without  this  particular 
reference  ;  see  above,  1143. 


BOOK  VIL—POMPILIA  155 


111  7.   //    MMU  xii'-k  sense  as  this.]    Caponsacchi  gives  a  fuller 

at  of  what  she  said  (VI.  725-880). 

1  i:;i.  that  miracle.}     That  lie  \vislu-s  her  good,  though  a  stranger, 
strange,  But  that  nay  whole  life  is  so  strange  '  (VI.  758-9). 

1434.  Since   a   long   while  .  .  .  I    am.}    The    present   tense   is 
used  as  in  French  or  Italian. 

1435.  /  am  in  course,  etc.]    According  to  the  depositions  of  both 
the  parties  Pompilia's  appeal  to  Caponsacchi  was  based  on   this 
ground  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxv.,  lxxxviii.-ix.,  E.L.  93,  96). 

1444.  The  first  word,  etc.]  This  is  contradicted  by  Pompilia's 
deposition  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxiv.,  E.L.  92);  she  says  that  on  an  earlier 
occasion  she  had  begged  Caponsacchi  not  to  excite  Guido's  jealousy 
by  passing  the  Franceschini  palace,  and  that  he  had  had  much  to 
say  in  reply.  Caponsacchi  virtually  denies  that  this  happened  ; 
his  statement  is  not  inconsistent  with  that  which  Browning  here 
attributes  to  Pompilia. 

1448-50.]    See  note  on  1405  above. 

1456.  "  mine  ".]     Refers  to  *  I  am  yours  ',  1447. 

1468.  Turning  now  red  that  was  so  white.]  The  same  star  flashes 
now  white  now  red  ;  whether  Caponsacchi  says  that  he  will  take 
her  to  Rome  or  counsels  her  to  stay  at  Arezzo,  in  either  case  he 
shows  the  same  star-like  loyalty.  Still,  the  white  flash  is  the  better. 

1476-7.  how  to  prepare,  etc.]  Caponsacchi  says  in  his  deposition 
(O.Y.B.  Ixxxix.,  E.L.  96):  'I  told  her  that  I  had  secured  the 
calesse  for  the  following  morning  early,  and  that  I  should  await 
her  at  the  San  Clemente  gate  '.  See  the  note  on  VI.  1080-84. 

1485.  "  He  hath  a  devil  ".]    John  vii.  20,  viii.  48,  etc. 

1495.  seqq.]  The  passage  was  altered  to  its  present  form  in 
the  second  edition.  I  cannot  understand  it  as  it  ran  originally  :  — 

I  did  think,  do  think,  in  the  thought  shall  die, 
That  to  have  Caponsacchi  for  my  guide, 
Ever,  etc. 

Nothing  follows  to  which  '  to  have  Caponsacchi,  etc.  '  can  be  the 
subject.     As  amended  the  passage  is  without  difficulty. 
1504.]    In  the  first  edition— 

Not  this  man,  —  who,  from  his  own  soul,  re-writes. 

1506.  votarist.]  Browning  follows  Shakespeare  in  sometimes 
preferring  *  votarist  '  to  '  votary  '  ;  cf.  VIII.  863,  Christopher 
Smart,  11. 

1510.  sight  clearest  so.]  An  absolute  construction  after  Browning's 
manner.  —  The  votarist  worships  by  faith  and  not  by  sight,  but  such 
worship  makes  him  see  more  clearly. 

1  .  .  1  .  Introduction  to  Book  V  1  1  . 

1  .")^i  >-21],  '  crept  into  my  cup  instead  of  humming  idly  and  happily 
in  the  spring  sunshine  outside  '. 


156  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1527.  This  one  heart.]    See  1519  above  and  1529  below. 

1530.  too  hard]  to  be  left  unmentioned. 

1531.  must  have  a  name,  though  I  forget.]    Cf.  VI.  1208,  where 
Caponsacchi  says  that  he  '  forgets  the  names '  of  places  at  which 
incidents  occurred  during  the  journey.     In  the  absence  of  names 
we  have  topographical  indications  and  time-indications,  but  the 
latter  sometimes  appear  to  rule  out  identifications  which  the  former 
suggest.     Hence  probably  Sir  Frederick  Treves,  who^e  knowledge 
of  the  road  is  most  complete,  does  not  attempt  to  give  his  readers 
guidance  in  such  a  passage  as  1532-47. 

The  '  plain '  of  1532  is  the  Umbrian  plain  with  which  visitors 
to  Assisi  are  familiar,  and  the  '  grey  place  '  of  1538  might  be  thought 
to  be  Assisi.  But  the  travellers  were  well  past  Perugia  and  in  view 
of  Assisi  'in  the  determined  morning'  (VI.  1199-1205),  and  'eve 
was  fading  fast'  (VII.  1534)  when  Caponsacchi  called  Pompilia's 
attention  to  the  '  grey  place '.  Time-indications  suggest  that  the 
'  grey  place '  was  not  far  short  of  Foligno,  which  they  reached 
the  same  day  when  '  it  was  dark '  (VI.  1275). 

1553.  To  try.]    In  the  first  edition  '  I  try  '. 

1555.  Did  not  he  find,  etc.]    Cf.  VI.  1332. 

1558.  expecting],  watching. 

1559.  the  sudden  hole,  etc.],  i.e.  the  revelation  of  the  joy  of  mother- 
hood. 

1579-80.]    Cf.  VI.  1410-13,  1618-20. 

1580-84.]  Pompilia  deposed  in  the  Process  of  Flight,  a  bare 
fortnight  after  the  flight  itself,  that  she  arrived  at  Castelnuovo 
with  Caponsacchi  [on  the  Wednesday  morning]  '  at  dawn ',  and 
when  cross-examined  she  stuck  to  her  assertion :  '  I  did  in  truth 
arrive  at  Castelnuovo  at  the  reddening  of  dawn'  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxv., 
Ixxxvi.,  E.L.  94).  It  is  certain,  however,  that  this  was  not  the 
case ;  Pompilia's  statement,  though  echoed  in  the  post-Browning 
pamphlet  (O.  Y.B.  220,  E.L.  274),  was  unsupported  by  other  evidence 
and  was  contradicted  by  three  witnesses  for  the  prosecution  (0.  Y.B. 
cxi.,  E.L.  120)  as  well  as  by  Caponsacchi  himself  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxix., 
E.L.  97).  The  time  of  the  arrival  was  about  half -past  seven  (sub 
hora  prima  noctis  cum  dimidio)  on  the  Tuesday  evening. 

Either  then  Pompilia  made  a  mistake  or  she  was  guilty  of  what 
Guide's  lawyers,  in  their  print  of  her  deposition,  called  a  mendacium. 
If  she  made  a  mistake,  it  was  a  very  strange  one ;  the  incident 
which  she  misrepresented  was  very  recent  and  was  of  capital  im- 
portance, it  would  (so  it  seemed)  have  been  accurately  fixed  in 
her  memory.  If  on  the  other  hand  she  lied,  the  lie  had  obviously 
a  strong  motive.  These  considerations  impressed  the  friendly 
lawyers ;  they  might  perhaps  have  argued  that  Pompilia  would 
scarcely  have  lied  where  detection  of  a  lie  was  certain,  but  they 
did  not  so  argue ;  they  admitted  the  mendacium,  while  protesting 
that  it  did  not  prove  her  guilty  of  the  graver  misconduct  alleged. 


BOOK  VII.—POMPILIA  157 

Thus  Bottini :  *  Though  Franceses  Pompilia  in  her  examination 
aimed  at  concealing  a  longer  stay  at  the  said  inn  by  asserting  that 
she  came  there  in  the  dawn,  yet  no  proof  of  the  alleged  adultery 
can  be  argued  from  the  said  lie,  because  she  told  it,  perhaps,  with 
a  view  to  averting  more  thoroughly  the  suspicion  of  violated  modesty, 
which  might  have  been  conceived  from  a  longer  delay  and  a  better 
opportunity'  (O.Y.B.  clxxxi.,  E.L.  187).  And  Lamparelli,  who 
was  specially  concerned  to  maintain  the  good  name  of  Pompilia, 
says  precisely  the  same  (O.Y.B.  ecliv.,  E.L.  250). 

Browning  was  of  course  dissatisfied  with  any  halting  vindication 
of  his  heroine,  and  some  words  above -quoted  from  her  deposition 
('  at  the  reddening  of  dawn ',  al  rosseggiar  delV  alba]  suggested 
to  his  resourceful  mind  a  means  of  clearing  her  memory  from  the 
imputation  of  falsehood.  Worn  out,  he  conceived,  by  her  distresses 
and  her  fatigue,  she  mistook  '  the  reddening  white '  of  sunset  for 
*  the  whitening  red  '  of  sunrise  : 

She  mixes  both  times,  morn  and  eve,  in  one, 
Having  lived  through  a  blank  of  night  'twixt  each 
Though  dead-asleep,  unaware  as  a  corpse 

(III.  1187-95). 

I  have  argued  at  the  end  of  Appendix  V.  that  the  explanation  is 
not  con  vine  ing. 

1603.  silly-sooth.]    See  note  on  III.  806. 

1606.  I  remonstrated,  Then  sank  to  silence.}  See  O.  Y.B.  1.,  Ixxx.- 
Ixxxi.,  E.L.  51,  89-90. 

1612.  They  were  not  persecuted,  etc.],  i.e.  of  course,  it  was  not  the 
case  that  while  they  were  persecuted  I  was  happy. 

1616.  Not  for  my  own  sake,  efa]  She  fled  from  Arezzo  not  for 
her  own  sake,  but  for  her  unborn  babe's  sake ;  she  resisted  Guido 
at  Castelnuovo  neither  for  her  own  sake,  nor  for  her  unborn  babe's 
sake,  but  for  Caponsacchi's — at  the  bidding  of  God  who  forbids 
us  to  *  bear  to  see  his  angels  bear '  (1599).  Cf.  VI.  1540  seqq. 

1629.  while  I  told,  etc.]  See  above,  749  seqq.,  and,  for  the  jest, 
817-41. 

1640-41.]  See  II.  1029-48,  IX.  929-42,  where  the  impression 
which  Pompilia's  speech  and  action  made  upon  the  bystanders 
is  described;  cf.  the  Secondary  Source,  O.Y.B.  211,  E.L.  262: 
'  The  young  girl  was  not  terrified  at  the  sight  of  her  husband,  but 
on  the  contrary  she  took  courage  and  reproved  him  for  all  the 
cruelties  which  had  been  practised  upon  her,  and  by  which  she  had 
been  constrained  to  this  step.  Then  Franceschini  was  thunder- 
struck, not  knowing  how  or  what  to  answer '. 

1644.  /  wish  nor  want],  i.e.  I  neither  wish  nor  want.  For  this 
common  idiom  cf.  e.g.  VI.  1715,  and  Measure  for  Measure,  3.  2.  85-6  : 


7W/n//.    Vim  will  not  bail  me,  then,  sir  ? 
Then,  Pompey,  nor  now. 


158  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1649.]  Cf.  the  Pope,  X.  705-6. 

1695.  The  night  and  the  tap.]     See  note  on  267  above  : 

A  tap  :  we  started  up  :  you  know  the  rest. 

,  ,  709.  / — pardon  him  ?]  On  her  death-bed,  when  exhorted  by 
ner  confessor  to  pardon  Guido,  Pompilia  '  answered  with  tears  in 
her  eyes,  in  a  quiet  and  pitiful  voice,  "May  Jesus  pardon  him  as 
I  have  .done  with  all  my  heart  already  "-  -"  May  God  pardon  him 
in  heaven,  as  I  pardon  him  on  earth"  '  (O.Y.B.  Ivii.,  Iviii.,  E.L. 
57,  59.) 

1721-2.]    Acts  v.  15. 

1726-7.]  Cf.  X.  356,  542.  That  hate  palliates  wickedness, 
because  it  is  'a  truth ',  is  a  philosopher's  paradox  which  comes 
better  from  the  Pope  than  from  the  unsophisticated  Pompilia. 

With  Pompilia's  excuse  for  Guido  compare  some  lines  in  a 
passage  quoted  in  another  connexion  by  Lord  Morley  (Recollections, 
i.  p.  247)  from  Bulwer's  apology  for  O'Connell  in  his  'fine  half- 
forgotten  poem  St.  Stephen's ' : 

Hate  in  the  man,  whatever  else  appear 
Fickle  or  false,  was  stedfast  and  sincere. 

1731.  he  nowise  made  himself.]  See  XI.  939-42,  where  Guido 
declares  that  he  shall  say  to  God  in  his  defence, 

I  am  one  huge  and  sheer  mistake, — whose  fault  ?- 
Not  mine  at  least,  who  did  not  make  myself  ! 

and  he  adds : 

Someone  declares  my  wife  excused  me  so  ! 
Perhaps  she  knew  what  argument  to  use. 

See  also  XI.  2100-2101. 

1737-9.]  My  polluted  flesh,  says  Pompilia,  would  have  needed 
disinfection,  had  not  Guido  disinfected  it  by  fire ;  for  that  I  owe 
him  thanks. 

1739.]     1  Corinthians  iii.  15. 

1746.  The  great  life],  i.e.  Pompilia's,  contrasted  with  '  the  little 
life '  of  1748. 

1755.  Outlived.]  The  '  outlive '  of  the  first  edition  must  be  a 
misprint. 

1764.  born  of  love  not  hate.]  Contrast  XII.  817,  where  Browning 
speaks  of  Gaetano  as  '  born  of  love  and  hate '. 

1793-4.]  Do  I  doubt  for  a  moment  that  it  is  only  the  world 
(i.e.  deference  to  its  opinion)  that  keeps  him  away  ?  But  for  the 
world,  he  would  have  been  by  my  side  in  Rome  in  the  flesh  as  he 
is  in  spirit. — Pompilia  does  not  know  that  Caponsacchi  is  in  fact 
in  Rome,  doing  what  she  describes  in  1795-7. 

1798.  /  know  where,  etc.]    Though  away  at  Civita,  he  is  with 


BOOK  VIL—POMPILIA  159 

me  here  in  spirit.  We  seem  to  be  apart,  but  that  is  only  'the 
world's  insight'  (1791-2). 

1827.]    Matthew  xxii.  30,  etc. 

1841-3.]  Caponsacchi  has  resolved  as  Pompilia  would  have 
him  do  ;  see  VI.  2077. 


BOOK  VIII.— DOMINUS  HYACINTHUS  DE 
ARCHANGELIS 

INTRODUCTION 

WE  turn  the  page  upon  the  noble  aspiration  which  ends 
the  serenely  beautiful  death-scene  of  Pompilia,  and  are 
confronted,  perhaps  affronted,  by  the  expansive  joviality 
of  the  rollicking  Arcangeli ;  between  Pompilia's  close — 

Through  such  souls  alone 
God  stooping  shows  sufficient  of  His  light 
For  us  i'  the  dark  to  rise  by.     And  I  rise — 

and  Arcangeli's  opening — 

Ah,  my  Giacinto,  he's  no  ruddy  rogue, 

Is  not  Cinone  ?     What,  to-day  we're  eight  ? 

Seven  and  one's  eight,  I  hope,  old  curly -pate  ! — 

the  contrast,  as  M.  Berger  says,  is  almost  '  brutal ' 1.  Not 
less  abruptly,  though  the  transition  is  less  theatrical, 
Bottini's  pompous  frivolity  at  the  end  of  Book  IX.  gives 
place  to  the  solemn  earnestness  with  which  the  Pope 
addresses  himself,  at  the  beginning  of  Book  X.,  to  his 
searching  analysis  of  character  and  motive. 

The  speeches  of  the  lawyers  are  an  interlude  between 
monologues  of  deep  spiritual  import,  and  many  critics 
have  taken  exception  to  them  as  an  unnecessary  and 
irrelevanbjnterlude,  'beside  the  mark  and  adventitious'. 
Ofb  suggests~~that,  having  written  them,  the  poet  should 
have  suppressed  them,  and  even  Sir  Leslie  Stephen  could 
find  no  sufficient  defence  for  their  insertion 2.  We  shall 

1  Robert  Browning,  p.  216. 
2  National  Review,  December  1902,  p.  542. 

160 


HOOK  VIII.     HTAOINTHUS  />/•:  ARCHANGELI8  161 


do    \\ell.     ho\\r\rr.     to    l»r;ir    ill     lililld     Mr.    <  'hrstertonV    \\ise 

\\;iniiiiLr    thai    'it    is    rxecrdiiinlv    <!anLfrrous   to   say    that 
ativthiiiL'  in   I'rou niu.ur  is  irrelevant  or  unneoessary '*.     It 
obvious,    to    bririn   with,   that   the   very   frivolity   and 
prr  ingenuity    of    these    pleadings   setjn__stEaug 

relief  jhr  Lfrave_  and  thoughtful  thoroughness  of  the juono- 
loour  \\lii, -frfollotts.  They  are  also  designed  to  give  a 
relief  to  the  reader  a  relief  much  needed  after  the  two 
eentra!  monologues  nf  the  poem  and  before  the  Pope's 
pronouncement  :  if  they  in  fact  give  that  relief2,  their 
insertion  is  so  far  justified.  Readers  often  skip  or  merely 
sample  Hooks  VIII.  and  IX.  for  the  very  insufficient 
reason  that  they  have  been  told  that  '  they  are  not  poetry  '. 
In  these  Hooks,  wrote  Mr.  Stopford  Brooke,  'there  is  wit 
in  its  finest  brilliancy,  analysis  in  its  keenest  veracity'; 
'  but',  he  adds,  'they  are  scarcely  a  poet's  work'3.  It 
i<  a  mistake,  which  Mr.  Brooke  at  any  rate  would  have 
advised  no  reader  to  make,  to  refuse  the  relief  which  the 
brilliant  wit  and  the  keen  analysis  offer  just  because  they 
offer  it  in  speeehes  which  according  to  accepted  definitions 
are  not  poetry;  that  reason  for  refusing  it,  if  valid,  is 
equally  valid  for  skipping,  say,  the  Falstaff  scenes  in 
Henry  IV.  The  two  speeches  are  egcejlent  reading,,  and 
i  -ven  more  so  now  than  they  were  wnen  it  was  usual  to 
speak  slightingly  of  them.  For  now,  thanks  to  Professor 
llodell.  \\r  ean  at  the  cost  of  a  shilling  compare  them  with 
the  actual  pleadings  upon  which  they  are  based;  and 
the  comparison  greatly  increases  our  enjoyment  of  the 
port's  ama/ino;  cleverness.  It  reveals  his  fidelity  to  his 
-•mice  f!  ivoured  by  his  own  delirious  irony,  the  brilliancy 
of  a  cajMcajjiri-  which  is  in-ncfalty^true  to  the  principles 
which  makes  the  art  of  caricature  legitimate1,  the  felicity 
of  his  exposure  ;>f  the  feeblenesses  which  '  the  insuperable 

160. 

-  It  is  true  tint  they  have  n<>t  Driven  It  to  some  readers;  thus-  Mrs.  Woodg, 
tin  MIL'!  i  -If  ran  rnji.y  AivatiL'eli.  '•(iniiiirinU  II  if  '  L'riirral  prartirc  '  which,  she  says,  ' 
'hu  Imii!  suiipn-M-.i  Dorter  li..t  tinius  '  (I'.  H.  Ward's  English  Poets,  v.  p.  8). 
i:\"ii  1,-Td  Murlry.  in  his  ma-trrly  rn!'>u'y  "I  tin-  PIHMII  on  its  flrat  appearance, 
said  that  '  \vc  iu.i>  |>rrha|>-  \  a\\  n  <>\  cr  f  he  iiitiTiniii'_'lf<l  Latin  and  lavs  «t  An-aiiKeli'. 
— A  reader  of  the  Vi-llow  Book  will  oft«-n  \aun  as  lit-  n-ads  it  :  hut,  wln-n  after 
iloinu'  so  he  turns  to  (he  po«-ni.  he  will  neither  yawn  o\er  An-aniieli  nor  suppress 
ins. 

Mirther  in  the  Inf r<>dii<-ti<>n  to  P.....U   I  \. 


N 


M 


162  THE  EING  AND  THE  BOOK 

learning  '  *  of  the  pleaders  varnishes  over  in  vain.  Nor 
should  it  be  forgotten  that  these  speeches  were  necessary 
tn  Browning's  plan.  He  determined  that  whatever  his 
fancy  might  add  he  would  give  his  readers  all  the  facts 
and  would  show  how  they  were  mirrored  in  the  minds  6T 
the  dramatis  personce.  He  tells  us,  therefore,  what  they 
all  had  to  say  about  them — the  hero,  the  heroine,  the 
villain,  the  man  in  the  street,  the  man  in  the  market- 
place, society  in  the  salon,  the  Pope  in  the  Vatican  ;  had 
he  omitted  to  tell  us  what  the^  lawyers  had  to  say,  his 
design  would  have  been  imperfectly  "fulfilled"; we  should 
have  had  a  cause  celebre  with  the  cause  left  out.  One 
'  facet-flash  of  the  revolving  year  ' 2  would  be  missing  ; 
one  constituent  —  for  the  purpose  of  the  poem  a  most 
important  constituent — of  papal  Rome  would  be  ignored  ; 
the  poem  would  have  lost  variety  and  colour. — It  was 
probably  a  grudging  recognition  of  all  this  that  made  a 
critic  suggest  that  it  was  indeed  right  to  give  us  a  speech 
by  a  lawyer,  but  that  we  should  have  been  given  only  one. 
Not  a  felicitous  suggestion  !  The  monologue-scheme  of 
the  poem  means  audi  alter  am  partem.  If  you  listen  to 
Half-Rome,  you  must  listen  to  The  Other  Half-Rome  ; 
if  to  Caponsacchi,  to  Guido  ;  if  to  Arcangeli,  to  Bottini. 
The  inclusion  of  two  law-pleadings  may  be  further  justified, 
if  further  justification  is  needed,  by  the  fact  that,  though 
the  two  have  much  resemblance,  the  poet  has  most  skil- 
fully differentiated  both  the  pleadings  and  the  pleaders3. 

If,  as  I  have  argued,  Books  VIII.  and  IX.  are  excellent 
reading  and  necessary  parts  of  the  poem,  it  would  be  a 
mistake  to  pass  them  by  ;  but  a  notice  warning  certain 
readers  away  has  been  posted  by  Sir  Frederic  Kenyon  at 
the  entrance  to  Book  VIII.  '  This  Book ',  he  says,  '  is 
so  full  of  Latin,  and  the  h,ui»ot«:  of  it  turns  sn_much 
upon  Latin  phrases,  as  hardly  to  repay  the  trouble  of 
reading  to  any  one  who  is  not  acquainted  with  that 
language  ' 4.  The  notice,  like  many  other  warning  notices, 
should,  I  think,  be  disregarded — even  by  a  reader  whose 

1  O.Y.B.  cl.,  E.L.  154.     '  There  is  no  memory  of  more  learned  arguments', 
says  the  author  of  the  post-Browning  pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  223,  E.L.  278). 

2  I.  1361. 

a  See  the  first  paragraph  of  the  Introduction  to  Book  IX. 

4  So  also  F.  Zampini-Salazar,  La  Vita  e  le  Opere  di  Roberto  Browniny,  etc.,  p.  65. 


I'll/.     HYACINTHUS  DS  ARCHANOELI8  i<>:t 

acquaintance  \\ith  Latin  is  of  the  slightest.  ll  is  almost 
cruel  to  penalize  him  for  a  gap  in  his  education  by  heading 
him  olV.  for  instance  from  ArranirHi's  delightful  asi. 
the  humour  of  which,  as  of  much  »  Ise  in  the  !><»ok,  doesj 
not  turn  upon  Latin  phrases  ;  and  of  nearly  all  the  Latin 
phrases  l.rouiiini*  provides,  word  by  word  or  phrase  by 
phrase,  a  more  or  less  literal  translation;  there  is  humour, 
it  is  true,  in  the  translation  which  a  Latinless  reader  may 
sometimes  mi--,  but  he  will  not  miss  it  often.  At  the 
untranslated  residuum  he  will  not  boggle,  any  more  than 
he  bogles  \\hen  he  reads 

And  then-  lie  caught  the  younkcr  tickling  trout  — 
in  /fti</rante  —  what's  the  Latin  word  ?  — 


which  by  the  way  is  Tennyson  1  and  not  Browning.  Mean- 
while it  is  hoped  that  any  difficulties  of  the  kind  which  he 
may  encounter  will  be  removed  by  the  following  notes,  many 
of  which  even  he,  perhaps,  will  pronounce  unnecessary. 

NOTES 

(X.B.  —  The  numbering  of  the  lines  in  the  notes  to  this  Book,  after 

;•'/,  is  that  of  the  secotid  and  all  subsequent  editions  of  the  poem, 

but  not  that  of  the  first  edition.     See  '  Lines  Added  '  in  Appendix  XL) 

1,  2.  Giacinto  .  .  .  Cinone.]  Arcangeli  shows  the  wealth  of 
Jt.ilian  in  term  illations  augmentative,  diminutive,  etc.  by  his  large 
stock  of  pet  names  for  his  son,  who  is  Cinone,  ('ino/./.o,  Cinoncello, 
Cinuolo,  Cinicello,  Cinino,  Ciniccino,  Cinucciatolo,  Cinoncino, 
Cinarello,  Cinotto,  Giacintino,  Cinuccino,  Cintino,  Cineruggiolo, 
Cinuccio,  Cinuzzo.  4  1  do  not  know  anything  l>etter  done  and  more 
amusingly',  says  Mr.  Stopford  Brooke  (Brou  -nhiy,  ]>.  40.")),  'than 
this  man  and  his  household  —  a  paternal  creature,  full  of  his  boys 
and  their  studies,  making  us,  in  his  garrulous  pleasure,  at  home 
with  them.  .  .  .  Browning  was  so  fond  of  this  sketch  that  he  dn\\ 
him  and  his  hoys  over  again  in  the  epilogue'  (see  XII.  289-3110). 
.Mi\  IJrooke  \\oiild  have  been  even  more  amused,  and  more  at  home 
with  Arcangeli  and  his  offspring,  if  he  had  reali/ed  that  the  score 
of  names  is  lavished  hy  the  fond  Italian  father  on  an  'only  son' 
(L  114 

7.  Quies  me  cum  siihjunetivo.]  That  he  realize*  that  undei 
ei-rtain  eireumsiaiices  the  relative  <//ii  should  be  followed  by  a 
suhjunetive  sliows  that  he  is  getting  on. 

i    II'.  /  M<i.l. 


164  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

8.  chews  Corderius.]  Maturin  Cordier,  Calvin's  schoolmaster, 
wrote  excellent  Latin  school-books — Principia  Latine  loquendi 
scribendique  and  Colloquia  Scholastica — which  held  the  field  for 
more  than  two  centuries.  In  Arcangeli's  days  English  as  well  as 
Roman  pedagogues  'taught  Corderius'  (Macaulay,  History,  c.  vi.); 
Frank  Esmond,  Giacinto's  less  industrious  contemporary,  loved 
marbles  and  play  and  hunting  '  a  good  deal  better  than  Corderius ' 
(Esmond,  i.  9) ;  in  1736  Dr.  Johnson  recommended  Corderius  in  his 
'  Scheme  for  the  Classes  of  a  Grammar  School ' ;  and  even  as  late 
as  1831  'to  give  an  hour  every  morning  to  our  old  friend 
Corderius '  was  Macaulay's  advice  to  the  unscholarly  editor  of 
Boswell  (Essays,  i.  p.  171). 

14.  Papinianian.]  Papinianus  was  minister  under  the  Emperor 
Severus.  A  writer  of  the  fourth  century  calls  him  iuris  asylum 
et  doctrinae  legalis  thesaurus  ;  Gibbon  (c.  vi. )  speaks  of  '  the  superior 
reputation  as  a  lawyer  which  he  has  preserved  through  every  age 
of  the  Roman  jurisprudence'.  There  are  many  citations  from 
him  in  the  records. 

36.  my  Orvieto.]    See  note  on  -IV.  206. 

39.  smell-feasts.]  Among  passages  quoted  for  this  word  in 
N.E.D.  is  the  following  from  L'Estrange  (A.D.  1692),  Fables,  33 : 
'  The  Fly  is  an  intruder  and  a  common  smell-feast  upon  other 
people's  trenchers '. 

43.  galligaskin],  i.e.  '  gaiter '.  The  etymology  of  the  word  is 
elaborately  explained  in  the  N.E.D. 

45.  in  snug  Gondotti.]    The  Via  Condotti  connects  the  Piazza 
di  Spagna  with  the  Corso. 

46.  to  crush  cup.]    Cf.  Romeo  and  Juliet,  1.  2.  86,  '  Come  and 
crush  a  cup  of  wine '.     You  crush  a  cup,  as  you  '  crack'  a  bottle, 
to  get  at  its  contents. 

49.  chambering  and  wantonness.]     Romans  xiii.  13. 

58.  Nutshell  and  naught.]  Says  Horace  (Flaccus),  Sat.  2.  5.  36 : 
'  A  man  shall  pluck  out  my  eyes  before  I'll  let  him  rob  you  of  a 
nutshell '  (cassa  nuce). 

65.  dumple.]  This  very  rare  word  is  used  for  its  assonance 
with  '  dimple '  rather,  perhaps,  than  with  any  regard  for  its  precise 
meaning.  See  note  on  IX.  1039. 

68.  Argument  the  First.]  Much  of  Browning's  Book  .VIII.  is 
based  on  the  real  Arcangeli's  Pamphlet  1  in  O.Y.B.,  but  the  poet 
borrows  largely  from  other  pleadings  for  the  accused.  Note  that 
'  in  this  case,  which  as  a  matter  of  course  follows  the  Civil  Law, 
the  Roman  practice  is  followed'  (Hodell:  0.  Y.B.  323) ;  it  is  opened 
by  the  defence.  See  however  note  on  I.  165. 

74.  bachelor  Bottinius.]    See  Introduction  to  Book  IX. 

78.  Verges  on  Virgil.]  Cf.  473-4.  Giacinto  is  '  long  since  out 
of  Caesar',  doesn't  'trip  in  Eutropius '  (XII.  357-8),  and  'shall 
attack  me  Terence  with  the  dawn '  (VIII.  137) ;  but  he  mismanages 


VIII.     /IY.\t'/XTUrx  DEARGHANGELlx 


I'. 

his   pivpo-itions  (\'III.  '.Mi.'1.),  and   last-  year,  misled   by  .srr//».v/  from 
scrihi  r>.  he  ni;id«-  /*//*x/  the  perfect  of  bibere  (VI  1  1.  1772). 

,]      Matthew  vi.  U'.i. 

<•//«//     //<*•;/    /////»/r    //////     /'V.sr.  |       His    appointment 
(ef.   I*:}!'  :;   below);     when  tin-    |-*i<c  prosecuted    1'ompilia  and  <  'a  pon 

hi  in  tin-  summer  «»f  H',',17  In-  did  not  hold  it. 

HH.  iln  IVo  Milone.  |  When  Milo  was  prosecuted  for  the  murder 
of  Clodiu-  <  'icero  -poke  iiielVeet  ively  ill  hifl  defence;  the  famous 
extant  -peeeh  For  Milo'  was  ivritten  by  the  orator  when  the  trial 

over.  „ 

I  \~>.  1  1  <>rf  i  mi  H  *\,  the  orator,  Cicero's  famous  rival. 
117.  il>,    K-t  eet.]     The  lower  rhuivh  of  San  Klaviano  at  Monte- 
tiascone  'contains  a  Gothic  tomb  in  front  of  the  high-altar,  \\ith 
the  insei  ipt  ion,  on  a  separate  slab  in  front  of  it,  — 

i   .  \'\<(opter]   M  MI  him)      KST   UK 
K  vc  Do(wtntw—  MI:\S  MHI:T\S   KST. 


The  inscription  is  -aid  to  have  been  composed  by  a  valet  who  pic- 
ceded  his  master  \vhen  travelling  in  order  to  test  the  wines  at  the 
various  stopping-places.  On  the  doors  of  the  hosU'lries  \\heie 
the  best  wine  was  to  he  had  he  inscribed  the  word  "Est",  and 
when  he  reached  the  inn  at  .Monte!ia>cone  ("  hottle  mountain") 
he  \\-rotc  the  "Est  "  three  times  <>n  the  door,  with  the  result  that 
hi-  master  never  got  any  further  '  (Baedeker,  ('iiilrul  Ilnlif,  p.  110). 
'  In  the  northern  portion  of  the  Roman  States  the  richest  and  most 
.-•d  wine  is  the  famous  Ksl  '  (Story,  Rolm  <li  R<n,ia.  )>.  3 

l.'!<>.  Duxit  in  uxorom.  )  Dugftttzorw*  would  l>e  'eommonpl  i«  •••  '  : 
IK  in  <lnxit,  which  is  tint  '  Latin  due  ',  is  (iambi's  phrase  (().  Y.li. 
Ixi.);  Aicangeli's  own  phrase  in  Pamphlet  1  (nnfLtcrdl  J'onipilice  — 
•86  In-low)  is  perhaps  still  worse  Latin. 

l:U.  T;i-das  ju-ralrs  jnlit.J     Catullus  (01.  :j(>2)  has  taedas  ceh/.n,,' 

1  lea. 

1&{.  Connubio  stabili  sibi  junxit.  ]  Virgil  (dSn.  1.  73)  has 
iujnui  xiuhili. 

i:>7.  //•  .s-//////  nttnck  me  Terence.]  As  Dr.  Herdoe  explains  '  Hi- 
son  shall  attack  him  with  Trrrnee'  it  is  perhaps  worth  while  to 
point  out  that  k  me  '  is  the  so-called  'ethical  dative',  as  'you' 
in  397, 

141-8.]    o.Y.l',.  ix.,  E.L.  11. 

I  \-.  \iluis  |,  i.e.  owls,  as  Browning  says.     Cf.  Lucan, 

ft,  :;:M;  l»il,<>ne  sinistro  ;  Ovid,  Mil.  5, 


\i-nturi  mintia  lin-tu-. 
|L'M.I\  ii-  Iniliii.  dirimi  inortalihus  mncii 


.    l-''irinncci.\     This  eminent   Roman  juri-t  (  v.  i».   I  ."•  1!    h)|.'{)is 

!!••!!   eited     by    the   la\S\V|.-   m    the   Old    Ve||,,\\     |;.»,k.        I  I 

appointed    by    I'.ipe    Clement    VI  11.    to   defend    Shellex 


1G6  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Cenci  when  put  on  trial  in  1599  for  the  murder  of  her  father,  and 
he  defended  her  on  the  ground  on  which  Guido  was  defended, 
that  of  outraged  honour :  there  is  an  interesting  allusion  to  the 
case  of  Beatrice  in  O.Y.B.  cii.  (E.L.  110).  Sir  Walter  Scott  makes 
a  Scottish  lawyer  appeal  to  the  authority  of  '  the  illustrious 
Farinaceus '  in  his  defence  of  Effie  Deans  in  1736  (The,  Heart  of 
Midlothian,  c.  xxiii.).  See  further  on  Farinacci  below,  328  note. 

157.  when  Bottini  brings  his  charge.]  O.Y.B.  Ixxi.,  E.L.  77-8. 
On  this  letter  see  Appendix  IV. 

165.  have  I  thee  on  hip?]    Cf.   Merchant  of  Venice,   I.   3.   47, 
4.  1.  334.     '  To  have  a  person  on  the  hip  '  ( = '  to  have  the  advantage 
over  him ' )  is  commonly  explained  as  a  wrestler's  phrase,  but  Dr. 
Johnson  took  it  to  be  a  metaphor  from  hunting,  the  hip  of  a  deer 
being  the  part  often  attacked  by  dogs ;  his  interpretation  is  strongly 
supported  by  Othello,  2.  1.  311-14. 

166.  break  TuU-ifs  pate],  i.e.  break  the  rules  of  Ciceronian  Latin. 
'  Break  Priscian's  head  '  is  the  usual  phrase  ;   see  note  on  VI.  389. 

168-72.]  O.Y.B.  clxxii.,  E.L.  179-80.  Arcangeli  is  made  to 
foretell  the  precise  terms  which  Bottini  will  employ. 

173.  Either.]    The  corresponding  '  or  '  is  forgotten. 

175-8.]    From  O.Y.B.  civ.,  E.L.  112. 

190.  apices],  the  forms  of  the  letters ;  Arcangeli  thinks  the 
word  choicer  than  Bottini' s  elementa. 

210.  sclopulo.]  A  barbarous  word,  said  to  be  coined  from  the 
Italian  schioppo. — The  Latin  used  in  this  passage  (194-210)  is 
brought  together  from  various  passages  in  the  pleadings  ;  it  is 
not  always  from  the  same  hand. 

212.  /  had  thought  to  own,  etc.]  The  real  Arcangeli  does  in  fact 
own  to  the  travelling-sword  only  (O.Y.B.  cxiv..  E.L.  122);  see 
Bottini's  answer,  O.Y.B.  clxxxiii.,  E.L.  188. — Arcangeli's  'gird 
at  the  Fisc's  Latin '  (216)  is  Browning's  invention. 

219.  Tommati.]    See  note  on  IV.  1308-16. 

226.]    Cf.  X.  679. 

248-9.]  Dr.  Johnson  said  of  Foote  the  comedian :  '  One 
species  of  wit  he  has  in  an  eminent  degree,  that  of  escape.  You 
drive  him  into  a  corner  with  both  hands  ;  but  he's  gone,  Sir,  when 
you  think  you  have  got  him — like  an  animal  that  jumps  over  your 
head'  (Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  Everyman's  Library,  ii.  p.  49). 

253.  tenon],  i.e.  fix  securely. 

257-8.]  Browning  seems  to  forget  for  the  moment  that  he  has 
spoken  of  Arcangeli's  speech  as  the  first  pleading  in  the  trial. 

270.  Oh  I  was  young,  etc.],  i.e.  I  acquired  the  trick  of  fence  when 
young  (and  still  have  it). 

274.  Blunderbore.]  It  will  be  remembered  (or  will  have  been 
forgotten)  that  Blunderbore  was  one  of  the  victims  of  the  resource- 
fulness of  Jack  the  Giant-killer. 

276.  Pedant  and   prig.]     Browning    represents    both    Arcangeli 


VI 11.    HYACINTHU8DEARCHANGELIS  167 

md   P.otiini  as  jealous  of  Spreti.  '  iiiannikin  and  dandiprat  '.  "  n 
im-h  of  olevernett',  M  I'.oMini  is  madi-  to. -a II  him  (XI  I.  137 -S).   Spn-ti 
iMiued  much  cn-dit   in  tin-  mtmlrr-t  rial  ;    •  other-  pleadings',  \vi 
the  author  of   the   Secondary  Source,   •  were  written    in  the  defence 
with  much  erudition,  .•-pe.-ially  by  the  Advocate  of  the  Poor,  who 

i  c  -itain  Monsiunor  Spreti'  (O.Y.It.  '2\'.\.  I-'..L.  2<>.~>).  Browning 
make-  Arean-j'  li  >peak  of  him  as  his  junior  professionally  as  well 
as  in  a;_rc,  luit  Hodell  gives  reason  for  thinking  that  this  is  a  mistake, 
and  that  the  dilTerence  bet \\ecn  the  Advocate  and  the  Procurator 
of  the  Poor  was  not  one  of  rank.  Tin-  'advocate',  according  to 

ithoiity  whom  he  quotes  (().  }'.!>.  323),  was  specially  concerned 
witji  tlie  law,  the  '  procurator1  with  the  facts  of  a  case  *. 

ft.]     The    real     Arean«jeli's    tirst     pleading    was    written    in 

i  ary  (0.  Y.H.  \..  K.L.  12),  but  Browning  puts  the  composition 
of  that  of  his  Arcanirdi  a  lit  tie  later,  for  when  it  was  written  Carnival 

already  in  full  swing — the  city  was  already  '  a-swarm   with 
ngen    to    amuse'.     Carnival -time   was,   in  strictness    at   any 
rate,    the   ten   days   before   Ash    Wednesday,  and  Asli    Wednesday 
in   1''  !  '--bruary   12.  as  is  rightly  implied  in  XI.  .~>S2-4  ;    but 

in   XII.  :'»!    lM-l)ruary  22  is  wrongly  spoken  of  as  'at  our  end  of 
( 'arnival  ', 

'51  1. 1     On  (juestions  relating  to  the  use  of  torture  in  the  capo 

\pj>endi\  VI. 

328.    Fnrinncri.  in;/  flumnln-l  erst.]     We  have  seen  (note  on  148) 

that     Farinacci   died    in    1613.     Arcan^eli    cannot,    therefore,    have 

The   ((notation  which   follows  i<   not    to  be   found 

in  the  Old  Yellow  Book;   Profe—or  Hodell  has  shown  that  P>rowning 

referred    to    Karinaccrs  Varice   Qtifvstiones  and  took  it  from  there 

./;.  :::;:.) :  see  Ap|.endi\  VI. 

:;il.    \\\\\.   nmrltirs  .  .  .  '  :.    ntfirli/rfs   and   rnnfcsvnres  in 

Karin 

349-54.]     See  <).  }'./;.  oxxv.,  213;  E.L.  133,  265. 

i>m\.    i.e.    protest,  like    Latin    reclnimirr    and     French 

See  the   protot    of  Spreti   ill  O.Y.B.  CXXV.,  E.L.    \'.\'.\. 

3f>8.  the  poet's  ivord  reversed.]    Virgil,  Georg.  2.  458  : 

O  fortiniiito.  nirniiiin.  sua  si  !><>na  noriiit. 
olas  ! 

('Ah,    too    fortunate     the    husbandmen,    //'  they    but    knew    their 
happiness  !  ') 

TC},.\     Cf.  IV.  US,  VII.  17. 

^0.  |     On   this  audacious  theory,   which   Areanircli  say-  that 
he  miglit   have  advanced  but   for  (luido's  'full  confession',  see  the 

1   Tlii-i  cmiM  hanlly  »K>  infrrn-1  fnun  tin-  « ..nt.-nl-  .if  tin-  pl.-i.liiiL"*  in  thr  Vi-llnw 
Honk  ;    Imt   it^  tf.-hnii  nl  I   frmn  the  tile-titles 

\\liirli  ile-iTilie  the  pleading-  ..!  the    \  .|\ .  ..-;it  i-  d|  the  l'.«ir  a-  '  Meni..riaU  of  Law* 
.iii.l  th.i-<-  Hi   hi-  eiillea'_'iie  .1-  '  Memorial-  ••!   l-'ai  I  aid   U»W*. 


168  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

scornful  comment  of  Caponsacchi  in  VI.  1625-7.  Guido  himself 
is  made  to  say  (in  XI.  1707  seqq.)  that  he  would  have  thrown  the 
guilt  on  Caponsacchi  in  another  way,  if  only  Pompilia  had  been 
'  found  dead,  as  I  left  her  dead '. 

377.]    John  viii.  11. 

382.]    Matthew  xx.  15. 

385-97.]  It  would  be  unfair,  says  Arcangeli,  to  call  upon  a 
great  alchemist  to  transmute  brass  into  gold  before  your  eyes  ; 
his  demonstration  might  fail,  by  no  fault  of  his  own,  through  the 
faultiness  of  his  apparatus  ('a  faulty  pipkin's  crack').  Let  him 
prove  his  greatness  in  another  way :  by  demonstrating  that  what 
he  has  changed  the  brass  into  is  really  gold. 

If  I  had  tried  to  transmute  into  gold  before  the  Court,  i.e.  had 
tried  to  prove  that  Guido  did  not  go  to  the  villa  to  commit  murder, 
but  to  pardon  and  forgive,  I  too  should  have  failed  through  '  a 
faulty  pipkin's  crack',  i.e.  the  disconcerting  collapse  of  Guido 
and  his  associates,  their  '  full  confession '.  Let  me  prove  my 
greatness  otherwise  :  by  showing  that  Guide's  confessed  deed  was 
really  golden,  i.e.  that  it  was  no  crime  but  righteously  done,  because 
done  honoris  causa  (see  line  425). 

Browning  originally  wrote  '  transmutable '  in  line  387,  but  in 
the  second  edition  changed  it  to,  '  transmuted ',  which  makes  his 
meaning  clearer. 

407-19.]     I  don't  know  the  source  of  all  this. 

407.  Bear  pain  no  better  /]  Bottini  is  made  to  express  the  same 
surprise  in  XII.  414-16.  See  Appendix  VI. 

424-5.  Vindicatio  .  .  .  Honoris  causa.]  Even  apart  from  their 
confessions  the  evidence  against  Guido  and  his  associates  was 
abundant  and  conclusive.  Their  lawyers  therefore  admitted  the 
killing  (with  an  occasional  reservation  as  to  Guido,  not  to  be  taken 
seriously — see  O.Y.B.  xxii.,  E.L.  22),  but  contended  that  their 
clients  should  be  absolved  from  guilt,  or  at  least  could  claim  some 
relaxation  of  the  murder-penalty,  on  the  ground  that  their  motive 
had  been  the  vindication  of  Guide's  honour.  Whether  vindication 
of  honour,  even  if  long  postponed,  was  a  good  defence  in  law, 
whether  Guide's  honour  had  in  fact  'had  injury',  whether,  if  so, 
its  vindication  was  the  motive  of  the  killing,  are  the  principal 
questions  in  dispute. 

428.  misprision  of  the  fact],  i.e.  a  mistaken  belief  that  such  injury 
was  a  fact.  'Misprision'  is  used  in  the  same  sense  in  X.  1271 ; 
the  legal  sense  of  the  word  in  '  misprision  of  treason  '  is  different. 

442-55.]  From  Arcangeli's  Pamphlet  1  (O.Y.B.  xi.,  E.L.  13). 
He  makes  the  same  point  again  in  Pamphlet  8  (O.Y.B.  cxii.,  E.L. 
120) ;  cf.  Spreti  in  Pamphlet  2  (O.Y.B.  xxvi.,  E.L.  27). 

472.]  Virgil,  Mn.  1.  278-9  (he  is  speaking  of  the  Roman  Empire). 
A  quotation  from  Virgil  is  adroitly  introduced  to  prepare  for  the 
following  aside. 


\  III. 

iiMiir!|     From  Horace,  ()<l.   I.  :;±  1,  '  I  am  called  ii|  .m 

ITt;sj().|  That  injured  honour  requires  vindication  IB  argued 
.it  length  (I)  "on  the  inert-  natural  ground'  that  >ue|i  vindication 
is  claimed  by  '  liird  and  beast  and  'the  very  insects'  (480-542); 
('2)  'on  Heathen  uruunds'  it  is  claimed  by  pagan  jurisprudence 

• '-"!>);     (3)   mi    the   authority  of   'Apostle   and    EvangeliM    and 

Saint  \  and  even  of  'our  Lord  Himself,  made  all  of  mansuctude ' 

:    (4)  on   that    'of  Papal  doctrine   in  our  i>la/e  of  day' 

06  \  1-21)  ;    and  finally  (f>)  on  that  of  '  Civility  ',  '  the  acknowledged 

ttd  wont'  (731-846). 

I^L'  7.  '  unodorufl  (A.I».  4 so  :>::,  ?)  held  high  office  under 
Tin -odiiri, •.  ih«  first  Gothic  king  of  Italy,  and  under  his  grandson 
and  successor.  He  has  handed  down  to  us  *  in  a  shape  diluted  with 
the  platitudes  and  false  rhetoric  of  a  scholar  of  the  decadence  '  many 
of  the  maxims  of  Theodoric,  which,  in  their  original  form,  '\\<i< 
assuredly  full  of  manly  sense  and  vigour'  (Hodgkin,  Theodoric,  p.  168). 

The    ('assiodori/ed    'apt   sentence '    of   Theodorie    here    noticed 
quoted  in  the  pleadings  not  by  Arcangeli  but  by  Spreti,  who 
gives  it  in  full  (O.  >'./.'.  \\\  ii.-viii.,  E.L.  28-9;   cf.  O.Y.B.  cxxxvii.. 
E.L.  142-3). 

489.  when  Aristotle  doubts.]     De  Generalione  Animal i inn.  3.  10. 

l'.'_.  <-»i>i/iit<j  Kimj  Salomon.]  The  only  passage,  so  far  as  I 
am  aware,  in  the  writings  attributed  to  Solomon  where  the  l>ee  is 
'taken  as  instance"  is  in  the  Septuagint  version  of  Proverbs,  e.  vi., 
where  it  is  an  instance  of  wise  industry;  the  passage  is  not  in  tin- 
Hebrew.  After  sending  the  sluggard  to  the  ant  the  Septuagint 
sends  him  to  the  bee:  ?)  iropfi'OrjTi  irpbs  rrjv  fd\t<raai',  KO.I  fj.ddf  ws  tpyaTit 
(ffri  ....  naiirep  o&ffa  rfi  /Ju>/i?7  dffffcvrjs  rrjv  ao<piai>  Ti/j.r)ffa.ffa  irporjx^7?- 

496-501.]  In  the  Scaligerana  of  Joseph  Justus  Sealiger  (1540- 
1609)  the  expression  castcB  apes  is  explained  thus  :  Les  abeilles 
sentent  \/  mi  homme  a  couche  avec  sa  femnif,  inthibittiblement  le 
lendemain  s'il  approche  il  eat  picque  (Hodell,  O.Y.B.  324). 

497.  castae  apes.J     Bartholomew  Anglicus  (c.  1267)  says  of 
They  are  not  medlied  with  service  of  Venus,  nother  resolved  \\ith 
lechery,  nother  bruised  with  sorrow  of  birth  of  children     (l><   1'ro- 
prietotibw  Rerum,  p.    122,  ed.   Steele) ;    he  follows  Virgil  (Georg. 
4.  197-!))  very  closely. 

•"'<>-  7. J  1  cannot  identify  the  passage  quoted  either  in  its 
original  Creek  or  as  'Latinized'.  If,  as  Dr.  Berdoe  supposes, 
'the  Idyllist  '  mentioned  is  Theocritus,  Arcangeli's  Latini/er  mu>t 
ha\e  mi>inter|n-eted  the  9%«r  dxodw  of  Idyl  27.  57. 

-I  I   La      *  i    note  on  I.  232. 

IL]      l-'i.-m  Spreti'fl  Pamphlet  '.»  (O.V.tt.  exx\\ii..  /•:./..   II-'  . 
I  >•  mijtth- 1,    in    the    unusual   sense  of    'act    unworthily  of   his 
rank  and  dignity  '  ;    cf.  (  ijmMine,  2.  1.   17 •."•:_'.     The  Kn-iieh  <l<'roger 
often  has  this  meaning. 


170  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

554-7.]  Luke  xxiii.  31.  Arcangeli  inverts  the  meaning  of  the 
passage  to  which  he  refers. 

559.  whom  our  devils  served  for  gods.]  Cf.  e.g.  1  Corinthians  x. 
20,  '  the  things  which  the  Gentiles  sacrifice,  they  sacrifice  to  devils, 
and  not  to  God  :  and  I  would  not  that  ye  should  have  fellowship 
with  devils  '.  Gibbon  writes  in  his  15th  chapter  :  '  It  was  imagined 
that  they  [the  rebellious  spirits  who  had  been  degraded  from  the 
rank  of  angels]  had  distributed  among  themselves  the  most  im- 
portant characters  of  polytheism,  one  daemon  assuming  the  name 
and  attributes  of  Jupiter,  another  of  ^Esculapius,  a  third  of  Venus, 
and  a  fourth  perhaps  of  Apollo  '. 

570-74.]  Cf.  I.  221  seqq. ;  O.Y.B.  x.,  E.L.  12  :  '  This  had  been 
ratified  in  the  laws  of  the  Athenians  and  of  Solon,  that  is  to  say, 
of  the  wisest  legislators,  and,  what  is  more,  in  that  rude  age  of 
Romulus,  law  15.  ...  and  similarly  in  the  laws  of  the  12  Tables '. 
There  is  an  obvious  slip  over  '  that  fifteenth  '.  In  the  same  con- 
nection reference  is  made  to  '  the  Julian  ;  the  Cornelian  ;  Gracchus' 
Law'. 

The  Lex  Julia  de  adulteriis  (18  B.C.)  enleva  au  mari  le  droit  qu'il 
avail  toujours  eu  jusque-la  .  .  .  de  tuer  safemme  surprise  en  flagrant 
delit  d'adultere. 

580-683.]  The  argument  here  is  drawn  mostly  from  the  First 
Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  cl.-cli.,  E.L.  153-5). 

597-600.]     From  Spreti,  O.Y.B.  cxxxvii.,  E.L.  142. 

615.]     Proverbs  vi.  32-5. 

639.  first  in  reputation  now.]     For  Carlo  Maratta  see  note  on 
III.  58-9. 

640.  Samson  in  the  sacred  text.]     See  Judges  xiii.  5,  xvi.  21-30. 
An  effective  retort  to  the  argument  here  advanced  is  made  in  the 
Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  ccxxiv.-v.,  E.L.  226). 

663-7.]  Referring  to  this  argument,  here  taken  word  for  word 
from  the  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet,  the  Pope  pertinently  asks 
'  when,  where  '  did  Christ  say  Honorem  meum  nemini  trado  ?  (X. 
1982-7).  The  words  are  attributed  (with  'glory'  for  'honour') 
by  Isaiah  (xlii.  8)  to  Jehovah,  and  their  irrelevance  to  the  lawyer's 
purpose  is  sufficiently  shown  by  their  context :  '  My  glory  will  I 
not  give  to  another,  neither  my  praise  to  graven  images  '. 

673-8.]  The  reference  is  to  1  Corinthians  ix.  15.  '  My  glory ' 
should  be  '  my  boast '  (TO  /cai'x?7/ud  /JLOV),  and  St.  Paul's  boast  is 
that  while  preaching  the  gospel  he  has  not  lived  '  of  the  gospel '  ! 

680.]  The  comment  of  St.  Ambrose,  which  Arcangeli  '  can't 
quite  recollect ',  is  quoted  by  Spreti  (O.Y.B.  cxxxvii.,  E.L.  142): 
'  For  who  does  not  regard  a  bodily  defect  or  a  loss  of  patrimony 
more  lightly  than  a  defect  of  soul  and  a  loss  of  reputation  ?  (lib.  3.  offic. 
cap.  4) '. 

691.  soon  to  bask,  etc.]  Guide's  backers  look  to  the  Pope  to 
support  their  '  Christian  dogma  '. 


VIII.    BYACINTBU8 DB A&CHANQELIS  171 

'7.]     This   ingeniously   had   argument    was  actually  used    by 
Arcan<reli  «).  }'./;.  xiii..  /•;./..'  I  \). 

7:M.  ihiw  nl<l  imjmte  Jews.]  Numbers  xi.  5,  6  :  '  \\  '«•  remember 
tin-  lish,  which  we  did  cat  in  K<rypt  freely;  the  cucumbers,  and 
the  melons,  and  the  leeks,  and  the  onions,  and  the  jjarlick  :  But 
nou  our  soul  is  dried  away:  then*  is  nothing  at  all,  beside  this 
manna,  before  our  eyes'.  Note  how  the  reference  prepares  the 

for  the  aside  which  follows;  cf.  above,  472. 
7:Y,ti-7.|     .lames  iii.  15. 

7IL'    \.\       See   note  on    ||.    |  IT.'!. 

7  KM.  manners  .  .  .  //////.T  the  num.}  William  of  Wykeham's 
motto. 

T:.±  |      Psalm  exix.  9. 

73.]     I'Yom   Sjireti.   O.Y.H.    \\.\i.,   E.L.   32;    cf.   Arcanireli. 
O.7.B.  xx..  /•:./,.  21. 

764-73.  See  also  the  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet,  O.Y.Il. 
cxlviii.,  E.L.  151.  The  loss  of  family  honour,  proved  by  the 
'  cachinnation  '  ('Every  one's  face  had  become  a  mirror  in  which 
was  reflected  the  image  of  the  ridicule  of  his  house  '),  so  distressed 
the  Abate  that  he  very  often  'felt  impelled  to  throw  himself  into 
the  liver  and  decided  to  leave  Rome.  Cf.  V.  1366-73. 

772.  sound-hearlcil.  \     ( 'ordalis  =  wise,  not  sound-hearted. 

783-801.]     Again  from  Spreti  (O.Y.B.  cxxxiii.,  E.L.  139). 

786.  cornuti.]  '  Cornuto  '  became  practically  an  English  syno- 
nym ('  honied  ')  for  a  cuckold  in  days  when  such  words  were  more 
freely  used.  Cf.  e.g.  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  '.\.  f>.  71. 

T'.M.  l»  run  <nr(ii/.\  A  mistranslation  of  dfln/nif,  which  means 
'he  tt  d'  (cf.  1299  Ix'low),  i.e.  committed  murder. 

812.  J^eonardus.]     O.Y.H.    xxviii..   «  \\xiv..    H.L.    L".»,    IK).     The 
\\  i-  decided  l>y  \\w  'Sacred   Royal  Court'  of  the  kingdom  of 
Naples  (the  two  Sicilies)  in  1G17. 

817.  with  commodity],  i.e.  at  an  advantage.  Compare  the  use 
of  'commodity'  throughout  the  Bastard's  famous  speech  in  /;///»/ 
John  (2.  1.  561-98)  ending  with— 

>in« -c  kiu^s  break  faith  upon  commodity, 
Gain,  be  my  lord,  for  I  will  worship  thcc. 

MM.  Another  fr  net  in  HI*  *.r<i  ,„/>!?.}     O.Y.B.  ccxxxiv.,  E.L.   1  J<>. 
'  l-'nietiii»us  '  is  a   favourite   Callieism   of    lirownin^'s  ;    c{.()l<l 

in    rinr>m->.  \\\i\..     the  fructuous  and  sterile  eras';    J'n,//, 
'I'll'  .I// //»/i»,    Vciiin-.  line  43. 

845-(>.  |      Isaiah  viii.  L*(».  'to  the  law  and  to  the  testimony'. 

/*///    »/•////.    dr.  |     Cuido's    lawyers   are    of    course    eon 
to   include   the    killing  of    Pietro   and    Violantc   \i\    their  defence  on 
the  plea  of  injured  honour. 

••nlnri*l.\       See    Dote   on    VII.     |  :,(  Hi. 

875-81.]    O.Y.I;.  MX.  xx. ;  /•;./..  L»H 


172  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

896.]     Psalm  Ixix.  9,  John  ii.  17. 

898-900.]  In  the  Iliad  (4.  35)  Zeus  tells  Hera— not  in  '  joke ', 
but  in  sore  anger  (^ey  ox^o-as) — that,  if  she  were  to  eat  up  Priam 
raw  with  his  sons  and  all  the  Trojans,  perhaps  then  she  might 
appease  her  wrath.  A  scholiast  on  Persius  (1.  4)  quotes  from  a 
lost  translation  of  the  Iliad  by  a  certain  Labeo  : 

Crudum  manduces  Priamum  Priamique  pisinnos. 

906-61.]     From  Arcangeli's  Pamphlet  1  (O.Y.B.  xxii.,  E.L.  22). 

946.  undequaque],  '  entirely  ',  cf.  1689  below. 

948.  In  Valerius.}  Valerius  Maximus  (c.  A.D.  25)  in  his  De 
Factis  Dictisque  Memorabilibus  (viii.  c.  1  ad  fin.).  His  comment 
is  :  consideranter  et  mansuete  populi  Romani  magistratus,  sed  Areo- 
pagitae  non  minus  sapienter. 

963.  He  mismanages.]  In  the  earlier  editions  '  How  he  manages ', 
which  hardly  suits  what  follows. 

965-71.]  Browning  was  thinking  of  his  own  experience.  His 
father  '  taught  his  son  from  babyhood  the  words  he  wished  him 
to  remember  by  joining  them  to  a  grotesque  rhyme  ;  the  child 
learnt  all  his  Latin  declensions  in  this  way '  (Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  p.  12). 

973.  just  as  Ovid  found.]     See  note  on  II.  1221. 

986.  the  Brazen  Head.]  Roger  Bacon  (1214-94)  was  believed 
to  have  made  a  brazen  head  capable  of  speech.  There  were  different 
versions  of  the  legend  ;  according  to  that  followed  by  Browning 
here  and  by  Byron  in  Don  Juan,  I.,  stanza  217 — 

Now,  like  Friar  Bacon's  brazen  head,  I've  spoken, 
'  Time  is,  Time  was,  Time's  past ' — , 

the  head,  after  uttering  the  words  quoted,  the  time  for  consulting 
it  having  been  neglected,  tumbled  from  its  stand  and  was  shattered. 

994.  go  softly  all  their  days.]     See  note  on  II.  457. 

999-1003.]     For  the' argument  see  note  on  IV.  1528-40. 

1003.  ex  incontinent!.]  The  expression  incontinenti  (not  ex 
incontinenti)  is  often  used  in  the  pleadings  (e.g.  in  O.Y.B.  xiv., 
xv.),  in  contrast  to  ex  intervallo,  of  killing  a  wife  'incontinently', 
at  the  moment  when  discovered  in  misconduct.  Browning  misuses 
it  here. 

1013.]  In  O.Y.B.  cxcvi.  (E.L.  200)  Bottini  quotes  Farinacci 
as  saying  that  '  a  father  has  the  greatest  power  over  a  son  and  by 
ancient  law  could  even  kill  him  '  ;  and  proceeds  to  justify  the 
extent  of  the  patria  potestas  in  the  words  quoted  in  1017  seqq.  Cf. 
O.Y.B.  Ixxvii.,  E.L.  84. 

1032.  here  we  brush  Bottini's  breast],  i.e.  come  to  close  quarters 
with  him. 

1040.  In  plcnitudine  intellectus.]  The  phrase  is  Spreti's,  but  he 
uses  it  otherwise  ;  the  lawyers  in  O.  Y.B.  are  polite. 


HOOK  VIII.     H7ACINTHU SDK  ARCH ANQBLIB   IT:; 

|I>II-(»S.  j     The  argument    i>  aiiain    from    ArOtttlgeli'fl    Pamphlet    I 

(<>.  Y.I;.  .\\.-\MK,  /•;./..  ir>-is). 

I'Ms.  I  The  full  stop  p laced  at  the  end  of  this  line  in  the  later 
editions  should  of  com>e  In-  changed  to  a  comma. 

In;,!-.-,.  |  p|'|i,.  MHjree  of  the  saying  of  the  'gaby'  (originally 
'  ni-tic  ')  is  unknown  to  me. 

1064.  the  House  of  Converlites.  \     Sec  note  on  II.  1198. 

1071-90.J     The  explanation  of  Guide's  inactivity  from  December 
-I  to  January  2  is  of  Browning's  invention;    compare  what  Guido 
is  made  to  say  in  V.  1581  seqq.     The  date  of  his  arrival  in  lion 
fixed  by  the  Secondary  Source  (O.Y.B.  211,  E.L.  263). 

l'»s:>.  (fie  Sistine],  i.e.  the  Sistine  chapel  in  the  Vatican,  founded 
ipe  Sixtus  IV.  (1471-84). 

1084.  (Jamerlengo]  =  chamberlain.  The  Cardinal  Camerlengo 
ranks  highest  among  the  cardinals.  An  incident  mentioned  in 
X.  2060  (note)  shows  his  importance  on  the  death  of  a  1'ope. 

1085-6.  the  Hat  And  Rapier],  known  as  lo  stocco  e  il  berretto 
(cap  with  vizor). 

1108-1455.]  The  question  of  the  presence  or  absence  of  aggravat- 
ing circumstances  (ctfcunutantiat  dyyravantes,  circumstantue  prce  se 

'iles  rigorosam  pcenam,  sometimes  called  <{ii(ilitfites)  in  Guide's 
erimes  is  introduced  in  Arcangeli's  first  pleading  and  much  disci i 
throughout  the  trial.  These  *  qualities '  are  somewhat  variously 
stated  in  different  places  (hence  Browning  speaks  of  '  five  qualities 
of  bad'  in  I.  169,  but  of  six  here).  Arcangeli  here  deals  with  (1) 
the  gathering  of  armed  men  (1119-56) ;  (2)  the  alleged  use  of  pro- 
hibited arms  (1157-1249);  (3)  the  place  chosen  for  the  murders 
•0-1313);  (4)  the  alleged  use  of  disguise  (1314-38);  (5)  the 
contention  that  Pompilia  was  under  the  control  of  the  judge  (1339- 
M71);  (6)  the  treason  (Icesa  majestas)  alleged  to  be  involved  in 
the  crime  (1371-1455). 

1122.  Coadunatio  armatorum.  |  For  this,  the  usual  phrase  in 
the  re.-ords,  conventicula  is  sometimes  substituted  (e.g.  in  O.Y.H. 
xliv.,  E.L.  43). 

M-M-5.]     Some  of  the   pamphlets  are  addressed   to   the    'Lord 
rnor  ',  but    Browning  had   no  warrant  for  supposing  that    the 
(lovenior  of  the   moment  was  the  Governor  who -is  said  (O.Y.B. 
l.\i\..  /•,'./,.  t»S)  to  liave  made  laws  against  coadunalio  armatorimi. 

1141-2.]  The  Latin  words  quoted  are  used  by  Spreti  in  another 
connection '  (().  }'./;.  \\xii..  /•;./,.  32). 

1146-52.  |     The  illustration  is  used  by  Arcangeli  in   Pamphlet  S 
(O.Y.B.  e\v.    /•;./..    li'S):     'If,  wishing 'to  commit    a   theft,   a    man 
to  climb  over  the  walls  of  a  city,  though  he  might   ha\e  com- 
mitted the  former  eiime  without  climbing  the  walls  (which  Karinacci 
in  his  (Jurxliniis  shows  to  be  a   MTV  >crioiis  otVence).  e\cn  >o   i 
only  |iunished  by  a  Dimple  penalty,  namely  that  for  theft,  M  tx 
the  thing  principally  in  liis  mind   . 


174  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1164.  Pope  Alexander]  the  Eighth  (1689-91),  the  immediate 
predecessor  of  Innocent  XII.  For  his  '  constitution '  see  e.g. 
O.Y.B.  Ixv.,  E.L.  69. 

1166.  tines.]  A  stag's  antlers  during  the  second  year  are  un- 
branched  stems,  to  which  in  each  successive  year  a  tine  or  branch 
is  added.  Cf.  '  the  stag's  head  with  its  grand  twelve  tines '  in 
Browning's  Donald. 

1170.  the  Genoese  blade.]     See  note  on  II.  147. 

1180.  Means  to  an  end.]  See  O.Y.B.  xlvi.,  E.L.  45:  'the 
carrying  of  arms  is  not  prohibited  propter  se,  but  because  of  the 
pernicious  end  which  follows  it  or  may  follow  it '.  See  also  below, 
1322,  and  IX.  521  seqq. 

1182.  Furor  ministrat  anna.]  Virgil,  Mn.  1.  150  furor  arma 
ministrat ;  quoted  in  this  connection  in  the  First  Anonymous 
Pamphlet,  O.  Y.B.  cl.,  E.L.  154. 

1183-4.  Unde  mi  lapidem  .  .  .  Unde  sagittas  ?]  Horace,  Sat. 
2.  7.  116 ;  not  quoted  in  the  records. — Why  does  Browning  write 
mi  for  mihi,  which  is  necessary  to  the  scansion  in  Horace,  and 
would  not  make  his  own  line  more  unmetrical  ? 

1188.  that],  i.e.  that  we  should  have  incurred  your  blame. 

1192.  An    unimportant    sword    and    blunderbuss.]    See    above, 
212-15,  note. 

1193.  pollent  in  potency.]    Arcangeli  says  in  Pamphlet  1  (O.Y.B. 
xvii.,  E.L.  17) :   '  The  lover  is  powerful  in  strength  (viribus  pollens), 
never  timid,  and  too  prompt  to  resist,  seeing  that  in  the  words 
of  a  witness  in  the  Process  of   Flight   he   is   called   Scapezzacollo 
[i.e.  cut-throat] '. 

1194.  amasius.]     Plautus's  word  for  '  a  lover  ',  perpetually  used 
in  the  records. 

1200-1201.  plus  non  vitiat,  etc.]  I  cannot  identify  the  quota- 
tion ;  '  a  medieval  philosophic  term ',  says  Hodell  (O.  Y.B.  334). 

1218-20.]  Not  quite  consistent  with  what  follows.  According 
to*  the  passage  quoted  from  Spreti  (see  next  note)  Guido  gave  no 
orders  to  his  associates  about  Pietro  and  Violante. 

1221-5.]  From  Spreti,  O.Y.B.  xxxv.,  E.L.  34;  cf.  Arcangeli, 
O.Y.B.  xxii.,  E.L.  22. 

1223.  dicam.]  A  misreading ;  0.  Y.B.  has  dictam,  agreeing 
with  uxorem,  '  his  said  wife '.  Browning  substitutes  dicam  as 
an  apology  for  the  barbarous  sfrisiandmn. 

1228.  Panicollus.]  A  mistake ;  should  be  '  Panimollus ',  a 
jurist  often  cited  in  the  records. 

1235.  in  the  Horatian  satire.]    Sat.  1.  2.  46. 

1240-43.]     O.Y.B.  xxix.,  E.L.  29. 

1248.  Objectum  funditus  corruit],  '  the  objection  falls  to  the 
ground  completely '  ('  flat  you  fall ') :  O.Y.B.  xviii.,  E.L.  19. 

1266-7.]  O.Y.B.  cxv.,  E.L.  123,  and  elsewhere.  In  one  of 
the  '  Summaries  '  the  Fisc  produced  a  mandatum  procurce  (lawyers' 


\  111.    HTACINTHU8  DEARCHANOSLIS  L75 

Latin  for  prOCtffotomU,  •  proxy  ')  made  l»y  (Juido  to  Paolo  (O.  )'./>'. 
civil.,  /../..  \(\'2).  There  was  >ome  di.-pute  during  tlic  trial  as  to 
the  extent  of  this  iiiiii/ilnltnu. 

.  ('niniinnlinnfs.  |     Cf.     i:{27,    when-    r,in,n,,Hl'uix     'with    more 
See  note  on  817  above. 

-!»:>.|     From  Arcangeli's  Pamphlet  1  (0.  Y.B.  xviii.,  #.L.  19). 
,  i:;ol.]     From  Sprcti,  6>.  >'./>'.  \\.\i\.,  E.L.  33. 

!-:\    ju^ta   via    (lelin(|iiens.  |     H.-P-,  as   in    1223,   Browning 
misquotes  ;   via  should  be  ira,  and  the  meaning  is  '  one  who  trans- 
9  from  just  anger  '. 

Matthew  'viii.  20. 

i::  1  2-13.]  There  are  many  legends  of  the  award  of  divine 
commendation  to  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  for  his  writings,  and  it  may 
In-  presumed  that  he  conceived  himself  divinely  bidden  on  some 
occasion  to  *  arise  and  write  ',  but  1  have  not  discovered  any  refer- 
ence to  such  an  occasion. 

1315.  that  we  changed  our  garb.]  See  note  on  V.  1565,  '  Donned 
the  first  rough  and  rural  garb  I  found  '. 

1321.  /  round  thee  in  the  ears.]    See  note  on  IV.  600. 
1331.]     Acts  ix.  25,  2  Corinthians  xi.  .'J2-3. 

1  ::  :;.">-6.]  2  Timothy  iv.  13.  The  '  many  '  who  held  this  opinion 
forgot  that  the  apostle  asked  for  the  cloak  he  left  at  Troas  some 
thirty  years  after  his  escape  from  Damascus. 

1352.  going  to  see  those  bodies.]  Arcangeli  took  his  eight-year- 
old  to  see  the  grisly  sight  in  San  Lorenzo  church  just  as  he  sent 
him  afterwards  to  see  the  executions  in  the  Piazza  del  Popolo 
(XII.  333-7). 

1355.  Tominati.]    See  note  on  IV.  1308-16. 
1  .17!  I.]     For  the   'three  pending  suits'  see  IV.   1305-27,  note. 
In  two  of  the  three  Guido  was  the  defendant;   Arcangeli  is  there  - 
wrong  in  saying  that  the  three  suits  were  '  promoted  by  our- 

I'  the  main'. 

1385.  to  barbacue.]  '  Barbacue  your  whole  hogs  to  your  palate  ', 
says  Charles  Lamb  in  his  Dissertation  upon  Boast  Pig.  The  noun 
•  liar!»aeue  is  said  to  be  used  in  the  West  Indies  of  a  hog  roasted 

whole. 

I  :;'.t7.  1      Malaehi  iv.  2. 

1398-1426.]     For  the  appeal  on  Guide's   behalf  to  the   Pope, 
>te  on  III.   1471-7. 

1399.  Ihr  tanhi  pack],  i.e.  the  lawyers  and  the  judges. 

1400.  Bell.]    Cf.  Spenser,  Pastoral  Eclogue,  line  21  : 

Sceiuetli  th'-ir  lraclrr>  hell  tlirir  l>leatiii'_r  time.- 
In  dnlcfiill  sound. 


1  1'i-J.    /  '  iiixoHoux.  \     Coined.    1     think.    l>\     l>mu  niiiL'  :      it    occurs 
MI  in  his  litnrii  :    '  prai-e  forth  shall  How  I'liisonous  in  acclaim  \ 
might  have  been,  but  apparently  was  not,  a  Latin  word. 


176  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1404.]     O.Y.B.  cxlvii.,  vna  particolare  Congregazione. 

1417-22.]  2  Samuel  xii.  26-9.  Joab  had  laid  siege  to  Kabbah, 
and  when  its  fall  was  imminent  he  sent  messengers  to  David  urging 
him  '  to  encamp  against  the  city,  and  take  it ;  lest  I  take  the  city 
and  it  be  called  after  my  name  '. 

1429.]  Matthew  viii.  14  and  elsewhere.  (Arcangeli  should 
have  said  '  mother  ',  not  '  sister  '.) 

1432-3.]    John  ix.  21. 

1453.  minim],  '  smallest  part'  ;  cf.  XI.  1107,  Red  Cotton  Night- 
Cap  Country,  IV.  The  word  is  now  rarely  used  except  in  its  technical 
sense  in  music. 

1460.  the  intellectuals],  i.e.  the  mental  powers.  The  expression 
occurs  twice  in  the  Essays  of  Mia  ;  cf.  '  his  visuals  '  (power  of  seeing) 
in  Jochanan  Hakkadosh.  For  the  Pope's  (supposed)  failing  intellect 
see  XII.  57. 

1469.  all  the  times  prescribed  by  Holy  Writ.]     Ecclesiastes  iii.  1-8. 

1470-71.]     Ecclesiastes  xi.  1. 

1472-1520.]  Arcangeli  sums  up  his  long  answer  to  the  allegation 
of  aggravating  circumstances  by  the  prosecution  (1108-1455), 
and  in  doing  so  takes  note  of  one  such  circumstance  with  which 
he  has  not  dealt,  viz.  that  Guido's  accomplices  were  hired  and 
maintained  at  his  cost  for  many  days  (1500-20;  O.Y.B.  ccvii., 
E.L.  209).  In  the  records  both  Arcangeli  and  Spreti  deal  with 
the  point  (0.  Y.B.  xvi.,  xxxiii.  ;  E.L.  17,  32). 

1475.  all  and  some.]  The  phrase  is  as  old  as  Chaucer's  time 
(Pardoner's  Preamble  : 

First,  I  pronounce  whennes  that  I  come, 

And  thanne  my  bulles  she  we  I,  alle  and  some), 

and  is  very  frequently  used  by  Spenser  as  by  Browning.  (Cf.  X. 
1239,  Bordello,  I.  206,  '  His  crowd  of  feudatories,  all  and  some  '.) 

1483.  we  may  with  safety  do],  i.e.  not  '  we  may  safely  do  ',  but 
'  we  may  do  with  such  precautions  as  will  ensure  our  safety '. 
See  e.g.  O.Y.B.  xvi.,  E.L.  17  :  'the  taking  of  companions  for  the 
murders  [is  not  an  aggravating  circumstance]  because  he  could 
lawfully  use  the  help  of  companions  so  as  to  be  able  to  consult 
more  safely  for  his  honour  by  his  wife's  death  '. 

1485.  Put  case.]    See  note  on  V.  748. 

1500-19.]     The  argument  is  Browning's  own. 

1509-12.]  The  story  of  Tobit,  like  that  of  Judith  (IX.  569), 
was  made  familiar  to  Italians  by  works  of  art,  in  which  Raphael 
and  the  dog  figure. 

1519.  Haud  passibus  sequis.]  Virgil,  Mn.  2.  724  (with  non  for 
haud,  which  would  spoil  the  metre  ;  cf.  note  on  IX.  1333-5). 

1529.  the  poor  man's  advocate.]    See  note  on  I.  178-9. 

1530-37.]     From  Spreti,  O.Y.B.  cxxxix.,  E.L.  144. 

1542.  Castrensis,  Butringarius.]    Paolo  de  Castro  and  Giacomo 


VIII.     HTACINTHUS  DEARCHANGBLIS  177 

I'.iit  i  -i«_';n  i.  jurists  of  the  l.~>th  and  Ittli  centuries  rop.  d  i\  <  ly. 
The  '  ret'iilireni  0800 '  heie  mentioned  is  cited  by  Spreti,  O.Y.B. 
\\\\  i..  A'.  / 

I.V)!>.  tenenda  cordi|,  'to  !)(•  kept  in  mind '  ;  '  Jiearl  should  hold' 
is  a  mistranslation  (XT  note  on  772  above). 

i:,tin7<i.  |  From  Areangeli,  Pamphlet  15  (O.Y.ll.  xli.-xliv.,  /-;./.. 
1 1 -.">),  where  the  opinion  of  Castrcnsis  on  the  technical  point  here 
rai-<-d  i-  cited  \\ith  Mrong  approval. 

I.T7'.»-S3.|  These  |)oints  are  discussed  l>v  Spreti,  ().}'.!>.  \\\i\., 
/../.  37.  Bee  note  on  \.  «.M;I. 

I.V.Mi-Hiol.l  This  incident  is  mentioned  in  the  Secondary 
Source  only  (().  Y.ll.  '1\\\.  W.L.  iMi:,)  :  ' |they  conf.-ssed  under  torture] 
that  they  had  planned  to  kill  Fianceschini  himself  and  to  rob  him 
of  his  money,  because  he  had  not  kept  his  word  to  pay  them  as 
soon  as  they  left  Uome  '.  See  the  comments  of  the  Pope  (X.  858- 
868,  ;».-.L>-t>n  and  of  Guido  (XI.  mf>-49). 

1602.J  This  fact  is  not  mentioned  by  the  Fisc  or  any  one  else 
in  the  records  :  see  last  note. 

1603-31.)     This    ama/ing    proof    of    'their    rectitude,    (iuido's 
integrity  '  i-  (jiiite  beyond  the  inventiveness  of  the  real  Arcangeli. 
//,  Or  id's  phrase.]     Met.  1,  138-40: 

it  inn  est    in   viscera  terra-, 

Oii.iM|iic  iccnmliderat  Styuiisipic  adnmx-crat   uml»ri> 
KtToiliimtur  opc<.  irritaiiieiita  inaloriini. 

)- 1736.]  The  'peroration'  is  that  of  Arcangeli's  Pamphlet 
S  (O.Y.Ii.  c.xxii.-iii.,  K.L.  130). 

168-1.   I.  ii  m  I  la's  self.]     Cf.  IX.  180. 

1689.  unde(jiiai|iie|.  'entirely',  as  in  946  above. 

I71!».  /  round  you  in  the  ears.]  See  132I  above,  and  note  on 
IV.  600. 

17.". t.  MitHHiiiu.]  See  XI.  180-258  for  an  elaborate  description 
of  this  Italian  precursor  of  the  guillotine. 

I7:'.s  IL*.  |  The  famous  Leviathan -passage  in  .!ol»  (c.  xli.)  is 
ii-.  (1  three  times  in  Tin-  lil /»/ anil  Hie  Book  :  (1)  by  Cuido  in  \'.  l."HiJ.."i. 
where  the  ciiniiiiiir  of  the  Comparing  the  lie-  of  Violante.  and  tin- 
bold  carriage  of  Caponsaeehi  are  repicsented  as  a  threefold  cord 
\\hich  land-  Cnido;  (2)  by  the  Pope  in  X.  1102-11,  where  the 
Church  is  said  to  err  in  trying  to  land  such  'kings  of  pride '  as 
Caponsacchi ;  (3)  by  Areangeli  here,  where  the  'king  of  pride' 
i-  the  miracle  of  a  speech  \\hich  the  speaker  lands  and  strands. 

I    <|iio!c.    with    Canon    Driver's    explanations,    the    part    of   the 

which     P.io\\niiiLr     Ofiee     here.       'Canst     thou     draw     out 

leviathan  \i.f.  the  crocodile]  with  a  fish-hook?     Canst   thou  put  a 

rope  into  his  no.-e  '.'      Or  pierce  his  jaw  through  with  a   hook  |not. 

i    .1.1'..   thorn]  ?    \i.f.   Can   the  crocodile,   if  caught,   be  strung 

after\\ard>  mi   a   line,   in  k«-ep  it   fresh  in  the  \\ater,  like  ordinary 

M 


178  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

fish  ?]....  Wilt  thou  play  with  him  as  with  a  bird  ?  Or  wilt 
thou  bind  him  for  thy  maidens  ?  [i.e.  Will  the  crocodile  allow  itself 
to  be  made  a  pet  of  ?] ' 

1745-9.]     Cf.  IX.  1577-9. 

1769.  red  rosolio.]  A  cordial  made  in  Italy  with  spirits,  raisins, 
and  sugar.  N.E.D.  derives  the  word  from  ros  solis. 

1770-72.]     See  note  on  78  above. 

1782-3.]    Matthew  xxv.  27. 

1785.  by  Agur's  wish.]  The  quotation  is  from  Proverbs  xxx.  8  ; 
the  chapter  is  headed  '  The  words  of  Agur '. 

1792-6.]     Cf.  27-34  above. 

1805-7.]  From  Horace,  Epod.  8.  13,  14,  where  of  course  we  have 
bads  (-pearls')  not  mammis  ('breasts').  Arcangeli  is  not  always 
delicate  ;  cf.  XII.  740-8. 

1814.  for,  lambkins,  we  must  live  /]  The  good-living  in  prospect 
suggests  to  Arcangeli  words  used  by  Pistol,  who  looks  forward, 
perhaps,  to  the  '  profits  which  will  accrue  '  to  him  as  sutler  in 
France  (Henry  V.,  2.  1.  133). 


BOOK  IX.— JURIS  DOCTOR  JOHANNES-BAPTISTA 
BOTTINIUS 

INTRODUCTION 

Tin;  manner  of  advocacy  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts  at 
Rome,  as  shown  in  the  twelve  pleadings  of  the  Yellow 
Book,  was  practically  uniform  ;  if  the  poet  was  to  give 
two  sample- pleadings,  as  the  plan  of  his  poem  required, 
sonic  monotony  was  unavoidable.  Both  his  advocates 
must  ransack  the  authorities  from  Moses,  Hoi  mil  us,  and 
Solon  to ""Baldo,  Bartolo,  and  Farinacci  ;  both  must  be 
ready  with  '  Ovidiang^ujp  or  Ciceronian  crank':  both 
must  '  ecclesiasticize^lheir  argument  ;  both  must  quote 
the  ScriptuTeSTffeely";  both  must  be  a  little  careless  about 
the  relevancy  of  the  quotations.  That  the  unavoidable 
monotony  should  be  relieved  by  as  much  variety  as  the 
conditions  permitted  was  naturally  Browning's  aim,  and 
he  attained  it.  with  consummate  skill,  chiefly  in  two  ways. 
Km  ploying  a  device  already  employed  in  Books  II.  and 
III.  he  represented  his  two  advocates  as  of  diffe rent  tempera- 
ments and  as  differently  circumstanced.  His  Bo 
austere,  deliberate,  self. cent rcd^ 

(jjscursive  debonatTT  ftTe  torm(T/Js  a  ri<'id  bach/Tor  with 
no  unprofessional  cares  or  interests,  the  latter  is'not  more 
a  lawyer  than  a  family  maXin  whom  concentration  upon 
a  case  is  interrupted  by  love  of  good  living,  domestic  jo 

i  her's  pride  and  ambition  Th«-  port's  second  de\  i<-e 
was  to  assign  his  two  pleadings  to  different  stages  of  the 
trial,  and  to  present  them  at  ditTerent  stages  in  their 
composition.  Hi>  Areangeli's  plea«linir  i1^  '  Argument  the 

17!) 


180  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

First  ' 1,  his  Bo/fctini's  is  a  final  summing-up.  Arcangeli 
shows  us  but  '  a  chick  in  egg  ',  he  produces  'a  inere 
d*a£fe-;  he  is  interrupted  in  the  drafting  by  extra-legal 
preoccupations  necessitating  asides  ;  he  finishes  his  draft, 
it  is  true,  but  he  leaves  it  '  i'  the  rough  '  ;  it  is  not  yet 
sufficiently  emphasized,  ecclesiasticized,  latinized,  Cicero- 
ized  ;  there  is  still  '  {Ms  to  stick  in  '  and  '  tlr^Ltn  thrmr- 
out ' 2.  Bottini,  though  he  too~~nray  have  to  '  prune  and 
"paro  ' 3,  spouts  to  an  imagined  audience  a  *  full-grown 
speech  '- 

no  trace  of  worm  it  was, 
Or  cabbage -bed  it  had  production  from  4. 

For  this  second  way  of  temperinffj^onotpny  Browning 
took  his  cue  from  the  recorcfs^^Tlie  opening  argument 
of  Arcangeli  in  the  Yellow  Book  was  written,  says  the 
advocate,  currenti,  ut  aiunt,  calamo,  '  with  galloping  pen  ' 5  ; 
it  shows  clear  signs  of  haste.  Bottini's  final  pleading  in 
Pamphlet  136,  which  the  poet  had  chiefly  in  mind  when 
he  wrote  his  Book  IX.,  is  much  better  arranged  and  much 
more  thorough  and  complete  ;  parts  of  it  may  even  almost 
deserve  to  be  called,  as  Professor  Hodell  calls  the  whole, 
'  masterly '. 

'  In  the  monologue  of  Bottini ',  says  the  critic  to  whom 
I  have  just  referred,  Browning  is  far  away  '  from  both  the 
letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  real  Bottini.  The  poet  seems 
to  have  taken  a  distinctly  hostile  attitude  towards  this 
prosecutor  of  Guido,  which  mars  the  fairness  of  his  judg- 
ment ' 7.  Such  a  criticism  of  a  caricature  is  perhaps  too 
solemn  ;  the  caricature  is  so  clever  and  so  diverting  that 
±  the  reader  will  condone  the  flavouring  spice  of  malice  ; 
but  it  must  be  granted  that  in  Book  IX.  Browning  did  not 
always  bear  in  mind  the  principle  of  his  method,  and, 
further,  that  he  claimed  from  Bottini  something  which 
it  was  hardly  reasonable  to  claim. 

The  method  adopted  in  The  Eing  and  the  Book  required 
that  the  speakers  should  be  allowed  to  say  substantially 
what  they  would  have  chosen  to  say,  and  Browning 

1  VIII.  68.  2  VIII.  1737-54. 

»  IX.  1577.  '  4  I.  1167-71. 

5  O.Y.B.  xxiii.,  E.L.  23.     Arcangeli  speaks  of  the  temporis  angustia,  qua?  non 
passa  est  alia  fundamenta  cumulare. 

6  The  pleading  numbered  13  in  O.Y.B.  and  E.L.  is  certainly  later  in  date  than 
that  numbered  14  (also  by  Bottini  ;  see  Appendix  VI.).  7  O.Y.B.  272-3. 


BOOK  /A      JOHANNES-BAPTIST  A  BOTTINIUS  181 

<_niaranteed  thai  they  \\oiild  say  in  his  poem  \\hat  they 
said  in  fart.  His  Bottini,  at  any  rate,  docs  not  al\\a\s 
do  this.  Many  of  the  ival  Bottini's  arguments  \\civ. 
\\e  shall  Bee,  more  ingenious  than  sound — sometimes, 
indeed,  they  \\eiv  absurd  -,  but  they  were  not  so  ingeniously^ 
.•ihsm-iU-ns  some  of  those  of  the  Brgwm'ngi/ed  flojiiolr 
We  are  promised,  in  the  poet's  metaphor,  a  sight  of  the 
\ar\inu  aspects  of  the  revolving  year1,  but  he  modifies  the 
colours  of  this  particular  aspect. — *  The  anger  of  the  poet ', 
says  Mr.  Hodell,  '  probably  arose  from  Bottini's  treatment 
of  Pompilia'.  For  'anger'  I  should  prefer  to  substitute 
'  half-humorous  contempt  '  ;  but,  whether  Browning  was 
angry  with  the  advocate  or  only  despised  him  and  laughed 
at  him,  Bottini's  treatment  of  Pompilia  was  at  any  rate 
one  of  the  eauses  of  Browning's  frenttripnf,  nf  IWtjni  and 
this  treatment,  I  agree,  was  not  quite  fair.  The  prosecutor 
of  Guido  was  not  concerned,  as  the  poet  makes  him  say 
that  he  was  concerned,  to  '  saint '  Pompilia  2  ;  his  business 
was  to  prove  that  Guido  deserved  death.  To  prove  that 
Pompilia  was  blameless  would  have  helped  to  that  end, 
but  to  ground  the  case  for  Guido's  condemnation  entirely 
upon  her  blamelessness  would  have  been  a  blunder.  Bottini 
might  rightly  think  that  the  vindication  of  the  law  would 
be  more  complete  if  the  condemnation  was  obtained  on 
other  grounds  ;  and  an  attempt  to  obtain  it  on  this  ground 
might  well  have  failed.  Suspicious  circumstances  attended 
Pompilia's  flight ;  misconduct,  though  by  no  means  proved 
against  her,  had  been  so  far  credited  by  the  judges  in  the 
previous  trial  that  Caponsacchi  at  any  rate  had  been 
penalized  :  her  own  evidence  was  contradicted  on  certain 
p<  ints  by  Caponsacchi  himself  and  by  other  \\\' 
•  n  one  point  it  was  self -contradictory 3.  We  may  allow. 
\\c  must  allow,  that  Bottini—  the  real  Bottini — admitted,  in 
fact  or  for  the  sake  of  argument,  far  too  much  against  her. 
and  that  he  failed  to  make  points  which  would  have  told 
in  her  favour;  but  if  he  had  insisted  on  her  absolute 
truth  and  innocence  and  had  based  his  case  thereon  he 
mi'jht  have  let  a  villain  through  the  meshes  of  the  law 
and  cheated  wannain  of  its  due. 

If.  however,  in  this  Book  IX.  Browning  is  neither  quite 

i    I.   I :•.»•.!.  Ml.  710.  \j.p..| „!!,,.<  IV.  :m.l  V. 


182  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

true  to  the  principle  of  his  method  nor  quite  fair  to  Bottini, 
his  caricature  is  not  only,  as  has  been  said,  very  clevej  art^ 
diverting,  but  it  observes  the  canons  of  the  caricaturist's 
art.  It  exposes  real  absurdities  and  abnormalities,  ex- 
aggerating them  with  a  true  regard  to  what  makes  them 
abnormal  and  absurd.  The  damaging  admissions  of  the 
Bottini  of  the  Yellow  Book  were  often  unnecessary  and 
sometimes  preposterous  ;  they  may  in  many  cases  be 
fairly  attributed,  as  the  poet  attributes  them,  to  the 
vanity  of  an  advocate  who  is  confident  that  his  eloquence 
can  *  smoothen  good  and  evil  to  one ' l ;  who  deliberately 
rputs  himself  into  tight  places  that  he  may  show  how 
Ldexterously  he  can  wriggle  out  of  them  ;  who  is  over- 
ready  to  find  something  '  to  excuse,  reason  away  and 
show  his  skill  about '  2  ;  who  will  accept 

Anything,  anything  to  let  the  wheels 
Of  argument  run  glibly  to  their  goal 3. 

It  takes  one's  breath  away  at  times,  after  laughing  at 
some  ingeniously  absurd  argument  in  Book  IX.,  to  find 
on  turning  to  the  records  that,  as  the  notes  will  show,  it 
is  not  caricature  at  all,  but  faithful  photography. 

Browning  must  have  enjoyed  himself  greatly  as  he 
wrote  this  brilliant  piece,  and  it  is  strange  that  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  writer  should  not  be  shared  by  some  of  his 
readers  4 ;  but  for  all  his  wit  and  fun  he  had  a  most  serious 
purpose  at  the  back  of  his  mind.  He  wrote  his  Book  IX. 
under  the  inspiration  of  the  Comic  Muse,  but  like  the 
Augustinian  preacher,  his  mouthpiece  in  Book  XII.,  he 
was  obsessed  by  the  tragic  thought  howjgerverse,  how  false, 


wie  human  judgments  ojten_are/hQw  utterly 
fajj_J;o  r^cogmze  the  highest  when  they  see  it.  That 
thought  isaciomtTiciut  wujtij  tliruiighCuT"the  poein,  and 
the  pity  of  it  is  enhanced  when  the  perversity  and  the 
falseness  and  the  cruelty  and  the  failure  are  found  in  *  law, 
appointed  to  defend  the  just '  and  to  clear  '  pearl-pure 
fames ' 5.  In  what  the  Augustinian  calls  Bottini's  '  best 
defence '  for  Pompilia — I  have  suggested  above  that  it 

i  I.  1179-81.  2  ix.  1441-2.  »  IX.  469-72. 

4  See  Introduction  to  Book  VIII.  5  XII.  555,  580. 


BOOK  IX.—JOHANNE8-BAPTI8TABOTTINIU8  183 


n"t  n-ully  his  business  t<>  drlnid  lu-r-    he  did  nm 
the  }Mvnch<T,  inm-lv  show 

The  inadequacy  and  inaptitude 
<>f  that  self-same  ma<  hine,  that  very  law 
Man  vaunts,  devised  to  dissipate  the  gloom, 
Rest-  ue  the  drowninir  <>rb  from  calumny1; 

his  IM--I  defence  was  itsdl 


NOTES 

(N.B.  —  The  numbering  of  the  lines  in  the  notes  to  this  Book,  afler 
line  ',.'>;,  is  that  of  the  second  and  all  subsequent  editions,  but  not 
(hat  <>f  the  first  edition.  See  '  Lines  Added  '  in  Appendix  XL) 

13.  louts  him  low],  i.e.  bows  obsequiously.    See  note  on  VI.  439. 

29.  girding  loin  and  lighting  lamp.}     See  note  on  II.  318. 

50.  be  the  phrase  accorded  me  !\  Bottini  affects  to  look  down 
on  artists  and  their  concerns  from  a  superior  level  ;  cf.  31,  77,  118. 

56.  chiilk  a  little  stumped],  i.e.  blurred  by  the  instrument  which 
artists  call  '  a  stump  '. 

•  i."..  clouted  shoon.]     From  Milton,  Comus,  635. 

91.  E  pluribus  unum.]  From  Virgil,  Moretum,  103,  color  est  e 
plnribus  unus. 

97.  chyme.}  From  *i^6v,  '  juice  '  ;  chyme  is  '  the  form  which 
food  assumes  after  it  has  undergone  the  action  of  the  stomach  '. 

109.  eximious],  i.e.  excellent  ;  '  common  in  the  17th  century, 
the  few  examples  in  the  19th  are  humorously  pedantic  or  bombastic  ' 
(N.E.D.).  Cf.  Jochanan  Hakkadosh,  lines  11-12  : 

(Mir  inuch-enlijzhtened  master.   Israel's  prop, 
Kximious  .lochanaii   P.en  SaMmthai. 

112.  Capena],  i.e.  the  Porta  Capena,  by  which  the  Via  Appia 
enter-  the  city. 

114.  The  Florentine.}    Michael  Angelo. 

115.  The  Urbinate.}    Raphael. 

116.  The  Cortonese.  \     Pietro  (  Bei  rettini)  da  Cortona  (1597-1669)s 

117.  the   accomplished   Ciro   Ferri.]    This   forgotten   artist,   for 
whom   and      his  master'  see  V.  488-9,  died  in   1689,  so  that  the 
misgiving  «-xpre>>.-d  in  line  118  was  justified. 

1  in.  rhnhu*  plucks  my  ear!}  From  Virgil,  Eel  6.  3-4,  Cynthin* 
[  =  Phoebus]  annni  Vtllit  et  admonuit,  imitated  by  Milton,  Lycidas, 
77. 

143.  The  rack.]    See  App.-ndix  VL 


i  XII.  576  tegq. 

-  I    h:ivi-   :i.l.li-.l   lli 
MI    i  li.nl—  Wiiihun-. 


|>:ir:mr:iph  nn    tin-    kiii'l    sii««rstitiii  «>l    n    corn's|u.ii<U-iit, 


184  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

144-7.]  '  The  lyrist '  is  Horace,  who  says  that  as  the  rack 
makes  the  reluctant  witness  confess,  so  wine  makes  the  usually 
stiff  and  silent  wit  talk  freely  (Od.  3.  21.  13-14). 

170.  Phryne]  was  a  famous  Greek  courtesan  ;  the  Venus  Anadyo- 
mene  of  Apelles  and  the  Cnidian  Venus  of  Praxiteles  are  said  to 
have  represented  her.  The  orator  Hyperides  was  one  of  her  lovers  : 
his  '  elegant  defence  '  of  her  on  a  capital  charge  is  highly  praised 
in  the  treatise  on  Sublimity  ascribed  to  Longinus.  When  the 
orator's  eloquence  had  failed  to  convince  the  judges  he  bade  her 
uncover  her  breast  and  so  secured  her  acquittal. 

170-71.]  Cf.  175  and  576-7  below ;  Bottini  '  entangles  himself 
with  his  similitudes  '. 

172.  /  prove  this  ?]  '  Prove  '  is  of  course  emphatic  ;  see  160 
above. 

177-8],  i.e.  how  he  caught  the  slave  who  (according  to  his  tale) 
had  been  preferred  by  Lucretia  to  her  husband  Collatinus.  For 
Tarquin's  '  deed  of  shame  '  see  Livy  1.  58.  4. 

189.]     Luke  vi.  44. 

200-202.]  I  cannot  discover  where  Browning  found  this  pretty 
'  old  conjecture  '. 

214-15.]  I  cannot  trace  the  quotation ;  Hodell  says  that  it 
was  a  '  medieval  clerical  saying '.  A  clepsydra  was  (1)  a  water- 
glass  for  measuring  time,  and  (2)  a  period  of  time  so  measured. 
Pliny  says  (Epp.  2.  11.  14)  that  on  a  certain  important  occasion  he 
spoke  in  court  through  sixteen  clepsydrae,  and  that  his  speech  lasted 
for  nearly  five  hours. 

217.  As  Flaccus  prompts.]  Horace  (Flaccus)  praises  Homer 
because  '  he  always  hastens  to  the  issue  and  hurries  his  readers 
into  the  heart  of  the  story,  just  as  if  they  were  familiar  with  it ' 
(A. P.  148-9).  No  po«t  takes  '  the  epic  plunge '  more  boldly  than 
Browning. 

225.]     Suggested  by  O.Y.B.  ccix.,  E.L.  211. 

226.  the  Teian.]  Anacreon  of  Teos;  the  quotations  here  and 
in  427-9  are  from  an  CPUTLKOV  attributed  to  him. 

yvvai^iv  OVK  £T    elxff- 
TL  o$v ;   didwcn   /cdXXos 


Kepara  ravpots 
6?rXas  5'  edoiKev  ITTTTOIS, 


rots  tx0ij(riv  TO 


rots 


dvr 

VLKq.     8£    KO.I 

Ko.1  Trvp  /oaX?7  TIS  o!xra. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  according  to  Anacreon  here  '  man's  dower ' 
is  thought,  the  dvefj.6ev  (f>pbvrnj.a  which  in  Sophocles  is  that  of  man 
and  woman  alike;  Bottini  read  into  Anacreon  what  he  found 
perhaps  in  Bion :  /j.op(pd  6r)\vTtpai(n  TreXei  KO.\JV,  dvtpi  5'  d\Kd,  *  beauty 
is  women's  glory,  a  man's  is  strength '. 


BOOK  /A.     ./o//.LYA'/<;.s  /M/T/NV'.-l  HOTTINW8  185 

240-41.  Diseedunt  mine  amoies,  etc.  ]  I  cannot  identify  the 
quota!  inn. 

iM."..  determined  day.}    cf.  \'l.  ll'.t'.),  •  the  determined  morning'. 

iM'.t.  Oohibita  fait,  etc.]  I n  the  a  }'./*.  (ix.,  A1./,.  1 1 )  it  is  Arcangeli 
who  says  thai  1'ompilia,  when  'taken  to  Arc//o  with  her  pseudo- 
paivnts.  was  restrained  from  living  a  too  free  life  '.  Bottini  admits 
too  much  :  see  Introduction  to  this  Book. 

282.  |     Revelation  xxi.  4,  5. 

284-6.  Novorum  .  .  .  Naseitur  ordo  !]  Virgil  ("the  Mantuan'), 
Eel.  4.  5-7  (with  saeclorum  for  novorum).  Of  course  he  had  no 
'such  purpose  in  his  eye  '  as  Bottini  pretends  to  think. 

281).  '/  IHIXXIUJC  in  I/if  < 'a /i tides.]     Song  of  Solomon  ii.  11-13. 

L".'S  :iol.|     Compare  My  Last  Duchess. 

307.   rnl  fv/.sv.J     See  note  on  V.  748. 

— .  escapes],  i.e.  escapades,  peeeadilloes  ;  in  Aristophanes'  Apology 
Aristophanes  says  of  the  (Ireek  gods  that 

\\'ith  kindly  limnanism  they  eountenan<  •  <l 
Our  emulation  of  divine  eacape& 

Shakesj»eare  gives  the  word  a  more  sinister  meaning,  e.g.  in  Titus 
Amlnmicufi,  4.  2.  113-14  : 

C.    Rome  will  despise  her  for  this  fold  escape. 

.V.    The  emperor,  in  his  injje,  will  doom  her  death. 

.'{1:5.  olent.}  'Redolent'  notwithstanding,  '  olent '  is  hardly  an 
English  word. 

.',!•>.  Tonstans  in  levitate".]  From  Ovid,  Tristia,  5.  8.  18 
(he  is  speaking  of  Fortune) : 

inanet  in  nullo  certa  tenaxque  loco; 
Sed  modo  laeta  manet.  vultus  modo  siiinit  aieil  08, 
Et  tantum  eon-tans  in  levitate  sua  Mt, 

342.  a  levite.]  The  term  was  freely  used  as  a  synonym  for  a 
di  i« on  or  subdeacon ;  cf.  V.  740. 

— .  bears  the  bell  aicay],  i.e.  is  preferred,  as  the  hell- wet  her  of 
the  Hock;  cf.  Herri  Riel,  XL,  'All  that  France  saved  from  the 
I'trlit  whence  England  bore  the  bell' ;  The  Ttvo  Poets  of  Croisic ,  i\ ,, 
'bore  the  bell  away  From  some  too-pampered  son  of  fortune': 
George  Bulb  Dotli nylon,  i. 

347-8.  "Credc  non  ilium",  etc.]  From  Horace,  Od.  2.  4.  17  is 
(adapted). 

I.J     The  reference  is  perhaps  to  Leviticus  xxi.  17-23,  where, 
however,  the  Levites  are  not  specially  mentinmd. 

:;.V).  nnctimliil}.  i.e.  impure;  as  in  475  ('her  candid  fame') 
'  candid  '  pure,  >pot  |e>>. 

360  f.t;.      Bee  I  Samuel  \\\. 

368.    lieu   prisea   lide>!j      1-Yom  VirL'il.  .Kn.  6.878. 


186  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

372-3.]  The  Pope  himself  uses  sea-side  similes  in  X.  486  seqq. 
and  1449-50. 

380-81.]  O.Y.B.  Ixxxiv.,  E.L.  92  (Deposition  of  Pompilia) : 
'  He  said  that  he  wished  to  kill  me.  .  .  .  He  pointed  a  pistol  at 
my  breast.  ...  If  he  ,did  not  kill  me  with  arms,  he  might  poison 
me  '.  Of.  V.  948-51. 

394.  the  right  Comacchian]  from  the  Valle  di  Comacchio  (N. 
of  Ravenna)  famous  in  Garibaldi's  story  : 

the  lagoon 

Not  land,  nor  water,  where  the  great  eels  lie, 
The  Valley  of  Comacchio. 

(Mrs.  Hamilton  King,  The  Disciples,  p.  143.) 

404.  lunes],  mad  freaks.     The  word  is  often  used  by  Shakespeare  ; 
of.  e,g.  Troilus  and  Cressida,  2.  3.  139,  where  Agamemnon  speaks 
of  Achilles' s  '  pettish  lunes,  his  ebbs,  his  flows  '. 

405.  Insanit  homo.]     Horace,  Sat.  2.  7.  117. 
418.  truliest.]     See  note  on  XII.  560. 
427-9.]     See  note  on  226  above. 

435  seqq.]  This  argument  is  used  by  the  author  of  the  Second 
Anonymous  Pamphlet  (who  may  have  been  Bottini  himself) ; 
see  O.Y.B.  ccxix.,  E.L.  221.  For  Bottini' s  damaging  admissions 
see  the  Introduction  to  this  Book. 

453-6.]  Persius  argues  in  his  Prologue  (8-11)  that  hunger  can 
make  a  man  write  poetry,  just  as  it  makes  a  parrot  and  a  magpie 
speak  : 

Quis  expedivit  psittaco  suum  %cu/)e, 

Picamque  docuit  nostra  verba  conari  ? 

Magister  artis  ingehique  largitor 

Venter,  negatas  artifex  sequi  voaes. 

Between  the  first  and  the  second  of  these  lines  a  few  MSS.  insert 
Corvos  quis  olim  concavum  salutare  ? 

which  Browning  accepts  ('  a  crow  salute  the  concave  ').  But  the 
crow  is  out  of  place  in  the  lines  of  Persius,  and  concavum  (for  which 
one  MS.  has  Caesarem)  cannot  mean  the  vault  of  heaven  ;  '  it 
would  doubtless  refer  to  the  sound  '  (Conington). — This  passage 
is  suggested  by  the  real  Bottini' s  remark  that,  though  the  letter 
referred  to  in  459  seqq.  may  have  been  written  by  Pompilia,  it 
does  not  prove  that  she  could  write  at  an  earlier  date  ;  despair 
may  have  sharpened  her  wits  (O.Y.B.  clxxiii.,  E.L.  180).  The 
ingenious  reference  to  Persius  is  Browning's  own. 

459.  one  letter],  viz.  that  alleged  to  have  been  written  by  Pompilia 
to  the  Comparini  from  the  prison  at  Castelnuovo  (O.Y.B.  clv.-vi., 
E.L.  160).  The  letter  is  most  important ;  see  Appendix  IV. 

466-8.]  Browning  should  not  have  made  Bottini  say  this ; 
for  (1)  the  letter  was  put  in  '  for  the  Fisc  ',  and  not  (like  the  love- 


BOOK  IX.—JOHANNES-BA  1'TISTA  BOTTINWS   187 

letters)  by  ({uido's  advocates,  and  (2)  it  cannot  have  been  written 
before  I'ompilia's  imprisonment  at  (  'astolnuovo,  and  therefore 
cannot  have  been  prepared  by  Guido  before  the  flight. 

17.~>.   1-ainlid.  \     Sec  note  on  '  uncandid  '  above  (:{.">.">). 

1  7  (17.   ••/////  life,  Not  an  hour's  purchase"],  la  mia  vita  era  a  Jiore. 

."»!:;.  ninrkir<irniN\.  !.<'.  misers,  money-grubbers.  The  word  is 
applied  to  Lord  Cottington,  the  self  -seeking  minister  of  Charles  I.. 
in  Stafford,  1.  1.  <i:J. 

.".1  t.j    Cf.  IV.  310. 

517.  the  Samson.]    Judges  xvi. 

518.  permit  the  end,  etc.]    Cf.  VIII.  1137-9,  1180.     That  the  end 
justifies  the  means  is  argued  freely  by  both  sides  :    by  the  prosecu- 
tion chiefly,  as  here,  to  justify  the  love  -letters  ;    by  the  defence 
to  dispose  of  the  alleged  '  aggravating  circumstances  '. 

523-5.]     From  O.Y.B.  clxxvii.,  E.L.  184. 
529-36].     Moschus,  Idyl  1.  3-5  :— 

dpaireTidas  f'/tuj  €<TTU>  •    6  fiavvras  ytpas  f£et. 
/it<r0«is  rot  rb  <t>l\a/j.a  rb  Kvirpidos'    ty  d'  dydyris  viv, 
rb  (pt\a/j.a,   TV  5',   u>  &vft   K 


537.]     1  Corinthians  x.  11. 

538  seqq.]  The  real  Bottini  often  employs  this  argument  ; 
e.g.  in  O.Y./l.  Ixxiii.,  Ixxiv.,  clxxvii.-viii.  (E.L.  80,  81,  184). 

539.  else  were  hard  explain.}  Note  the  two  Browningisms  —  the 
(very  common)  omission  of  the  relative  as  subject,  and  the  (rare) 
omission  of  '  to  '  before  infinitive  after  an  adjective. 

541.  He  is  Myrtillus,  Amaryllis  she.}  These  and  other  lovers' 
names  occur  in  the  love-letters,  in  which  the  unsophisticated 
Pompilia,  to  whom,  as  the  Pope  says  (X.  1020),  '  it  was  not  given 
to  know  much  ',  is  made  to  display  a  surprising  knowledge  of  love- 
literature.  See  O.Y.B.  xcvi.,  E.L.  104:  'I  don't  know  what 
name  to  give  myself,  whether  Vienna,  or  Amaryllis,  or  Dorinda, 
or  Lilla  ;  but  I  choose  to  call  myself  Ariadne  .  .  .  provided  that 
you  are  not  a  Theseus,  but  a  chaste  Joseph,  or  a  dear  Narcissus, 
or  an  Ilago,  or  Fedone  ;  .  .  .  Adonis  was  compassionate  with 
Venus,  but  I  am  not  such  as  she,  but  truly  a  Medusa.  ...  If  you 
have  read  Tasso,  etc.'.  Dr.  Berdoe  explains  that  Amaryllis  was 
4  the  name  of  a  countryman  ! 

548-50.]  The  story  is  told  in  Odyssey  4.  244-8  ;  cf.  Euripides, 
Hec.  239-41. 

:».•)!.  boggled  at.]    See  1379  below  and  VI.  282,  note. 

flnck-illsh.]  A  wooden  dish  with  cover  which  beggars 
clatter  when  asking  for  alms.  Cf.  Measure  for  Measure,  3.  2.  135. 
Charles  Lamb,  in  his  Complaint  of  '  the  Decay  of  Beggars,  calls  it  a 
'  clap-dish  '. 

.").»!.  In  ijnnd  promises,  etc.},  i.e.  We  praise  her  not  only  for  making 
such  promises,  but  also  for  keeping  them. 


188  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

564.  perdue.]     Of.  III.  1233,  note. 

569-76.]  Works  of  art  familiarized  Italians  with  the  story  of 
Judith  and  Holophernes,  as  with  that  of  Tobit  (see  note  on  VIII. 
1509-12).  It  is  used  as  an  illustration  three  times  in  the  records  : 
by  Bottini,  as  here  (O.Y.B.  Ixxiii.,  E.L.  80);  by  Arcangeli,  in  a 
rather  feeble  rejoinder  (O.Y.B.  cviii.,  E.L.  116);  by  the  Second 
Anonymous  Pamphleteer  in  the  same  connection  (O.Y.B.  ccxx., 
E.L.  221). 

576.  ///  entangle  me,  etc.]     See  note  on  170-71. 

582.]  Horace,  Od.  4.  2.  1-4.  Icarus  tried  to  fly  with  wings 
constructed  by  his  father  Daedalus,  who  fixed  them  on  with  wax, 
but  he  flew  too  near  the  sun  ;  the  wax  melted  and  he  fell  into  the 
sea. 

597-8.]     1  Samuel  xvii.  10  :    Goliath  defies  the  armies  of  Israel. 

602.  our  Saint  George.]     See  note  on  III.  1065-6. 

606-8.]  Critics  said  of  St.  Paul  that  '  his  letters  are  weighty 
and  powerful,  but  his  bodily  presence  is  weak  '  (2  Corinthians  x.  10). 

609.  to  oak],  as  believed  to  be  specially  liable  to  be  struck  by  light- 
ning (a  classical  tradition)  ;  cf.  Measure  for  Measure,  2.  2.  115-17  : 

Thou  rather  with  thy  sharp  and  sulphurous  bolt 
Split'  st  the  unwedgeable  and  gnarled  oak 
Than  the  soft  myrtle. 

Tempest,  5.  1.  45  ;    Coriolanus,  5.  3.  152-3.     The  belief  is  said  to  be 

justified  by  statistics. 

619.  dreads  a  bear  in  every  bush.]     Midsummer  Night's  Dream, 

5.  1.  21-2  : 

Or  in  the  night,  imagining  some  fear, 
How  easy  is  a  bush  supposed  a  bear  ! 

623-30.]  Bottini,  after  his  manner,  argues  about  the  opiate 
as  Browning  represents  ;  see  0.  Y.B.  clxxvii.,  E.L.  184.  The  same 
argument  is  used  by  Lamparelli  (O.Y.B.  cclii.,  E.L.  248-9):  'The 
insidious  means  by  which  the  said  Pompilia  had  recourse  to  flight, 
by  preparing  a  sleeping-draught  not  only  for  her  husband  but  for 
the  whole  household,  beside  the  fact  that  it  is  not  proved,  would 
(so  far  as  it  is  proved)  be  an  argument  for  her  sagacity  rather  than 
for  her  dishonour  ;  for  the  wife  would  have  been  too  fatuous  if 
she  had  attempted  flight  without  a  precaution  of  this  kind  '. 

624.  thwart],  cross-grained,  as  in  King  Lear,  1.  4.  305. 

626.  Helen's  nepenthe],  the  drug  which  Helen  gave  to  '  the 
much-enduring  '  Odysseus  ;  see  Odyssey,  4.  220-21  : 

UVTIK'   ap'  ei's  olvov  /3aXe  (ftdp/maKOV,   tvdev  ZTTLVOV, 
i>r)Trei>6€s  T'  &xo\6v  re,    KaK&v 


('  Straightway  she  cast  into  the  wine  whereof  they  were  drinking 
a  drug  to  soothe  all  sorrow  and  anger,  to  make  men  forget  all 
their  troubles  '). 


BOOK  IX     JOHANNES  BAPT1STA  BOTTINIU8  189 

646.  Suis  expensis,  nemo  militat.J  1  Corinthians  ix.  7:  'who 
gocth  a  warfare  any  time  at  his  own  charges  ?  ' 

»'.:.:;.  nrrc  ike  fiction  fact,  etc.]  The  argument  is  a  fair  burlesque  ; 
it  \sas  not  actually  used  by  Bottini.  A  long  list  of  heavy  valuables 
\vhieh  J'ompilia  was  charged  with  carrying  off  is  given  in  the 
benoe  of  the  Criminal  Court  of  Florence'  (O.Y.B.  vi.,  vii., 
E.L.  ('»).  Pompilia  said  in  her  deposition  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxv.,  E.L.  93) : 
'  1  took  some  little  things  of  my  own  (robbicciuole  di  mio  vso),  a 
box  with  many  trifles  (bagatlelle)  in  it,  and  some  money,  I  don't 
know  how  much  it  was,  from  a  strong-box  (sgriyno}.  They  were, 
too,  my  own,  as  appears  from  the  note  both  of  the  things  and  of 
tin  money  made  by  the  Registrar  of  Castelnuovo '.  With  this 
Caponsacchi's  deposition  agrees. — If  Pompilia  walked  alone,  as 
Caponsacchi  says  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxix.,  E.L.  96),  from  Guido's  house 
to  the  carriage,  or  even  if,  as  she  says,  Caponsacchi  walked  with 
her,  the  things  scheduled  in  the  Sentence  could  hardly  have  been 
canied  all  the  way  by  hand,  (specially  as  it  was  necessary  'to 
scale  the  walls  of  the  city '. 

657-8.]  Dido's  brother  Pygmalion,  King  of  Tyre,  secretly 
murdered  her  rich  husband  Sycha-us  and  appropriated  his  treasure. 
The  ghost  of  Sychams  appeared  to  her  in  a  dream,  revealed  to  her 
her  brother's  crime,  and  told  her  where  the  stolen  treasure  would 
be  found  ;  with  this  as  (insiliuiit  cite  she  was  to  flee.  She  '  decamped 
with  bag  and  baggage  '  accordingly,  founded  Carthage,  and  became 
its  queen  (Virgil,  Mn.  1.  348-64). 

659-719.]  Some  of  this  high  -  comedy  paragraph  (684-707)  is 
based  upon  the  records,  which  are  full  of  arguments  for  and  against 
the  credibility  of  the  driver's  story  about  the  kissing  ;  the  rest  is 
caricat  ure  (note  in  particular  the  sly  jest  of  670-72).  The  caricature 
is  richly  deserved.  One  of  the  real  Bottini's  points  is  that  kissing 
during  the  flight  cannot  be  inferred  from  the  offer  of  kisses  in  the 
love  -  letti-r>,  liee.uise  these  kisses  were  oiYered  by  Pompilia  (if 
offered  at  all)  to  secure  Caponsacchi's  protection  in  her  flight  : 
such  an  oiler,  lie  assures  the  court  on  the  authority  of  the  law- 
books,  'begets  no  obligation'  (O.Y.B.  clxxix.,  B.L.  185)! — See 
Caponsacchi's  comments  on  the  driver's  evidence  in  VI.  1694-1704. 

713-14.]     From  Horace,  Od.  1.  13.  15-16: 

os.-iila.  <|iia'   Venn* 
l,MiiMtu  parte  sui  ntx-taris  imlniit. 

Bottini's  reference  is  careless;    Horace  meant   by  uxrulti  not   K 
but    Lydia's  lips.      By  </ni/ita  jxirtc  he  meant  either  the  purest-  and 
best    part,    the    «jiiim«->sene«-.    or    a    very    large    (.art.      Perhaps    by 
changing   'fifth'   to   'third'   Bottini  implies  that    I'ompili 
\\ould  be  even  s \\ t  eter  than  Lydia's. 

TL'^-3.1    Suggested  by  Horace,  A.I'.  \  \~2  •. 

Vui  iii«>rc.>  li.'iiiiiniiii  iiiultoimii  viilit  «-t   111 


190  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

728-9.]     Matthew  xvi.  18. 

732.  Nature — baffled  she  recurs.]    Horace,  Epp.  1.  10.  24  : 

Xaturam  expelles  furca,  taraen  usque  recurret. 

747-8.  "  Ut  vidi "  .  .  .  "  Ut  perii ".]     From  Virgil,  Ed.  8.  41. 

760.  busy  o'er  a  book.}    Livy's  version  of  the  story  (25.  31.  9) 
is  that  Archimedes  was  killed  while  '  intent  on  some  figures  which 
he  had  described  in  the  dust '  (intentum  formis  qua*  in  pu 
descripserat). 

782-3.]  From  Cicero,  ad  Fam.  I.  9.  21 :  '  we  ought  not  always 
to  hold  the  same  language,  but  we  ought  always  to  aim  at  the 
same  end '.  He  is  justifying  an  apparent  political  inconsistency. 

790.  by.]    Here,  as  in  792,  ='  compared  with  '. 

804.  in  the  Medicean  mode],  i.e.  like  the  famous  Venus  de'  3IedicL 

809-10.  the  epistle  fraught  With  horrors],  i.e.  the  letter  to  the  Abate 
Paolo,  the  contents  of  which  are  often  summarized  or  expanded 
in  the  poem,  e.g.  in  IL  684-725 ;  see  Appendix  IV.  Assume  that 
PompiUa  really  wrote  this  letter,  Browning  makes  his  Bottini  say 
— the  real  Bottini  does  not  use  the  argument — ,  her  subsequent 
denial,  when  she  wished  '  to  repair  the  harm  it  worked ',  was  '  a 
noble  lie '. 

815.  Put  case.]    See  note  on  V.  748. 

832-5.]  Immediately  after  Nero's  accession  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen, cum  de  supplicio  cuiusdam  damnati,  ut  ex  more  subscriberet, 
admoneretur,  lQuam  vellem',  inqu.it,  'nescire  litteras!'  (Suetonius, 
Nero,  10). 

838.  O  splendidly  mendacious!]    From  Horace,  Od.  3.  11.  35-6  : 

Splendide  mendax  et  in  oome  virgo 
No  bilis  aevum. 

He  is  speaking  of  the  one  Danaid  who  was  faithful  to  her  husband. 
861.  that  commerce  with  souls.]  For  (1)  the  verb,  (2)  the  meaning, 
and  (3)  the  pronunciation,  ct  //  Penseroso,  39,  '  looks  commercing 
with  the  skies',  a  phrase  which  Browning  quotes  in  Fifine  at  the 
Fair,  ex.  (end),  and  Tennyson,  Walking  to  the  Mail : 

commercing  with  himself 
He  lost  the  sense  that  handles  daily  life. 

Shakespeare  does  not,  I  think,  use  the  verb,  but  he  uses  the  noun 
freely  of  intercourse  generally,  and  (in  verse)  he  accents  it  on  the 
second  syllable  (see  Hamlet,  3.  1.  110,  Tioelfth  Night,  3.  4.  191, 
Troilus  and  Crestida,  1.  3.  105). 

868.  Shall  a  Vulcan  clap,  etc.]    See  note  on  III.  1450-.V,. 

871-7.]  Many  critics,  ancient  and  modern,  have  rejected  the 
passage,  'seeing  scandal'  in  it.  Others,  including  Mr.  Gladstone, 
have  regarded  it  as  '  neither  unworthy  of  Homer  nor  unlike  him '. 


IX.    JOHANNES  BAPTI8TA  BOTTINIUS  I'M 

The  (plot  i«>n  of  its  authenticity  is  fully  discussed  in  Dr.  Merry's 
edition  of  the  O-hj.^t  //,  i.  pp.  :i 

^77.  i>ickthank.\  The  A". A'. />.  recognizes  only  the  meaning  'one 
who  "picks  a  thank",  /.»•.  cun-ies  favour  with  another,  esp. 
by  informing  against  some  01  he  word  is  so  used  in  /  Henry 

I  V.,  \\.  '2.  IT),  and  in  Rob  Roy,  e.  ix.  In  Browning  it  means  no  more 
than  'a  meddler';  of.  Kiiuj  Victor  m»l  King  Charles,  Second  Year, 
Parti. 

891.  in  the  garb  of  truth.]     Horace,  Od.  \.24.1,nuda  Veritas. 

893.  Thalassian-pure.]  Sir  Frederic  Kenyon  and  the  A./:./', 
explain  '  pure  as  the  sea '  (0d\a<r<ra) ;  if  this  derivation  is  accepted 
I  should  prefer  to  say  'pure  as  a  sea-nymph'  ('some  Thala*> 

•  nt  (In  Fair.  i. xix.).  But  the  right  explanation  is  probably 
that  suggested  in  H.  and  H.  Notes.  Livy  says  that  at  the  rape  of 
the  Sabine  women  one  far  more  beautiful  than  the  rest  was  seized 
by  the  companions  of  a  certain  Thalassius.  and  that  when  many 
asked,  for  whom  were  they  taking  her.  they  cried  '  for  Thalassius'  ; 
hence,  he  adds,  the  phrase  has  become  'nuptial'  (1.  9.  12).  Any- 
how the  use  of  the  word  Thalassius  or  Thalassio  in  marriage  cere- 
monies is  abundantly  proved;  see  e.<j.  Catullus  61.  127.  'Some 
think  that  the  god  of  virginity  was  called  Thafassio'  or  Thalassius 
(Forbiger  on  Virgil,  Catat.  .">.  1">) ;  perhaps  Browning  took  that 
view. 

•  ••itches  at  his  suvrd.]     See  note  on  II.  1031. 

900-945.]  This  delightful  passage,  with  its  euphuisms  and  its 
confusion  of  metaphors,  arre>t<  attention.  There  might,  says 
Bottini.  have  been  an  amicable  interview,  some  gentility  of  aj>oph- 
thcgm  or  captivating  lyrical  cadence  from  (Juido,  a  smiling  blush 
from  Pompilia,  and  all  would  have  l>eeii  happily  settled.  But 
(Juido  preferred  to  settle  thiii«_r>  by  violence,  by  the  argument  of 
the  blow  ;  Pompilia.  like  an  obedient  wife,  accepted  his  alternative, 
returned  him  blow  for  blow.  butTet  ratiocinative.  Cuido,  having 
got  himself  into  a  quagmire,  preferred  that  Pompilia  should  not 
him  a  hand  to  help  him  out,  but  should  jump  UJMMI  his  head. 
cordingly,  and  he  extricated  himself  by  the  rebound. 
For  her  jumping  upon  his  head,  or  (to  return  to  the  oilier  metaphor) 
flourishing  the  blade,  proved  to  the  crowd  that  she  was  innocent. 
and  what  could  he  want  more  ?  His  honour,  winch,  he  had  feared, 
was  smirched.  Hashed  brinhtly  again  in  the  public 

'I.     LO&8;        'p.n.Kt    with    this    Caponsacchi's 
account  in  VI. 

.  /.<.  must  IM-. 

John  viii.  7. 

D   11-7  U-lo\\ . 

:>'f.\       .lollll    \\.     !."».  ^^ 

Lanmedon    defrauded    Apollo    and    Neptune    of 
the  reward  he  had   promised  them   for  building  the  walls  of  'I 


192  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

In  consequence  of  his  fraud  Troy  was  visited  by  a  monster,  and 
Laomedon,  on  the  advice  of  an  oracle,  exposed  his  daughter  Hesione 
for  the  monster  to  devour.  Hercules  promised  to  save  her  on 
certain  terms  ;  his  terms  were  accepted  and  he  saved  her  (Ovid, 
Met.  11.  211-15).  Portia  makes  use  of  the  Hesione  legend  in  The 
Merchant  of  Venice  (3.  2.  53-60). 

972.  ore.]  Strictly  a  particular  kind  of  whale  ;  commonly  used, 
as  here,  for  a  mythical  monster. 

985.  Jove,  far  at  feast,  etc.]  In  the  Iliad  (1.  423-5)  Thetis  tells 
Achilles  that  she  cannot  plead  with  Zeus  for  him  at  the  moment, 
because  Zeus  has  gone  far  away  for  a  fortnight's  feasting  with  the 

*  unblamed  '  (d/j.v/moi>as)  Ethiopians. 

987.  /  heard  of  thy  regale.]    VIII.  passim. 

988.  Hercules  spun  ivool]     Hercules  was  afflicted  with  a  sore 
disease.     Warned  by  the  oracle  that  he  could  only  be  cured  if  he 
served  for  wages  for  three  years  he  became,  first  the  servant,  then 
the  lover,  of  Omphale,  queen  of  Lydia.     To  please  her  he  spun 
wool  and  wore  her  garments,  while  she  wore  his  lion-skin  (Ovid, 
Fasti,  2.   305  seqq.).     He  did,  however,  rescue  Hesione  from  the 
'  ore  '. 

992.  most],  i.e.  greatest ;  cf.  Herve  Riel,  vi. 

998.  sole  anti-Fabius.]  The  '  Fabian  policy '  of  slow  attrition 
in  the  Second  Punic  war  was  described  by  Ennius  in  the  famous 
line  (unus  homo  nobis  cunctando  restituit  rem)  into  which  Bottini 
inserts  a  negative. 

1004.  ranged  Arezzo.]     Cf.  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  1.  1.  33-34 : 

Let  Rome  in  Tiber  melt,  and  the  wide  arch 
Of  the  ranged  empire  fall  ! 

Arezzo  sympathized  with  Pompilia,  but  did  not  put  itself  out  over 
her  wrongs. 

1018.  Quid  vetat  ?]  Horace,  Sat.  1.  1.  24-5,  ridentem  dicere  verum 
Quid  vetat  ?  ('  why  shouldn't  one  tell  the  truth  in  jest  ?  '). 

1030.  "  Sepher  Toldoth  Yeschu  "],  i.e.  The  Book  of  the  Genera- 
tions of  Jesus  ;  a  Jewish  attack  upon  Christianity  which  Voltaire 
assigned  to  the  first  century,  but  which  probably  dates  from  the 
thirteenth. 

1034.  schismatic  .  .  .]     Molinists,  no  doubt. 

1039-40.  chop  And  change.]  Alliterative  phrases,  like  the  per- 
petually recurring  'chop  and  change',  'shade  and  shine',  had  a 
great  attraction  for  Browning  ;  cf.  '  grub  and  grab  ',  '  mop  and 
mow',  'land  and  strand',  'glare  and  flare',  'guard  and  guide', 

*  clout  and  lout ',  '  roar  and  soar  ',  '  pry  and  try  ',  '  trip  and  skip  ', 
'  whir  and  stir  ',  '  rhyme  and  chime  ',  '  primly,  trimly  ',  '  drenched 
and  quenched  ',  '  cold  and  bold  ',  '  drips  and  drops  ',  '  round  and 
sound  ',   '  wags  and  brags  ',   '  wrinkling  and  twinkling  ',   '  dumplc 
and    dimple  ',    '  tint    and    hint ',    '  rabble's    brabble  ',    '  wrangled, 


BOOK  IX.— JOHANNES-BAPTIST 'A  BOTTINIUS  193 

See 


194  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

mollitious  alcoves  gilt 
Superb  as  Byzant  domes. 

1204.  thy  wicked  townsman.]    Pietro  Aretino  ;  see  note  on  X.  654. 

1206.]     See  note  on  539  above. 

1212.  the  holy  house.}    See  note  on  II.  1198. 


1216.] 
1218.1 
1220. 
1225. 


Mark  i.  45. 
John  v.  7. 
Matthew  ix.  5. 
domus  pro  carcere  ;  see  note  on  II.  1323. 


1227.  Redeunt  Saturnia  regna.]  From  '  the  Pollio  eclogue '  of 
Virgil  (Ed.  4.  6),  of  which,  here  as  elsewhere  (284,  1227,  1376), 
Bottini  makes  audacious  use. 

— .  six  weeks  slip.]    A  mistake  ;  see  note  on  II.  1323. 

1232-4.]  Psalm  Ixviii.  13  ('  the  pots '  is  a  mistranslation ; 
should  be  '  the  sheepf olds  ' ).  '  To  mue  '  (French  muer,  from  Latin 
mutare  with  restriction  of  meaning)  =  '  to  moult '. 

1242.]     Virgil,  Georg.  1.  151-4. 

1246.  doubtful,  nay  fantastic  bruit.]    See  II.  1368-72. 

1268.  Tozzi.]    See  XI.  2333,  2337  ;  XII.  40. 

1285.  colocynth],  KoXoKwdis,  '  bitter-apple ',  a  strong  cathartic. 
Cf.  Othello,  1.  3.  355,  '  the  food  that  to  him  now  is  luscious  as  locusts 
shall  be  to  him  shortly  as  bitter  as  coloquintida  '. 

1297-8.]  Song  of  Solomon  vii.  4,  '  thy  nose  is  as  the  tower  of 
Lebanon,  which  looketh  toward  Damascus  '. 

1299.  "Forsan  et  haec  olim"]  meminisse  iuvabit  ('even  these 
things,  perhaps,  it  will  one  day  be  sweet  to  remember '),  Virgil, 
Mn.  1.  203. 

1312.]     See  below,  1338-40. 

1321-2.]     I  cannot  identify  '  the  sage  '  who  said  this. 

1325-6.  "  films  est  Quern  nuptise  demonstrant ".]  A  legal  '  text ' 
commonly  quoted  in  the  form  Est  pater  ille  quern  nuptice  demon- 
strant, '  he  is  the  father  whom  the  marriage-rites  point  out  as  being 
so  '.  See  V.  1468-70,  2027. 

1333-5.]  Virgil,  Eel.  3.  1-2.  Bottini  carelessly  wrote  sed  for 
verum.  Both  words  mean  '  but ',  but  if  Virgil  had  written  sed 
he  would  have  made  a  bad  false  quantity.  Cf.  1564  below. 

1338-40.]  Pompilia  said  in  her  deposition:  'When  about  a 
year  had  passed  after  the  consummation  of  the  marriage  .  .  .  my 
husband  and  also  Beatrice  his  mother  began  to  turn  against  me 
because  I  bore  no  children,  saying  that  his  house  was  dying  out 
because  of  me  '  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxiii.,  E.L.  91). 

1345-7.]  Virgil  (Maro),  Georg.  4.  554-8.  The  shepherd  Aristseus 
had  lost  all  his  bees.  At  the  bidding  of  his  mother  Gyrene  he 
sacrificed  four  bulls  and  four  heifers  to  the  powers  to  whom  the 
loss  was  due.  Nine  days  later  he  saw  a  marvellous  sight ;  bees  were 
humming  in  the  carcasses  and  swarming  from  the  bruised  flanks. 


BOOKIX.—JOHANNES-BAPTISTA  BOTT1NIUS  !!>:> 

I  :',:>!.  .s7ccp  horsehair  certain  weeks,  etc.]  Browning  foll<>\\> 
Shakespeare,  Aiilontj  and  Cleopatra,  1.  2.  199-201 : — 

Much  is  breeding 

Which,  like  the  courser's  hair,  hath  yet  but  life, 
.  And  not  a  serpent's  poi-.<>n. 

The  more  widely  spread  superstition  about  generation  from  horse- 
hair relates  to  eels. 

1358.  of  Arezzo's  self.]  In  Casa  Guldi  Windows,  Part  I.,  Mrs. 
Browning  describes  a  demonstration  of  the  Tuscan  cities  in  Florence. 
Representatives  *  of  every  separate  state  in  Tuscany '  marched 
with  their  banners — Siena's  she-wolf,  Pisa's  hare,  Massa's  golden 
and  Pienza's  silver  lion,  while  '  Arezzo's  steed  pranced  clear  from 
bridle-hold  . 

1362-6.]     From  Ovid,  Fasti,  5.  241-2  ;    the  words  are  said  by 
Juno  in  indignation  at  the  birth  of  Minerva  from  the  head  of  Jupiter. 
1371.  last  saint  of  our  hierarchy.]    See  note  on  VII.  30. 
1376-7.  Incipe  .  .  .  patrem.]     From  Virgil,  Eel.  4.  60  (adapted). 
See  note  on  1227  above. 

1379.  boggle.]     See  note  on  VI.  282. 
1384-7.]    Matthew  xii.  44-5. 

1392-3.  t'  the  simile  Of  Homer.]     Bottini  refers  to  Iliad  5.  87-92 
where  the  impetuosity  of  Diomede  is  described. 
1401-3.]     Cf.  949,  1271  above,  1408  below. 

1403.  offuscated.}    As  in  Christopher  Smart,  ix.   ('  Beware  lest 

fume  offuscate  sense  '),  Browning  prefers  '  offuscate  '  to  '  obfuscate  ' 

(It.  offuscare,  Fr.  offusquer).    Alexander  Hume  (c.  1590)  has  'offuskit '. 

1407.  "  What's    this    to    Bacchus?"]     Greek    tragedy    had    its 

origin  in  choruses  which  danced  and  recited  in  honour  of  Dionysus 

(Bacchus).     As  time  went  on  its  original  purpose  was  more  and 

more    ignored,  and    conservative    critics  exclaimed    rl    ravra    a-pds 

AuWo-op ;     ('where   does    Bacchus    come     in?');     which     phrase 

became  proverbial. 

1410.]    Luke  vi.  20. 

1419.  as  an  eel,  etc.]  With  this  simile  compare  XII.  410-13. 
1421.]  See  the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet,  O.Y.B.  ccxxiv., 
E.  L.  225 :  '  Franceschini  told  his  companions  repeatedly  to  look 
.mil  stv  if  she  was  quite  dead,  and  they,  taking  her  by  the  hair  and 
lifting  her  from  the  ground  where  she  was  lying,  thought  that  she 
was  dead,  because  the  poor  lady  by  natural  instinct  knew  how 
to  simulate  it '. 

1422.  for  his  sake.]    Explained  by  1478-91  below. 
1428.]    Between  this  and  the  next  line  the  *  snake '  (Arcangeli) 
is  supposed  to  hiss  out  its  remonstrance,  which  Bottini  proceeds 
to  make  articulate. 

1  JL>(.)-40.]     Bottini's  meaning  is  clear,  but  his  grammar  is  most 
perplexing.      His    meaning    is :      *  Arcangeli's     objection    (raised 


196  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

against  me,  rather  than  against  Pompilia)  is  that  her  tale,  both 
in  her  death-bed  confession  and  in  her  subsequent  talks,  contra- 
dicts mine.  She  admitted  not  a  single  peccadillo  ;  I  have  admitted 
many'.  But  his  grammar?  (1)  As  the  sentence  stands  it  seems 
impossible  to  give  a  satisfactory  meaning  to  the  *  as '  of  line  1430, 
which  is  resumed  (after  the  long  prepositional  clause  introduced 
by  *  in  ')  by  the  '  as  '  of  1435.  It  cannot  mean  '  because  ',  for  then 
'is  found'  (for  'were  found')  would  be  necessary  in  1435.  It 
cannot  mean  (what  '  as '  often  means)  'as  if,  for  this  meaning 
would  make  nonsense  of  the  passage ;  the  context  shows  that 
Bottini  admits  that  the  two  tales  are  at  variance.  (2)  The  'in' 
which  governs  the  prepositional  clause  of  1430-34  depends  upon 
nothing.  That  clause  is  resumed  by  the  '  this '  of  1435,  which  is 
a  nominative. — If  Bottini,  giving  '  as  '  the  meaning  of  '  because  ', 
had  dropped  the  '  in  '  of  1430  and  substituted  '  is  found  '  for  '  were 
found  '  in  1435,  he  would  have  expressed  his  meaning  grammatically  ; 
he  would,  I  think,  have  expressed  it  still  better  if  he  had  also  sub- 
stituted '  that '  for  '  as  '  both  in  1430  and  in  1435. 

1431.]  For  the  confession  and  the  subsequent  talk  see  O.Y.B. 
lvii.-lx.,  E.L.  57-61. 

1446.  that  with  this.']     Bottini's  tale  with  Pompilia's. 

1456-1505.]  Bottini  is  made  to  argue  thus :  (1)  if  Pompilia's 
tale  was  mendacious,  it  was  '  splendidly  mendacious '  (cf.  838) ; 
for  it  was  told,  not  (or  not  only)  to  re -integrate  her  own  fame,  but 
to  re-integrate  Caponsacchi's,  and  it  was  told  in  the  true  interest 
of  Guido  (cf.  1422),  who,  if  persuaded  that  he  had  killed  a  saint, 
might  confess  his  sin  and  prepare  penitently  for  death  (1466-91); 
(2)  Pompilia  confessed  and  was  absolved  before  the  death-bed 
gossipry.  Confession  and  absolution  '  obliterate '  sin.  When  she 
gossiped,  therefore,  she  was  sinless  and  might  so  describe  herself. 

Even  if  a  casuist  might  accept  these  arguments  as  more  or  less 
exculpatory  of  Pompilia,  they  would,  of  course,  have  been  a  support 
to  Guide's  honoris-causa  plea,  and  would  have  come  more  suitably, 
dressed  up  a  little  differently,  from  Guide's  advocates.  The  first, 
indeed,  was  suggested  to  Browning  by  one  of  Arcangeli's  pleadings 
(O.Y.B.  cxii.,  E.L.  121),  and  the  second  by  the  pro-Guido  First 
Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  cliii.,  E.L.  156):  'the  alleged 
declaration  made  by  the  lady  in  the  article  of  death  (in  articolo 
di  morte)  may  be  equivocal  in  itself,  in  the  sense  that  after  confession 
and  sacramental  absolution  sin  is  cancelled  as  if  it  had  never  been 
committed '. 

The  real  Bottini  naturally  argued  throughout  that  death-bed 
confessions  are  true  and  are  ordinarily  accepted  as  true  in  the 
courts,  while  his  opponents  maintained  that  they  are  often  false 
and  that  there  are  many  precedents  for  rejecting  them. 

1482],  i.e.  that  the  murder  was  committed  simply  to  avenge 
his  outraged  honour. 


BOOK  IX.— JOHANNES-BAPTIST ]A  BOTTINIUS  197 

1494.  We  came  to  our  Triarii,  last  resource.}  Cf.  George  Bubb 
Dodington,  vn. : 

Ventum  est  ad  triarios  ;  last  resource. 

After  explaining  that  the  triarii  were  the  reserve  of  the  old  Rome 
army  Livy  adds  (8.  8.  8-11) :  inde  rem  ad  triarios  redisse  proverbio 
increbuit  ('  grew  into  a  proverb  '). 

1505.  of  the  act],  i.e.  of  absolution. 

1506.  Solvuntur  tabulae  ?   etc.]    Horace,  Sat.  2.  1.  86,  solventur 
risu   tabulce.      By   solvuntur   tabulce  ?     Bottini    means    '  does    the 
Court    adjourn    (amidst  laughter)  ? '      Horace's   solventur    tabulce 
means  probably  '  the  case  will  break  down  ',  but  the  figure  employed 
is  uncertain. 

1517.  Decretum.]    See  note  on  VI.  2007-22. 

1531-8.]    From  Bottini's  argument  in  O.Y.B.  clxvii.,  E.L.  175. 

I :.  1:2-3. J  Horace,  Od.  2.  10.  19-20,  neque  semper  arcum  Tendit 
Apollo. 

1545-52.]  Browning  found  this  in  the  Second  Anonymous 
Pamphlet  (0.  Y.B.  ccxxi.,  E.L.  223) :  '  The  "  title  "  of  the  case  is 
just  like  the  branch  hung  up  outside  the  door  of  an  inn,  which  no 
doubt  means  that  wine  is  sold  here,  but  by  no  manner  of  means 
shows  that  the  wine  sold  is  good,  saleable,  and  pleasant '.  The  old 
custom  of  hanging  an  ivy  bough  before  a  vintner's  door  is  mentioned 
by  writers  quoted  in  notes  to  the  Epilogue  of  As  you  like  it,  to 
explain  the  proverb  '  Good  wine  needs  no  bush  '  ;  it  is  still  observed 
in  Italy.  The  ivy  was  sacred  to  Bacchus. 

1564.  tenax  proposito.]  From  Horace,  Od.  3.  3.  1,  but  for  pro- 
posito  Bottini  should  have  said  propositi.  See  note  on  1333-5  above. 

1573.  That  famed  panegyric  of  Isocrates.]  A  Panegyric  (Xo-yoj 
iravriyvpiK6s)  was  a  speech  written  for  a  great  public  festival 
(TTcu'Tryi'pis).  The  Panegyric,  of  Isocrates,  which  an  ancient  critic 
called  TTfptp6r)Tos  ('famed'),  advocated  an  invasion  of  Persia 
(380  B.C.).  It  was  said  that  the  orator  took  more  time  in  advising 
the  invasion  of  that  country  than  Alexander  took  in  conquering 
all  Asia,  and  Quintilian  tells  us  that  the  composition  of  the  speech 
occupied  the  orator  ten  years  at  the  lowest  estimate. 


BOOK  X.— THE  POPE 

INTRODUCTION 

OF  all  the  Books  of  the  poem  Book  X.  is  often  unhesitat- 
ingly pronounced  to  be  the  greatest1.  The  Pope's  solilo- 
quy, mellow  with  the  expejnence  dl  a  long  life  of  action 
and  contemplation,  is  marked  throughout  by  a  rare  dignity 
and  elevatioji ;  its  diction  and  its  versification  are  on  the 
same  'nTghlevel  as  its  substance  ;  the  passages  in  which 
judgment  is  given  on  the  speakers  of  Books  VI.  and  VII. 
are  hardly  less  noble  than  even  the  noblest  parts  of  those 
great  monologues  ;  nothing  in  the  poem  is  more  finely 
conceived  and  phrased  than  the  .appeal  which  is  put  into 
the  mouth  of  Euripides  ;  apposite  illustrations  froin_ 
nature,  more  frequent  and  elaborate  here  than  elsewhere, 
are  a  conspicuous  feature  of  the  Pope's  deliberate  eloquence. 
The  interest  of  the  Book  is  moreover  enhanced  by  the  fact 
that  'here,  if  anywhere,  I^rownJng^speaiks  .for  himself '. 
He  speaks  for  himself  in  two  ways.  A  comparison  of 
Books  I.  and  X.  shows,  what  indeed  is  clear  enough  with- 
out  it,  that  the  Pope's  interpretations  of  conduct  and 
motive  are  Browning's  interpretations  ;  and  it  is  not  less 
certain  that  the  theological  reasonings  of  the  monologue 
are  for  the  most  part  Browning's  reasonings. X  The  inter- 
pretations and  the  reasonings  occupy  between  them  nearly 
all  Book  X.,  which  is  therefore  in  a  sense  Browning's 
own  soliloquy. 

That  the  Pope  should  pass  judgmejit  on  Guido,  Capon- 

1  So,  for  example,  Signora  Zarapini-Salazar  in  her  admirable  study  of  The 
Ring  and  the  Book  :  non  esito  a  considerarlo  la  parte  piii  forte  ed  interessante 
dell'  intero  poema  (La  Vita  e  le  Opere  di  R.  B.  ed  E.  B.-B.  p.  66). 

198 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  I!)'.) 

sacchi,  and  the  rest  was  of  course  the  reason  for  his 
inclusion  nmi>n<r  the  poet's  nine  speakers.  So  far  as  the 
story  is  concerned  it  was  his  one  and  only  jjbity  ;  in  dis- 
i-hargiiig  it  In-  is  admirably  sureT  direct—trenchant :  though 
in  his  awards  of  praise  and  blame  he  is  Browning's  mouth- 
piece, the  anachronism  thereby  involved1  is  too  slight 
to  need  defence!!  IF  is  otherwise  with  the  theological 
disquisitions.  They  are  a  manifest  '  divagation '  ;  the 
Pope  treads  in  those  bypaths  uncej±ainjy,  his  conclusions 
an-  often  tentative  ;  in  large  parts  of  his  reasonings  the 
anachronism  is  flagrant. 

When  Innocent  has  completed 2  his  pronouncement 
on  the  actors  of  his  drama,  '  all  and  some ',  we  expect 
him  to  proceed  at  once,  or  at  any  rate  after  a  formal  rejec- 
tion of  the  claim  of  '  clericate ',  to  give  effect  to  that  pro- 
nouncement by  passing  sentence  on  the  actor  with  whom 
he  is  primarily  concerned.  The  expectation  is  not  fulfilled  ; 
sentence  is  deferred  for  some  SOO  lines.  A  deriding  voice  3 
lures  the  Pope  from  the  straight  path  into  Innpr  Hiapnpqinna 
MII  the  ultiinat_e  basis  of  Christianity,  the  probable  el'i 
a  religion  of  an  age  of  doubt,  the  ethics  and  T-hebl- 

Ruripides — discussions  obviously  unhelpfulvto  him  in 
his  task,  which  indeed  has  already  been  practically  com- 
pleted. Mr.  Stopford  Brooke,  who  noted  that  they  *  land 
aim  exactly  at  the  point  from  which  he  set  out',  found 
them,  as  others  have  found  them,  '  wearisome '.  protested 
that  'we  might  have  been  spared  all  this  '  4  ;  the  theology 
Beems  to  have  struck  him,  as  the  invitation  to  introduce 
it  -truck  the  Pope5,  \vith  a  kind  of  chill  in  a  poem  so  full 
of  the  '  incandescent  vitality  '  of  its  author,  so  rich  in  the 
presentation  of  life  alike  in  its  outward  aspects  and  in  its 
passions,  its  < -rimes,  its  heroisms.  Now  you  cannot  prove 
to  people  who  find  a  thing  wearisome  that  it  is  on  the 
contrary  enlivening ;  but  the  introduction  of  theology 
into  Book  X.  ha-g  ft  dra™*f*°  fifp^n^  as  a  closer  exa"mina- 
tion  will  presently  show. 

Meanwhile  a  candid  reader  will  admit  that  the  glaring 
anachronism  to  which  I  have  referred  is  hard  to  justify. 
Theology,  if  you  like,  he  will  say.  but  this  theology  ?  It 

i  See  e.g.  note  on  X.  534-6. 
X.  1265.  '   Hrnti-tiiHi?,  p.  -111.  »  X.  1253. 


200  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

is  impossible  theology  for  a  seventeenth -century  (indeed 
for  any)  pope,  even  for  this  '  strange  Pope,  a  priest  who 
thinks  ' 1.  It  is  Browning's  theolpgy/frand  the  arguments  / 
used  in  its  support  are  Browning's  characteristic  arguments  ;  ^ 
so  that  those  critics  whose  concern  with  the  poet's  poetry 
is  to  construct  from  it  the  theologian's  theology  have  good 
warrant  for  quarrying  a  large  part  of  their  materials  from 
what  profess  to  be  the  utterances  of  a  very  different  person. 
If,  however,  no  sufficient  apologia  can  be  offered  for  the 
intrusion  of  Browning's  theological  reasonings  into  Book 
X.,  a  kind  of  apologetic  plea  for  their  intrusion  may  perhaps 
be  advanced  ;  there  is^,  it  may  fairly  be  submitted ,  a  certain 
gain  in_their  a.ppf>arflno.p,  in  The  Ring  and  the  Book.  In 
this""  Eis^greatest  poem  we  find  those  many  sides  of  the 
many-sided  master  for  which  most  of  us  care  most,  his 
amazingly  accurate  observation,  his  extensive  and  peculiar 
erudition,  his  robust  humour,  his  lively  wit,  his  vigorous 
swiftness,  his  wealth  of  imagination,  his  sure  '  insight  and 
outsight ',  his  abiding  sense  of  the__pre-eminence  of  love. 
It  is  well  that  we  should  also  find  there  the  more  purely 
intellectual  Browning,  that  there  should  be  a  place  in  it 
*16r  the  characteristic  arguments  by  which  he  worked  so 
often  to  conclusions  by  which  he  set  such  store,  that  life 
is  probation,  that  probation  means  sorrow  and  sin,  that 
,  men  must  be  judged  by  their  aims  and  their  efforts  and 
/  not  by  their  product,  that  the  weakness  of  a  faith_may 
be_  its  strength,  that  '  the  growing  religious  intelligence 
waTETBest  by  a  receding  light ' 2,  that  man's  highest  hope 
is  based  on  his  imjaerfection^that  self-sacrificing  love  is 
-an  essential  and  a  constant  part  of  the  perfection  of 


If  no  sufficient  case  can  be  made  out  for  the  injection 
of  Browning's  argumentative  processes  into  Innocent's 
mind,  a  critic  is  on  firm  ground  when  he  maintains  that 
the  Pope  is  represented  rightly,  and  at  just  the  right 
moment,  as  visited  by  blank  juisgiyings  and  obstinate 
quesjkiQniiu^_i^^  system  which 

is  bound  up  with  Catholic  theology.  His  investigation 
of  the  Guido  -  PompiliaT "tragedy  has  shown  him  that  he 
moves  in  a  world  in  which  the  ideal  of  that  system  is  worlds 

i  Caponsacchi  in  VI.  478.  2  gee  note  on  X.  1366. 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  201 

from  realization,  and  it  is  most  natural  that  a  poignant 
that^jts  joundatipns  may  In-  inseemv  should 


_^ 
'  rap  and  knock  and  enter  in  his  soul  '  l. 

\V<-  lind  in  Book  X.  two  most  striking  contrasts  in  the 
Pope's  personality.  One  is  the  familiar  contrast  between 
the  mere  weak  old  man  and  the  divinely-commissioned 
autoctaT  who  wields  ;  tlie~  thunderbolts  61  Heaven  '  ~*.  The 
cither,  ^and  perhaps  the  more  important,  is  between  that 
autocrat  and  Antonio  Pignatelli,  the 


seTT*"! \Ve~~sFart  with  Innocent  as  Pope,  seeking  for  instruc- 
tion from  the  chronicles  of  his  predecessors.  ,He  lights 
upon  an  un propitious  passaged  As  he  pores  over  the 
quaint  and  modifying  story  of  Formosus 3  a  touch  of 
humour  colours  his  paraphrase  of  his  document ;  but  on 
reflection  he 

Starts  somewhat,  solemnizes  straight  hi.s  smile4, 

for  the  story  forces  upon  him  a  s< •» -plica!  conclusion  about 
the  value  of  papal4udgments— '• 

(Which  of  the  judgments  was  infallible  ? 
Which  of  my  predec <  —  >i-  -|><>kr  (Or  <.<xl  ?)5 — 

he  sets  forth  on  his  journey  with  ill  omens.  Yet  no  man, 
however  sceptical  intellectually,  is  invested  with  supreme 
authority,  and  a  fortiori  with  authority  deemed  divine, 
without  a  certain  resultant  M-lt  -  conlidence,  purely  in- 
stinctive and  illogical  though  it  may  be,  and  the  Pope's 
figure  seems  suddenly  to  straighten  itself — '  Irresolute  ? 
Not  I'6;  as  he  enlarges  on  the  theme  of  the  weak  old 
man  condemning  the  strong  man  '  in  the  plenitude  of  life 
it  ia  the  >ense  of  his  high  authority  that  supports  him  all 
the  time. — In  lines  399-1252  he  unravels  the  tangle  of  the 
story  ;  before  entering  on  the  task  he  appeals  for  guidance 
toliis  shrc\\d  pR^papal  self .  Much  has  lie  seen  and  known 
in  the  lm>y  yean  \\hen  lie  was  'no  pope  so  long',  and 
that  stored  experience,  aided  by  the  intuitions  of  old  age — 

<*hop  Blougram'8  Apology. — The  dramatic  effect  of  the  monologue  is  to  a 
great  extent  lost  by  readers  who  take  the  view  expressed  e.g.  by  Mr.  sharp  (Life 
of  Browning,  p.  126)  that  *  all  this  section  [Book  X.J  has  a  lofty  serenll  >  '. 

-  \  .  .  the  Pope,  so  often  but  a  weak  old  man.     In  ;i  trcinhliim  hand  an-  laid 

the  tliuii(lfil"i|t-  <>i  iif..\cn  '  i '  itvu'iirovius). 

\\liirli  niiu'ht,  in-rliaps,  have  been  compresHcd.     s»-.-  iK.tr  un  x.  iM-i:.7. 
•»  1.  l-:.f,.  5  x.  lil-± 


202  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

fires  that  more  and  more 
Visit  a  soul,  in  passage  to  the  sky, 
Left  nakeder  than  when  flesh  -robe  was  new  —  , 

guides  him  as  he  investigates1.  And  yet  for  all  his  dis- 
avowal he  still  relies  on  his  commission  as  Christ's  Vicar  ; 
if  he  speaks  and  will  act  '  resolvedly  '  it  is  because,  as  he 
says  a  little  later, 

I  it  is  who  have  been  appointed  here 

To  represent  Thee,  in  my  turn,  on  earth  .  .  . 

Incomprehensibly  the  choice  is  Thine  ! 

I  therefore  bow  my  head  and  take  Thy  place  2. 

One    stark    staring    fact    has,    however,    confronted    him 
throughout,  a  fact  most  injurious  to  papal  authority  and 
to  the  pyramid  of  which  it  is  the  apex.     The  representa-^ 
tives  of  the  Church  have  been  discredited  by  hislnvestiga- 
tlpns  —  a  point  emphasized  by  the  circumstance  that  it  is 
only  because  the  villain  of  the  piece  has  claimed  clerical 
privilege  that   the   Pope  has   come  in   as   investigator  —  , 
whereas   the   nobility   and    the   heroism    that   have   been 
A       brought  to  light  have  sprung  from  simple  human  virtue 
\>    "j  in    characters    either    practically,  outside    the    Church's 
\  influence  or  unspoilt  in  spite  of  it.     All  this  leads  to  the 
raising  of  the  speculative  question,  Is  the  Christian  revela-i 

knowledge  of  God] 


_ 

,  _  v-  dqes_  it  _.notseem  even  to  hamper  ?  and  to  the  doubt 
L  whether  it  might  not  Be  well  that  the  Pope's  world  should! 
be  rudely  shaken  from  its  '  torpor  of  assurance  '.  Such 
I  misgivings  present  themselves  inevitably  to  his  mind,  and 
his  avowal  of  them  adds  immensely  to  the  dramatic  force 
of  his  soliloquy.  As  '  in  the  dim  droop  of  the  sombre 
February  day  '  which  reflects  the  winter  of  his  disillusion 
and  discontent  3  he  avows  his  doubts,  is  forced  to  this 
or  that  disquieting  admission,  offers  this  or  that  tentative 
solution  of  a  perplexity,  the  '  thrill  '  that  chills  most  of 
us  is  not  solely  or  chiefly  caused,  as  it  was  caused  in  Mr. 
Brooke's  case,  by  his  introduction  of  '  irrelevant  '  theology. 
—But  he  ends  this  drama  within  a  drama  in  another  key. 

1  X.  383-98  ;  cf.  1241  seqq. 

2  X.-  1333-4,  1346-7. 

'•  I.  1235-6  ;   cf.  X.  283-4  and  especially  212-13  : 

I  have  worn  through  this  sombre  wintry  day, 
With  winter  in  my  soul  beyond  the  world's. 


I 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  203 

'  A  voice  quickens  his  spirit ' ;  in  pronouncing  sentence  he 
recaptures  once  again  the  unfaltering  note  of  unquestioned 
authority l. 

It  is  a  serious  defect  of  the  Yellow  Book  as  the  record 
of  a  trial  in  which  the  balance  was,  as  'Browning  said, 
hard  to  strike^that  it  contains  neither  summing-up  nor 
verclict.  Book  X.  fills  the  gap.  It  contains,  the  poet 
teTis  his  readers,  'the  ultimate  iu(lLMnent_jiave_  vours_'_^. 
and  this  judgment  was  no  doubt  in  substance  tlie  judg- 
ment of  the  real  Innocent ;  but  in  all  its  details  it  is 
Browning's  only.  For  except  as  the  recipient  of  con- 
ventional compliments  the  Pope  is  not  prominent  in  the 
Yellow  Book.  We  learn  indeed  from  the  First  Anony- 
mous Pamphlet  that  the  Abate  Paolo,  seeing  that  the 
proceedings  in  the  Process  of  Flight  were  protracted, 
addressed  a  memorial  to  the  Holy  Father,  praying  him 
to  appoint  a  special  Congregation  to  determine  all  the 
cases,  civil  and  criminal,  which  had  arisen  out  of  the 
Guido-Ponipilia  marriage,  and  that  the  Pope  refused 3 ; 
but  certain  letters,  written  on  the  evening  of  the  day 
of  Guido's  execution,  to  the  Florentine  Cencini^/were 
Browning's  only  authority  for  the  later  unsuccessful 
appeal,  and  they  speak  of  it  very  briefly  : — 

Judging  it  expedient  not  to  postpone  the  execution  of  the  sentence 
already  determined  His  Holiness  thought  well,  by  a  social  decree 
under  his  signature,  to  deny  all  clerical  privilege.4 

[Clerical  privilege  was  claimed,  but]  the  Pope  >iLrn<<!  the  death- 
warrant  yesterday  and  determined  that  it  should  In-  definitely  executed 
to-day.* 

Last  evening  at  two  hours  of  the  night  [i.e.  about  8  P.M.]  my  Lord 
signed  the  death-warrant,  disallowing  [?]  the  clericate.* 

An  account  of  tho  Innocent  XII.  of  history,  with  whom 
Browning  was  intimately  acquainted,  will  be  found  in 
Appendix  VII. 

1  X.  2100,  cf.  1956-8.— The  finest  and  perhaps  the  most  app.-sit.*  part  «f  the 
Pope's  disquisitions  is  the  appeal  of  Buripldes:  on  this  appeal  ami  tin-  Pope's 
answer  see  the  note  on  X.  1670-1790.  On  his  interesting  allusions  to  tin-  Molinists 
see  Appendix  VIII.  1 221  i--J  I . 

3  O.Y.B.  cxlvii.,  E.L.  150;  cf.  the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet.  O.Y.B. 
ccxxv.,  E.L.  226.  See  III.  1471  seqq.,  and  many  passages  In  later  Books. 

I  n.y.n.  .-,A\XM: 
6  O.Y.R.  ccs 


204  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


NOTES 

(N.B. — The  numbering  of  the  lines  in  the  notes  to  this  Book,  after 
line  92,  is  that  of  the  second  and  all  subsequent  eamons,  but  not  that 
of  the  first.  See  '  Lines  Added  '  in  Appendix  XL ) 

1.  Like  to  Ahasuerus.}    Esther  vi.  1 :    '  On  that  night  could  not 
the  long  sleep,  and  he  commanded  to  bring  the  book  of  the  records 
of  the  chronicles ;    and  they  were  read  before  the  king '.     The 
reading,  however,  unlike  that  of  Innocent,  was  of  the  records  of 
contemporary  events  ;  Ahasuerus  did  not '  question  '  his  predecessors 
and  '  take  instruction  so  '. 

2.  these  seven  years  now},  i.e.  since  he  became  Pope  in  1691. 
9.]     Ecclesiastes  xii.  12. 

11.  Alexander  last.}    Alexander  VIII.,  his  immediate  predecessor. 
14.  Suchanone.}    I  am  informed  that  in  the  Browning  Society 
of  a  certain  university-town  '  Suchanone '  was  taken  for  a  proper 
name  and  that  search  was  made  for  it  in  lists  of  the  Popes  ! 

16.  ill.}  See  the  second  paragraph  of  Browning's  Cenciaja, 
where  he  speaks,  in  a  stinging^arenthesis,  of  the  multiplicity  of 
records  of 

injustice  done  by  God 
In  person  of  his  Vicar-upon-earth. 

23.  shall  be  stretched,  etc.}  An  allusion,  perhaps,  to  the  practice 
of  placing  in  a  Pope's  coffin  a  parchment-register  of  his  acts. 

24-157.]  The  story  of  the  trial  of  Pope  Formosus  (A.D,  891-6) 
was  told  with  variations  of  detail  by  many  chroniclers  and  is  re-told 
in  many  modern  books.  Possibly,  as  has  been  suggested  (Hall 
Griffin,  pp.  20-23),  Browning's  interest  in  the  story  was  due  to  his 
having  read  it  as  a  boy  in  Wanley's  Wonders  of  the  Little  World, 
but  the  allusions  to  it  in  that  book  (p.  477)  are  not  particularly 
arresting. — Innocent  was  unfortunate  in  lighting  on  so  unhelpful 
a  chronicle.  The  trial  was  an  incident  in  the  quarrel  of  pro-German 
and  anti- German  imperialistic  factions,  and  serves  chiefly  to  illustrate 
the  degradation  of  the  papacy  between  the  death  of  Nicholas  I. 
(867)  and  the  accession  of  Hildebrand  (1073).  In  those  two 
centuries  there  were  more  than  fifty  popes,  many  of  whom  died 
by  violence. 

32.  seventh  of  the  name.}  He  is  generally  known  as  Stephen  VI. 
(A.D.  896-7).  When  Professor  Hodell  called  Mr.  R.  B.  Browning's 
attention  to  what  he  said  was  the  poet's  '  mistake  '  upon  the  point, 
Mr.  Browning  admitted  that  his  father's  memory  'was  not  at  its 
best  in  dates  and  figures '  (O.Y.B.  337).  That  is  true,  but  the  poet 
was  justified  in  calling  this  Pope,  as  Wanley  (see  last  note)  calls 
him,  Stephen  VII.  He  is  so  called  in  the  official  list  of  the  Roman 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  205 

Curia,  and  the  uncertainty  between  '  sixth  '  and  *  seventh '  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  a  Stephen,  whom  that  list  recognizes  as  Stephen  II., 
is  omitted  in  other  lists  because  though  elected  Pope  (in  752) 
lit-  died  a  few  days  or  months  afterwards,  in  any  case  before 
•  'on-  •< Mtion.  See  Mirbt,  Quellen  zur  Geschichte  des  Papstthums, 
PP.  268-9. 

:;'.».  as  embalmed.}  '  Before  the  time  of  Julius  II.  |  ir,O.VlH|  tho 
bodies  of  the  dead  Popes  were  not  opened  and  embalmed '  (Story, 
Roba  di  Roma,  p.  517,  where  what  was  then  the  usage  is  minutely 

:l)Cd). 

40.  biirieil  duly  in  the  Vatican.]  St.  Peter's  has  been  the  usual 
burial  place  of  Popes  except  in  two  periods  :  (1)  in  the  third,  fourth, 
and  early  fifth  centuries,  when  they  were  usually  buried  in  the 
catacombs ;  and  (2)  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth,  when  twelve 
Poj>es  were  buried  in  the  Lateran.  Some  twenty  rest  in  other 
c  it  ies  of  Italy,  and  the  Popes  of  the  '  Babylonish  captivity '  (1305-78) 
in  France.  Of  about  265  Popes  '  more  than  150  are  believed  to  lie 
in  St.  Peter's  alone ',  but  many  of  their  tombs  have  disappeared  ; 
none  survive  from  that  period  of  degradation,  the  ninth  and  tenth 
centuries.  See  Gregorovius,  Tombs  of  the  Popes,  especially  chapter  i. 

89.  1X9X2],  the  initial  letters  of  'I^oPs  X/KOTOS  0eoP  Tt6s  I'WTTJP 
us  Christ,  son  of  God,  Saviour)  make  up  the  Greek  word  for 
'  fish  '.  A  fish  is  a  common  symbol  both  of  Christ  and  of  Christianity 
in  the  catacombs,  and  is  often  found  in  early  Christian  gems  with 
other  Christian  symbols — the  olive-branch,  the  pastoral  staff,  the 
anchor,  the  cross,  the  dove  (see  Westcott,  Religious  Thought  in 
the 

91.  (FifihermjiUH^  Because  of  the  saying  of  Christ  to  Peter  and 
Andrew."*  J..  will  make  you  fishers  of  men'  (Matthew  iv.  19). 

!'_.  Ffsh&r's-sianttA^  The  Pope's  anelh  pexrulorio  is  so  called 
from  its  HeaT,  which  is  a  representation  of  St.  Peter  fishing  from 
his  boat.  Clement  IV.  (1265-8),  who  first  mentions  it,  speaks  of 
it  as  used  by  the  Popes  in  their  private  correspondence.  When  a 
Pope  is  deposed,  the  ring  is  solemnly  drawn  from  his  finger  ;  when 
a  Pope  dies,  the  ring  is  destroyed.  The  new  Pope  is  presented  with 
another,  on  which  his  name  is  inscribed  (Tuker  and  Malleson, 
Christian  and  Ecclesiastical  Rome,  part  iv.  p.  341). 

103.  Stephen.]    A.D.  896-7. 

108.  Theodore]  II.  ;  A.D.  897. 

129.  John]  IX. ;  A.D.  898-900. 

I .:  I .   /•;//'/«  King  of  France]  =  Odo,  Count  of  Paris,  who  was  elected 

t  the  Western  Franks  in  888  after  the  death  of  Charlis  the 

Fat;    he  died  on  the  last   day  of  898.      For  the   'synod'   held  at 

liaveima     owin-r    t"    disturkme.-x    at     Koine    see     Slilman,     Latin 

t'lirltlinnili/.  iii.   p.  lM  I. 

l.m  mob  ,iH  hints  blank.  \     Cf.  077  !.--lo\v  :   '  the  blot  is  blanched  \ 

1.17.   .  I-//-///MXJ,  who  gives,  inter  «//</,  a  lively  account  of  Pope 


206  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Stephen's  proceedings  in  his  In  Defensionem  sacrce  ordinationis 
papce  Formosi  libellus ;  see  Mirbt,  Quellen,  pp.  100-101. 

142.  Sergius]  III.  ;  A.D.  904-11. 

155-7.]     Matthew  x.  28. 

164.]     John  ix.  4. 

166.  my  six  and  fourscore  years."]  Not  quite  accurate  ;  he  was 
born  in  March  1615,  and  was  now  not  quite  83.  See  note  on  2080-81. 

— .  my  due  Labour  and  sorrow.}     Psalm  xc.  10. 

174.]    Understand  *  he  '  before  '  gives  '  ;   see  lines  176  and  197. 

182.]  The  words  '  ye  shall  not  surely  die '  in  Genesis  iii.  4  are 
of  course  the  serpent's,  but  the  '  license  '  here  meant  is  that  implied 
in  Genesis  vi.  3. 

200.  yonder  passion],  the  hard  task  of  decreeing  Guide's  death. 

203.  A  touch  o'  the  hand-bell  here.}  Cf.  235,  282;  suggested 
perhaps  to  Browning  by  the  silver  hand -bell  which  stands  on  the 
table  before  Leo  X.  in  his  portrait  by  Raphael  in  the  Pitti. 

212-13.  this  sombre  wintry  day,  etc.}     See  Introduction  to  Book  X. 

217.]    For  the  '  summaries  '  (summaria)  see  note  on  I.  146. 

221],  i.e.  what  line  of  defence  Guido's  advocates  thought  it 
more  judicious  to  take. 

222-6.]  There  is  no  evidence  in  the  records  that  Guido  defended 
himself  before  the  torture  was  employed  or  threatened  (see  Appendix 
VI.)  otherwise  than  he  did  afterwards. 

228.  a  clear  rede.}  The  N.E.D.  quotes  this  passage  for  '  rede ' 
in  the  sense  of  '  tale  ',  comparing  Marmion,  U  Envoy  : 

Why  then  a  final  note  prolong, 
Or  lengthen  out  a  closing  song, 
Who  long  have  listed  to  my  rede  ? 

236.  Irresolute?  Not  I.}  See  Introduction  to  Book  X.— 
Irresolution  is  precisely  the  fault  which  historians  find  with  Innocent ; 
see  Appendix  VII. 

236-7.  the  mound  With  the  pine  trees  on  it  yonder.}  Dr.  Ashby 
understands  the  reference  to  be  to  the  Villa  Barberini,  S.E.  of  the 
Piazza  di  S.  Pietro,  between  the  Porta  Cavalleggieri  and  the  Porta 
S.  Spirito — a  spur  of  the  Janiculum,  with  pine  trees  on  it. 

244.  Peasants  of  mine  cry,  etc.}  For  Innocent's  accessibility 
to  the  poor  see  Appendix  VII. 

250.  Breathe  a  veiri]= lance  it,  so  as  to  draw  blood ;  the  phrase 
is  '  archaic  or  obsolete  '  (N.E.D.}. 

272-5.]  Contrast  341-5. — The  doctrine  that  it  is  'the  seed  of 
act '  that  God  '  appraises '  is  constantly  enforced  by  Browning  ; 
the  'vulgar'  judge  by  'act',  he  says,  'it  is  the  outward  product 
men  appraise  '  (below,  1673  seqq.).  Cf.  Rabbi  Ben  Ezra,  especially 
stanzas  vn.,  xxin.-v.  ;  Saul,  xvm.  : 

What  stops  my  despair  ? 
This ; — 't  is  not  what  man  Does  which  exalts  him,  but  what  man  Would  do ! 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  207 

The  port  often  asserts  the  same  doctrine  in  the  sphere  of  art;  see 
Dowden.  l!n>irnhiy,  p.  147. 

286.  Tlii/  chill  persistent  ram.]    Cf.  XII.  54-5. 

293.  How  do  they  call  him  ?\  I  cannot  answer  the  question. 
According  to  Dr.  Berdoe  (Browning  Cyclopcedia,  p.  440)  '  the 
sagacious  Swede  '  is  Swedenborg,  but  Swedenborg  was  only  ten 
years  old  in  1698,  and  I  cannot  find  that  he  at  any  time  concerned 
hi  HIM -If  with  the  Theory  of  Probability. 

297-8.]  For  the  '  Virgilian  dip '  see  V.  402,  note. — The  words 
'  when  such  shall  point '  depend  directly  on  '  who  finds '  (294) ; 
'  point '  = '  indicate  something  which  is  to  happen  '. 

319.]    See  note  on  166  above. 

347  seqq.]  As  Agamemnon  says  in  JSschylus  (Ag.  813),  S/KOJ 
oi' K  diro  y\w<r<rT)S  6eol  K\I>OVT(S  \fnj<f>ov^  ,  .  .  [ridevrai]. 

349  seqq.]  Browning  constantly  declares  that  human  testimony 
is  worthless  ;  cf.  XII.  690-93  : 

who  trusts 

To  human  testimony  for  a  fact 
Gets  this  sole  fact — himself  is  proved  a  fool  ! — 

and  XII.  836-40.     See  also  A  Death  in  the  Desert,  line  371  : 
What  truth  was  ever  told  the  second  day  ? 

Indeed  he  declares  that  language  fails  altogether  to  express  truth  ; 
see  the  end  of  Prince  Hohenstiel-Schwangau  and  Mr.  Stopford 
Brooke's  remarks  upon  it  (Browning,  p.  421). 

'>.]    Cf.  VII.  1727,  where  Pompilia  urges  in  Guide's  defence 
that  hate  '  was  the  truth  of  him  '. 

358.  So  was  I  made.]    Cf.  VII.  1731. 

376.  Have  no  renewing],  i.e.  cannot  be  cleansed ;  the  truth 
cannot  be  extracted  from  them.  Yet  the  Pope  has  said  that  from 
the  particular  'filthy  rags  of  speech'  with  which  he  is  here  con- 
cerned (i.e.  from  the  '  dismal  documents '  of  the  murder-trial)  the 
truth  can  be  extracted  : 

Truth,  IK •\vlu-n-.  yet  lies  everywhere  in  these — 
Not  absolutely  in  a  portion,  yet 
i:\ol\ible  from  the  whole  :  evolved  at  last 
Painfully,  held  tenaciously  by  me  (229-32). 

376-7.  He,  the  Truth,  is,  too,  The  Word.]  God  alone  is  the  Truth, 
or,  to  put  it  otherwise,  His  word  alone  is  true,  and  alone  deserves 
to  be  called  '  The  Word'.  The  Pope  is  simply  saying  in  other 
words  *  God  is  true  and  every  man  a  liar  *.  the  text  of  the 
Augustinian's  sermon  (XI 1.  OOP- 6Ql).  -Jh'ivint  le  Verbe,  la  Parole 
par  excellence,  toiite  parole  sera  vaine.  Mais  ici,  pour  les  hommes, 
pour  nnns~memes,  /<  Ixxoiti  <l>  //<o/\.  rl  rein  r.rj>li<fiie  son 

Inny  }>l'ii'/-»/' r  I  I'KTIV   P.   i  L'«  r.   /,'••//•/•/  I!r'»rnimj.  p.  L'L' I   . 


208  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

381.  That  I  am  I,  as  He  is  He.]  That  his  own  existence  and 
God's  existence  are  the  only  facts  of  which  a  man  can  have  absolute 
knowledge  is  often  asserted  by  Browning.  It  is  the  starting- 
point  of  his  argument  in  La  Saisiaz  (lines  217-22). 

384-7.]  In  Ranke's  summary  of  a  Relazione  of  the  Venetian 
envoy  Contarini  (see  Appendix  VII.)  we  read  that  Innocent  was 
early  admitted  to  the  prelature.  He  became  vice-legate  of  Urbino, 
legislator  of  Malta,  governor  of  Perugia,  was  afterwards  nuncio  to 
Florence,  administered  the  Polish  nunciature  for  eight  years,  and 
was  then  entrusted  with  that  of  Germany.  The  latter  office  was 
commonly  followed  by  the  cardinal's  hat,  but  Clement  IX.  did  not 
so  reward  him ;  recalling  him  to  Italy,  he  made  him  bishop  of 
Lezze,  '  on  the  extreme  boundaries  of  Naples '.  In  1681,  when 
Innocent  XI.  was  Pope,  he  became  a  cardinal  and  immediately 
afterwards  bishop  of  Faenza,  legate  of  Bologna,  and  archbishop  of 
Naples  (History  of  the  Popes,  iii.  pp.  461-2).  ' 

392.  Left  nakeder  than  when  flesh-robe  was  new.]  Cf.  Rabbi  Ben 
Ezra  and  especially  A  Death  in  the  Desert,  lines  198-205,  where  St. 
John  (who  has  so  much  in  common  with  the  Pope)  says  in  his  old 
age:— 

And  how  shall  I  assure  them  ?     Can  they  share 

— They,  who  have  flesh,  a  veil  of  youth  and  strength 

About  each  spirit,  that  needs  must  bide  its  time, 

Living  and  learning  still  as  years  assist 

Which  wear  the  thickness  thin,  and  let  man  see — 

With  me  who  hardly  am  withheld  at  all, 

But  shudderingly,  scarce  a  shred  between, 

Lie  bare  to  the  universal  prick  of  light  ? 

The  same  thought  is  conveyed  in  a  somewhat  similar  metaphor 

by  Waller  on  Old  Age  : — 

The  soul's  dark  cottage,  batter' d  and  decay'd, 
Lets  in  new  light  thro'  chinks  that  Time  has  made. 

398.]  Luke  xvi.  8. — The  reference  to  '  the  world '  is  explained 
by  line  393. 

404.  A  solid  intellect.]  See  Introduction  to  Book  XI.  It  was 
by  Browning  that  Guido  was  '  furnished  forth  '  with  a  solid  intellect. 

409.  Is  this  our  ultimate  stage,  etc.]  On  Browning's  view  of  life 
as  probation  see  note  on  1375  seqq.  below. 

413.  makes  the  stumbling-block  a  stepping-stone.]  Cf.  the  words 
of  St.  Augustin,  often  quoted  in  illustration  of  In  Memoriam,  I.  : 
De  vitiis  nostris  scalam  facimus  si  vitia  ipsa  calcamus. 

423.  her  main  mankind],  the  mass  of  men,  as  '  the  mainland '  in 
1608  below  means  the  bulk  of  a  country  contrasted  with  its  mere 
frontier-fringe.  '  Her '  is  an  improvement  on  the  '  the '  of  the 
first  edition. 

424-6.]     Nature  endows  the  mass  of  men  with  an  instinct  to  obey 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  209 

• '  it.iin  moral  laws,  s<>  that  at  first  they  find  it  harder  to  do  wrong 
than  to  do  ri<dit.  As  long  as  they  listen  to  this  instinct  and  obey 
tin •>»•  laws  life  proceeds  in  an  orderly  measure  and  march.  Should 
they  turn  a  deaf  ear  and  disobey,  the  measure  would  be  broken, 
the  nian-h  thrown  out  of  step  ;  nature's  careful  purpose  would  be 
defeated 

437.  marts  obedience],  i.e.  his  obligation  to  obey. 

440-43.]     See  note  on  I.  261-5. 

453.  irreligiousest.]     For  the  superlative  see  note  on  I.  205. 

458.  sluide  or  shine.]     See  note  on  I.  1373. 

466.  ombrifnge.]  Apparently  coined  by  Browning.  It  does  not 
mean,  as  P.enloe  supposed,  'a  place  where  one  flies  for  skade'- 
that  has  already  been  expressed  by  '  sunscreen  '  ;  C.  S.  C.'s  '  ombri- 
fuge  (Lord  love  you  !)  case  o'  rain'  interprets  it  correctly.  The 
word  is  'irregularly  formed  from  Greek  6nppos*  (N.E.D.);  why 
did  not  Browning  write  •  imUrifuge  '  from  Latin  itnberl 

175.]     .Mark  vi.  39,  40. 

484.  in  ih,-  limit.]     Cf.  I.  756. 

486-510.]  Cf.  IX.  370-73,  where  Bottini  remarks  parenthetically 
that 

The  Pope,  we  know,  is  Neapolitan 
And  relishes  a  sea-side  simile. 

510.  give  it  to  the  soldier-crab],  i.e.  leave  your  clericate-casing 
for  one  who  will  really  do  battle  for  the  church.     The  soldier-crab 
(i.e.  hermit-crab)  '  carries  its  shell  about  with  it  and  changes  it 
for  a  larger  one  as  it  increases  in  size '. 

511.  /  find  this  black  mark  impinge  the  man.]     The  use  of  'to 
impinge  '  with  an  accusative  of  the  thing  or  person  struck  '  is  now 
rare  or  obsolete'  (N.E.D.). — Is  it  possible  that  (as  'black  m,,rk  ' 

us  to  suggest)  Browning  is  here  coining  a  verb  from  the  Latin 
pingere  ('  to  paint ')  ? 

522-8.]  The  Pope  intends  to  judge  Guide's  life  by  taking  his 
'  last  deliberate  act '  as  a  sample  of  it,  just  as  in  340-45  above  he 
conceives  of  God  as  judging  his  life  by  his  'latest  act',  by  what 
his  life  '  last  put  heart  and  soul  into ',  i.e.  by  his  condemnation  of 
Guido. 

530.  enough],  i.e.  with  sufficient  reason. 

534-6.]  Guide's  motives  in  marrying,  says  the  Pope,  were  as 
far  removed  as  possible  from  those  commonly  alleged  as  the  right 
motives,  by  which  he  feigned  that  he  was -actuated.  The  word 
•farthest'  must  in  L'lammar  agree  \\ith  'this  marriage',  but  it 
really  refeis  to  (iuido's  motives  ;  and  '  so  they  \\rre  '  must  mean — 
what  it  expresses  obscurely  'they  were  indeed  alleged  by  Guido 
to  bo  ///.«*  motives  '.  There  is  perhaps  an  anachronism  in  the  severity 
of  the  Pope's  condemnation  of  a  nuirin'ji  "  Mice,  and  some 

unfairness  in  his  assertion,  supported  neither  \>\  the  records  nor 

P 


210  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

by  the  narratives  in  the  poem,  that  Guide  seriously  professed  that 
he  had  been  moved  by  the  '  permissible  impulses  '  of  538-9. 

540.  all  to  instigate]  seems  to  mean  '  all  that  goes  to  instigate 
him  '  ;  note  the  repetition  of  '  all '  in  line  543.  Guide's  sole  motive 
in  marrying,  says  the  Pope,  was  one  that  '  sinks  man  past  level 
of  the  brute  ',  viz.  '  the  lustjtar,  .money  '. 

542.  Whose  appetite  if  <hrutishj,s  a  truth.}  Cf.  356  above,  and 
VII.  1727. 

557.  a  month.'}  Strictly  speaking,  four  months,  viz.  from  early 
in  December  1693  to  early  in  April  1694.  See  Appendix  III. 

567.  painted  plain],  i.e.  in  his  mind  ;  see  553. 

•68QT gor-crojJi^i.e.  carrion-crow  ;  '  gor  '  =  '  filth  '.  Cf.  Aristo- 
phanes'Apology^p.  121  : 

Larks  and  nightingales 

Are  silenced,  here  and  there  a  gor-crow  grim 
Flaps  past,  as  scenting  opportunity. 

580-81.]  The  comparison  is  not  quite  apposite  to  what  im- 
mediately follows.  Guido  found,  not  that  the  Comparini  treated 
those  weaker  than  themselves,  but  that  they  treated  him,  as  he 
treated  them. 

590-91.  the  curious  crime,  the  fine  Felicity  .  .  .  of  wickedness.] 
Guide's  crime  was  ingeniously  and  carefully  thought  out ;  it  showed 
what  Petronius  called  a  curiosa  felicitas. 

595.  the  parents,  else  would  triumph.']     See  note  on  738-40. 

600.  Revenge,  the  manlier  sin.]  The  same  idea  is  suggested  in 
III.  663-5. 

611-19.]     Cf.  III.  711  seqq. 

620-30.]  See  note  on  I.  631-4.  Elaborated  similes  are  more 
frequent  in  Book  X.  than  elsewhere  in  the  poem  ;  see  1175-9  and 
2119-28. 

650.]     See  Appendix  IV. 

654.  that  other  Aretine.]  Pietro  Aretino  (A.D.  1492-1557); 
there  are  references  to  him  in  IX.  1204  ('  Thy  wicked  townsman's 
sonnet-book  ')  and  in  XI.  1962-3  : 

where  does  Venus  order  we  stop  sense 
When  Master  Pietro  rhymes  a  pleasantry  ? 

He  was  '  the  greatest  railer  of  modern  times  ',  and  perhaps  the  most 
licentious,  the  most  corrupt,  the  boldest  and  the  most  dangerous. 
'  That  notorious  ribald  of  Arezzo ',  Milton  calls  him  in  Areopagitica, 
'  dreaded  and  yet  dear  to  the  Italian  courtiers '.  '  Every  one 
knows ',  writes  Addison  (Spectator,  No.  23),  '  that  all  the  Kings  of 
Europe  were  his  tributaries '.  It  caused  surprise  that  he  did  not 
aim  his  ribaldry  at  God,  and  his  epitaph  gave  a  reason  why  :— 

Qui  giace  1'  Aretino,  poeta  Tosco, 

Che  disse  mal  d'  ognun,  fuorche  di  Dio, 

Scusandosi  col  dir,  Non  lo  conosco. 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  211 

reason  has  been  suggested,  viz.  that  'he  could  extort  no 
money  from  God  by  threats  or  flattery,  and  was  consequently  never 
goaded  into  blasphemy  by  a  refusal '  (Burckhardt,  The  Renaissance 

in  It'll//,  pp.  167-8). 

674.  A  second  time.]    For  the  first  time  see  575  seqq.  above. 

686-7.]  Note  the  optimistic  turn  which  Browning  gives  to  the 
familiar  proverb. 

695.  armed  to  the  chattering  teeth.]  Guide's  advocates  main- 
tained that  when  he  appeared  at  Castelnuovo  he  was  either  un- 
armed (O.Y.B.  cxliv.,  E.L.  148)  or,  at  any  rate,  armed  only  with 
a  travelling-sword  (ense  viatorio  solummodo  instructus,  O.Y.B. 
(  \i\ .,  E.L.  122).  Even  the  prosecuting  advocate  Bottini  is  content 
to  argue  that  if  Guido  pursued  the  fugitives  unarmed  it  was  his 
own  fault  (O.Y.B.  cxcix.,  E.L.  203). 

703.  Failing  the  first.}  Guide's  first  chance  came  to  him  through 
the  purity  of  Caponsacchi  and  Pompilia,  which  prevented  the  sin 
that  he  had  schemed  to  bring  about. 

706.  Nor  does  amiss  f  the  main.]  Cf.  VII.  1649,  where  Pompilia 
says  that  (so  far  as  she  was  concerned)  '  the  judges  judged  aright 
i'  the  main  '. 

714.]     1  Corinthians  iii.  15. 

719.  the  unmanly  means],  i.e.  to  revenge  ('the  manlier  sin'; 
see  above,  600). 

724.]  For  such  *  ignominious  means '  see  Story,  Roba  di  Roma, 
p.  .448  ;  cf.  VII.  678. 

727.  follows  in  the  chase],  viz.  his  intimates  at  Arezzo,  who 
would  back  him  in  taking  vengeance  on  his  wife  and  her  alleged 
paramour,  but  not  in  taking  it  by  'unmanly  means'  and  'vile 
practice ' ;  these,  we  have  been  told  (in  710),  exposed  him  to  'public 
scorn '. 

738-40.]  A  cursory  glance  at  lines  733-42  as  printed  in  the 
later  editions  shows  that  the  punctuation  in  737  cannot  be  what 
Browning  intended.  '  Craft,  greed  and  violence ',  he  says  in  733, 
•  complot  revenge ',  and  after  a  colon  their  respective  parts  in  the 
plot  are  described,  other  colons  dividing  the  descriptions.  But 
this  orderly  arrangement  is  upset  by  the  full  stop  which  has  been 
introduced,  no  doubt  by  a  printer's  error  (see  the  note  on  768  below), 
into  the  middle  of  the  second  description  (after  '  beside '  in  737). 
It  should  be  a  comma,  and  there  should  be  no  comma  before '  beside ' ; 
so  in  the  first  and  second  editions. 

The  metaphor  here  employed  is  drawn  from  the  bright  spots 
with  which  sunshine  chequers  the  ground  under  a  tree.  The 
branches,  twigs,  leaves  of  the  tree,  which  intercept  much  of  the 
sunshine,  are  Pietro  and  his  family,  who  intercept  a  flow  of  revenue  ; 
they  prevent  the  gold  from  falling  upon  the  ground  in  a  flood  for 
(iuido  to  scoop  up.  His  grood  therefore  prompts  him  to  destroy 
them  ;  he  will  crush  the  tree,  twigs,  leaves  and  all. 


212  THE  EING  AND  THE  BOOK 

With  '  possible  sunshine  <  which  >  else  would  coin  itself ' 
compare  IX.  539  : 

All  those  professions,  else  were  hard  explain  ; 
X.  594-5  : 

[he  determines  to]  pluck  one  last  arch -pang 
From  the  parents,  else  would  triumph  out  of  reach ; 

X.  1375-7  : 

I  can  believe  this  dread  machinery 

Of  sin  and  sorrow,  would  confound  me  else, 

Devised  [for  such  and  such  purposes]. 

741-2.  Advantage  proved  And  safety  sure.]  Greed  and  craft  having 
gained  their  respective  ends. 

743.  Murder  with  jagged  knife.]  See  note  on  II.  147  ;  Guido 
had  a  dagger 

Triangular  in  the  blade,  a  Genoese, 

Armed  with  those  little  hook-teeth  on  the  edge 

To  open  in  the  flesh  nor  shut  again. 

Cf.  VIII.  1170. 

748-51.]     Genesis  viii.  4,  11. 

752-74.]  If  Guido  killed  Pompilia  before  she  had  given  birth 
to  an  heir,  the  capital  of  which  Pietro  had  the  usufruct  would  go 
to  his  kinsmen,  the  '  rightful  heirs  '  of  II.  580  ;  he  had  therefore  a 
strong  motive  for  sparing  her  till  after  her  confinement.  This 
argument,  borrowed  from  Bottini,  has  already  been  used  in  III. 
1546-69  (where  see  note)  and  in  IV.  1102-6. — I  do  not  follow  the 
Pope's  suggestion  that  before  Gaetano's  birth  Guido  had  the  same 
motive  for  sparing  Pietro  and  Violante. 

761.  thou],  i.e.  the  money-bag,  with  which  Guide's  soul  is 
identified.  See  below,  795-6. 

768.  come  what,  come  will.]  Browning  took  great  pains  with 
his  punctuation  (see  Appendix  XL),  but  he  Was  not  a  lynx-eyed 
reviser  of  proofs  ;  the  strange  comma  after  '  what '  appears  in  all 
the  editions. 

779-81.]  The  golden  age  of  Saturn  (Quam  bene  Saturno  vivebant 
rege  /)  is  a  commonplace  in  Latin  poetry  ;  cf.  IX.  1227. 

784-7.]  .The  evidence  given  by  Guido  and  his  accomplices  hi 
the  course  of  the  trial  (O.Y.B.  cxxvii.-cxxx.,  E.L*  135-7)  shows 
that  he  had  no  difficulty  in  persuading  them. 

788.  Christ's  birthnight-eve.]     See  note  on  V.  1581. 

789-90.]     Luke  ii.  14. 

793.  what  is  it  I  said  ?]     See  above,  760. 

794.  he  suffered  cling.}     Cf.  XL   1272,  'I  did  not  suffer  them 
subside  '. 

801.]     James  i/15. 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  213 

805.]     God  will  not  suffer  sin  to  go  on  to  the  end  unchecked. 

809.  Exceed  the  service.]  It  is  suggested  that  up  to  a  certain 
point  sin  may  subserve  God's  purposes. 

818.  Needs  but  to  ask  and  have,  etc.}  Cf.  III.  70,  VI.  1093,  V. 
1723,  '  with  a  warrant  which  'tis  ask  and  have  '.  For  Guide's 
oversight,  of  which  Browning  read  in  the  Secondary  Source  (0.  Y.B. 
212,  E.L.  264),  see  III.  1628-30,  V.  1722-5,  XL  1625-50,  and 
especially  the  Introduction  to  Book  XI. 

822.  if  a  ducat  sweeten  word.]     Cf.  XI.  1627-35  : 

Any  day  o'  the  week, 
A  ducat  slid  discreetly  into  palm 
0'  the  mute  post-master,  while  you  whisper  him  .  .  . 

.  .  .  secures  you  any  day 
The  pick  o'  the  stable  ! 

824.  how  should  he],  i.e.  how  he  would,  if  asked.     In  the  first 
edition  we  have   here  '  in  such  wise  |  The   resident  .  .  .  years,  | 
Guido,  instructs,  etc.  '. 

825.  resident  at  Rome  for  thirty  years.]    A  mistake ;    see  note 
on  IV.  392. 

830-32.]     See  note  on  V.  1725. 

834-6.]  See  O.Y.B.  v.-viii.  (E.L.  5-7),  where  the  Sentence  is 
given  in  full,  and  the  note  on  XI.  1663-9. 

835.  just  pronounced.]  Agrees,  not  with  *  sentence ',  but  with 
'  satire-upon-a-sentence '.  The  sentence  was  confirmed  by  the 
Court  at  Florence  on  December  24,  1697 — two  months  before  the 
Pope  rejected  Guide's  appeal. 

838-41.]  Cf.  V.  1860-65,  where  Guido  is  made  to  speak  as  the 
Pope  here  represents ;  he  suggests  that  the  judges  in  the  Process 
of  Tlight  may  be  accused  of  having 

made  common  cause 

With  the  cleric  section,  punished  in  myself 
Maladroit  uncomplaisant  laity, 
Defective  in  behaviour  to  a  priest 
Who  claimed  the  customary  partnership 
I'  the  house  and  the  wife.  * 

848.  the  few  permissible  miles],  '  permissible '  to  men  on  foot 
and  worn  out ;  elsewhere  called  *  a  prodigious  twenty  mi  Irs  ' 
(III.  1633,  where  see  note). 

850-51.]     Matthew  viii.  30-32,  and  elsewhere. 

854-5.  He  curses  the  omission,  etc.]  See  Guide's  comments  upon 
it  in  XI.  1625-50. 

856-7.]  'The  oversight  about  the  warrant,  which  hamstrung 
you  (thwarted  your  flight)  to  your  supposed  hurt,  was  really  a 
mercy-stroke  ;  it  saved  your  life  (and  thereby  gave  you  a  chance 
of  saving  your  soul — see  below,  867-8).  For  if  you  had  remembered 
to  get  the  warrant,  though  you  would  have  rsrajwd  arrrst  and 


214  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

perhaps    crossed    the    frontier,    you    would    have    been    murdered 
promptly  by  your  comrades  '. 

In  XI.  1649-50  Guido  says  of  the  post-master  who  refused  to 
supply  him  with  horses  without  the  necessary  permission  : — 

He  dares  not  stop  me,  we  five  glare  too  grim, 
But  hinders, — hacks  and  hamstrings  sure  enough. 

861-3.]  This,  like  the  omission  to  get  a  warrant,  is  drawn  from 
the  Secondary  Source  only ;  see  note  on  VIII.  1590-1601. 

867.  Thither],  i.e.  '  to  thy  doom '.  The  Pope  still  hopes  that 
Guido  may  be  saved  by  repentance ;  cf.  2117-18  below. 

869-1238.]  Having  dealt  with  Guido  (163-868),  with  whom  of 
course  he  is  primarily  concerned,  the  Pope  proceeds  to  condemn 
the  other  evil-doers  (869-1003) :  Guide's  brothers  and  his  mother 
(869-925) ;  his  four  accomplices  (925-64) ;  his  backers  at  Arezzo 
(965-93),  especially  the  Governor  (971-85)  and  the  Bishop  (986-93). 
A  vindication  of  Pompilia  (1004-94)  and  of  Caponsacchi  (1095- 
1212)  follows ;  and  a  balanced  judgment — half  condemnation  and 
half  vindication — upon  the  Comparini  (1213-33)  ends  the  first  part 
of  the  monologue. 

871  seqq.]  Cf.  I.  554  seqq.  and  below,  994-1003.—'  If  Browning 
once  or  twice  gives  his  fantasy  play,  it  is  in  describing  the  black 
cave  of  a  palace  at  Arezzo  into  which  the  white  Pompilia  is  borne, 
the  cavejuaeHtir  denizens '  (Dowden,  Browning,  p.  260). 

SSqfJbx-faced.]  jCf.  I.  549. 

SSffiT:1]    'AutiJ  \K.  1-10. 

893.  Paul  steps  back  the  due  distance.]  For  Paolo's  departure 
from  Rome  and  its  motive  see  note  on  III.  1540-41. 

896-909.]  For  Girolamo,  as  represented  in  the  records  and  in 
the  poem,  see^natffTmTT. 5*00-503. 

911.  Tfo.tfjrMixtf.  gray  njghtmare.^}  A  writer  of  A.D.  1340,  quoted 
in  the  N. ^.^r-co«pkfrnigntmares  to  foxes  and  wolves,  just  as 
Beatrice  as  nightmare  is  here  associated  with  Guiolo^jis  jjrnlf  and 
Paolo  as  fox  (880-82  above). 

931-46.]     See  above,  784-7  and  note. 

947.]  The  earlier  editions  have  'As  cattle  would,  bid  march 
or  halt ! ' 

951.  noble  human  heart],  i.e.  the  heart  which  feels  the  nobility 
of  loyal  service  to  a  superior. 

954.  Religion.]    Cf.  2076-7  below  : 

over-loyal  as  these  four 
Who  made  religion  of  their  patron's  cause. 

955.]  See  Arcangeli's  audacious  defence  of  Guide's  confederates 
in  VIII.  1603-16. 

964.  none  of  them  exceeds  the  twentieth  year.]  The  Pope  is  mis- 
taken. 'Minority'  (i.e.  that  they  were  under  25)  was  claimed 


BOOK  X.—THE  POT!'  215 

for  only  two  of  the  four,  vi/.  for  I  )omenico  Gambassini  and  Francesco 
l';iM<|iiini  (U.Y.ll.  .\x.\i\..  rxxxviii..  OOXXX.,  A'./..  37,  143,  232). 
For  J*iiHf|uini  a  l)apt isiual  eertilieate  was  prodneed  which  proves 
that  In-  wa.x  nearly  '1\  at  the  time  of  the  murders  (O.Y.B.  ccxxx.. 
A'.  L.  I'.lL'i:  and  a  letter  written  by  Arcangeli  on  the  day  of  the 
executions  shows  that  it  was  for  him  alone  that  the  claim  was 
ultimately  pressed  (O.Y.B.  ccxxxv.,  E.L.  235;  cf.  O.Y.H.  •  \\\i\.. 
E.L.  238). 

971-2.  thou  know'st  Civility  better]  than  to  interfere  with  a 
husband  on  his  wife's  behalf ;  cf.  2032-5  below.  For  '  Civility ' 
see  note  on  II.  1473. 

972.  Marzi-  Medici.]    The    Governor    of    Arezzo    signs    hi  HIM -If 
Vincenzo  Marzi-Medici  in  a  letter  to  Paolo  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxii.,  E.L. 
90).     He  does  not  himself  speak  of  Pompilia's  appeals  to  him, 
but  they  were  attested  by  others  (O.  Y.B.  liii.,  E.L.  ~>4). 

973.  thy  kinxman  the  Granduke.]    Cosimo  III.,  who  was  then 
reigning,  was  the  last  but  one  of  the  Grand  Dukes  of  the  Medici 
dynasty.     According  to  Professor  Hall  Griffin  the  Governor  was 
not  related  to  him ;    he  was  the  son  of  a  Florentine  lawyer  (Life 
of  Robert  Browning,  p.  315). 

987.  Archbishop.]  For  Pompilia's  appeals  to  the  Bishop  (not, 
as  the  poet  always  calls  him,  Archbishop)  of  Arezzo  see  O.Y.B. 
Ixxxi.,  Ixxxiv.,  xci.,  E.L.  89,  92,  99.  Browning  freely  develops, 
(specially  in  Book  VII.,  what  the  records  say  about  them. 

992.]    John  x.  12,  13. 

993.  anon.]    See  below,  1454-70. 

997.  Transfix  .  .  .  suspiring  Jlnme.  \  The  language  is  perhaps  sug- 
gested by  Virgil,  JSn.  1.  44  :  exspirantem  tramfixo  pectore  flammas. 

1012.  yonder],  viz.  on  the  Castel  S.  Angelo  (Mausoleum  of 
Hadrian).  A  legend  which  can  be  traced  back  to  the  time  of  Leo 
IV.  (847-55)  tells  that  when  a  pestilence  was  devastating  Rome  in 
590  Gregory  the  Great  saw,  in  answer  to  his  prayers,  the  An •  hansel 
Michael  sheathing  his  sword  over  the  fortress.  A  chajx>l  was 
dedicated  on  the  summit,  by  Boniface  IV.  (608-15),  to  S.  Angelo 
inter  Nubes  ;  but  our  earliest  evidence  for  a  statue  of  the  Archangel 
in  that  position  is  given  by  pictures  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The 
present  4  armed  and  crowned '  Michael,  by  Verschaffelt,  was  placed 
there  in  1752  by  Benedict  XIV.;  that  of  Innocent  Xll.'s  time, 
the  work  of  Raffaelc  di  Montelupo (1535),  has  been  removed  to  one 
of  the  courtyards  of  the  building. 

1U15-1G.J  The  metaphors  are  suggested  by  Kphesians  \i.  14-17, 
ajmssage  of  which  fuller  use  is  made  in  1566-70  below. 

1016  seqq.]    Knowledge    may   defend    man   like   a   shield,    but 
Browning   (or   his   characters)   frequently   asserts,   as   here,    '  the 
sovereignty  of  feeling   o\vr   knowledge'    (see    \\Vstcott,   Reli 
Thought  in  the  West,  p.  255,  and  the  note  on  1327-8  below).— As 
philosopher  Browning  tended,  during  his  later  period,  to  regard 


216  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

knowledge  in  any  absolute  sense  as  less  and  less  attainable,  and 
of  less  and  less  relative  value.  '  A  sceptical  philosophy  came 
down  like  a  blight'  upon  him,  says  Professor  Jones  (Browning 
as  a  Philosophical  and  Religious  Teacher,  p.  333),  who  detects  a 
trace  of  this  sceptical  philosophy  in  the  present  passage  ;  but 
see  Introduction  to  Book  VII. 

1022.]     Cf.  667-72.     For  '  by  who  records  '  cf.  e.g.  1191. 

1025-6.]     Revelations  vii.  2-4. 

1028.]     Philippians  iv.  8. 

1061.  Endure  man  and  obey  God.}  This  is  'the  standing  ordi- 
nance', 'the  old  requirement',  'the  customary  law'  (1069-72); 
it  was  superseded  for  Pompilia  by  '  the  novel  claim  '  (1070)  expressed 
in  the  words  '  plant  firm  foot  .  .  .  obey  God  all  the  more  '. 

1065  seqq.}     See  VII.  1222  and  passim  afterwards. 

1078.  even  tree,  shrub,  plant.}     Cf.  VI.  1375-7  and  note. 

1083.  with  his  own  sword.}     See  note  on  II.  1031. 

1097.  the  other  rose,  the  gold.}  See  1047.  This  Golden  Rose 
was  annually  blessed  by  the  Pope  and  given  to  some  king  or  other 
illustrious  person  who  had  deserved  the  special  gratitude  of  the 
Holy  See.  It  was  given,  for  instance,  by  Alexander  VI.  to  Gonzalo 
de  Cordova,  the  '  Great  Captain  '  of  Ferdinand  of  Spain,  for  expelling 
the  forces  of  Charles  VIII.  from  Italy,  and  by  Leo  X.  to  Henry 
VIII.,  the  Defender  of  the  Faith,  for  his  '  golden  book  '  in  refutation 
of  Luther. — '  This  mysterious  gift,  according  to  Pope  Innocent  III., 
represented  by  its  gold,  its  odour  and  its  balm,  the  Godhead,  the 
Body  and  Soul  of  the  Redeemer  '  (Milman). 

1102-11.]  The  Pope  thinks  that  the  Church  errs  in  putting  its 
young  men  of  spirit  and  promise  into  leading-strings.  He  expresses 
his  thought  in  language  drawn  from  the  leviathan-passage  in  Job 
(xli.) — a  passage  already  used  by  the  poet  in  V.  1504-5  and  VIII. 
1739-42  (where  see  note). 

1105.  bind  him  for  our  maidens},  i.e.  'give  him  to  our  maidens 
as  a  pet '.     The  application  of  the  words  is  explained  by  many 
passages  in  Caponsacchi's  speech  (VI.) ;  cf.  2069-72  below. 

1106.  The  King  of  Pride.}    Job  xli.  34,  'he  (Leviathan,  i.e.  the 
crocodile)  is  king  over  all  the  sons  of  pride  '. 

1107.  cord  in  nose  and  thorn  in  jaw.}     Job  xli.  2,  '  canst  thou 
put  an  hook  into  his  nose  ?  or  bore  his  jaw  through  with  a  thorn  ?  ' 
'  Thorn  '   is  a  mistranslation  for   '  hook '.     The  meaning  is  that, 
when  and  if  you  have  caught  youixCfocodiTfe^you  cannot  string  him 
on  a  line,  to  keep  him  fresh  in  the^WiltiiA-,  -ay  you  can  ordinary  fish 
(Driver). 

1108.  followed  by  all  that  shine.}     The  A.V.  has  correctly  (Job 
xli.  32)  'he  maketh  a  path  to  shine  after  him  '  (il  laisse  apres  lui 
un    sillage    de    lumiere — Renan).      Apparently    Browning    meant 
'  followed  by  other  shining  creatures  such  as  himself  '  ;    he  put  a 
meaning  on  the  words  which  they  cannot  bear. 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  217 

1110.  The  comely  terror.}    Job  xli.  12,  'I  will  not  conceal  (keep 
silence  concerning  I.U.V.)!  .  .  .  Iji.s  comely  proportion  '. 

1111.  th<il  //it re  of^gfati&Q&rhi*  heart.}    Job  xli.  24,  'his  heart 
is  linn  as  a  stone  j^yea^ikm  as  the  nether  millstone  '  (R.V.).     La 

ile  se  composait  de  deux  pierres  superposes  .  .  .  dont  la  plus 
dare  etait  posee  dessous  (Renan).  The  flashing  forth  of  fire  from 
the  netherstone  at  the  stroke  of  the  sword  is  an  addition  by 
Browning  to  the  imagery. 

1116-27.]  'What  if  Caponsacchi's  self-sacrifice  was  offered, 
primarily  and  directly,  to  an  idol  of  his  own  (i.e.  to  Pompilia),  and 
only  indirectly  to  God  and  His  saints,  just  as  the  love  and  gratitude 
of  the  half-Pagan,  half-Christian,  Roman  were  offered,  primarily 
and  directly,  to  the  Venus  whom  the  Church  had  changed  into 
Madonna's  shape,  and  only  indirectly  to  Madonna  herself?  The 
self-saerifuv,  like  the  love  and  gratitude,  was  there  all  the  same. — 
Again,  the  sweet  savour  of  the  self-sacrifice,  the  spikenard  which 
grew  in  the  rock-like  soil  of  Caponsacchi's  firm  and  resolute  heart, 
to  whomsoever  offered,  was  offered  by  himself,  uninspired  by  the 
Church  ;  though  the  Church,  when  self-sacrifice  is  so  offered  by 
her  sons,  is  wont  to  claim  it  as  her  own  offering  to  the  saints  '. 

The  Pope  '  smiles '  at  the  comparison  which  he  has  drawn  in 
lines  1116-22,  and  at  the  gentle  satire  upon  the  Church  which  he 
has  conveyed  under  the  itu  « ns( metaphor  in  lines  1123-7. 

1118-21.  to  turn  each  Venus  here  .  .  .  Into  Madonna's  shape.] 
Cf.  The  LHinciad,  3.  109-11  : 

Till  Peter's  keys  some  christ'ned  Jove  adorn, 
And  Pan  to  Moses  lends  his  Pagan  horn  : 
See  graceless  Venus  to  a  virgin  turn'd.  .  .  . 

To  which  Pope  appended  a  note  :  '  After  a  period  of  merciless 
destruction,  some  classical  monuments  \\rre  spared  by  the  Popes; 
temples  were  converted  into  churches,  and  statues  of  pagan  gods 
were  occasionally  made  to  do  duty  as  Christian  images  *. 

1123.  All  this  sweet  savour],  i.e.  that  of  self-sacrifice ;  cf. 
Ephesians  v.  2,  Philippians  iv.  18. 

%  1140.  made  bare],  i.e.  which  made    hare.      'The   healthy  rage' 
is  the  antecedent  to  the  understood  '  which  '. 

1  l.V>.  i  "//riliatingearflt  u-llfi  all  tluttrlniul\t  i.e.  winning  men's  heart  > 
by  its  beauty,  in  spite  of  the  cloud  from  which  it  has  emerged  (1150). 

1 164.  how  else  proclaim  fine  scorn  of  flesh.}     A  whimsical  explana- 
tion of  the  red  stockings  of  cardinals  (V.  228). 

1165.  when   blood  faith  begs.]    The   inversion   ('blood'   is   the 
object  o'f  '  begs  ')  gives  emphasis  to  *  blood  '. 

1175-9.]  The  beautiful  simile  brings  out  the  full  meaning  of 
what  it  illustrates. 

1183-92.]  R.  L.  Stevenson  wrote  in  his  Virginilmtt  l*i<erisque 
(c.  iii.):  'To  avoid  an  occasion  for  our  virtues  is  a  worse  degree 


218  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

of  failure  than  to  push  forward  pluckily  and  make  a  fall.  It  is 
lawful  to  pray  God  that  we  are  not  led  into  temptation  ;  but  not 
lawful  to  skulk  from  those  that  come  to  us  '.  (The  Pope,  it  will  be 
observed,  goes  far  beyond  this  ;  cf.  James  i.  2-4,  12.)  '  The  noblest 
passage  in  one  of  the  noblest  books  of  the  century  is  where  the  old 
pope  glories  in  the  trial,  nay,  in  the  partial  fall  and  but  imperfect 
triumph,  of  the  youKger  hero  '. 

1191.  Reluctant  /dragons.!  An  echo  of  the  reluctantes  dracones 
of  a  famous  passagein  Hpiface  (Od.  4.  4.  11),  but  Horace's  reluctantes 
means  that  his  dragoTtsput  up  a  stiff  defence  when  attacked,  the 
Pope's  dragons  would  avoid  fighting  altogether. 

1195.  through  the  very  pains,  etc.]    See  above,  1037-40. 

1201.  to  strike  the  lute.]  Cf.  I.  1030  (where  Caponsacchi  is 
described  as  '  a  prince  of  sonneteers  and  lutanists  '),  X.  1490,  2071. 

1202.]     See  Introduction  to  Book  VI. 

1211.  the  initiatory  spasm],  i.e.  the  mixed  joy  and  pain  of  initia- 
tion into  a  life  of  self-abnegation  ;  cf.  the  '  initiatory  pang  .  .  . 
Felicitous  annoy  '  that  '  would  thrill  Into  the  ecstasy  and  outthrob 
pain  '  of  which  Caponsacchi  speaks  in  VI.  964-73.  (In  Parleyings  — 
Francis  Furini,  ix.  —  the  phrase  '  initiator-spasm  '  is  used  of  the 
beginnings  of  life,  '  the  spasm  which  sets  all  going  '.) 

1218.  Sadly  mixed  natures.]     Cf.  I.  530. 

1230.  you  were  punished  in  the  very  part,  etc.]  Upon  this  Westcott 
comments  (Religious  Thought  in  the  West,  p.  275)  :  '  For  that  which 
is  evil  there  is  judgment  of  utter  destruction  ;  for  that  which  is 
good,  purifying.  So  it  is  that  chastisement  is  often  seen  to  come 
through  the  noblest  part  of  a  character  otherwise  mean,  because 
in  that  there  is  yet  hope  '. 

1239.  all  and  some.]     See  note  on  VIII.  1475. 

1243.  dispart  tJie  shine  from  shade.]    See  note  on  I.  1373. 

1244.  As  a  mere  man  may,  etc.]    See  above,  243-67. 

1246.  the  popular  notion.]    Cf.  VIII.  1458-60,  XII.  57-8,  299. 

1253-1909.]  The  'quick  cold  thrill'  which  the  Pope  suddenly 
feels  (1253)  and  the  voice  which  'derides'  him  (1265)  lead  him 
into  the  long  theological  disquisitions  of  which  I  have  spoken  in 
the  Introduction  to  this  Book.  It  will  be  observed  that  in  the 
course  of  these  disquisitions  (1308-1909)  he  reverts  for  awhile  to 
his  main  concern  in  1440-1630. 

1261.  recognize]^  examine,  pass  in  review,  like  the  Latin  recog- 
noscere. 

1271.  misprision.]    See  note  on  VIII.  428. 

1273.  bold  to  all  beneath],  i.e.  to  all  upon  whom-4he--Hght  of  your 
candle  falls. 

1284.  darkness  to  be  felt.]    Exodus  x.  21. 

1289.  Remembered.]  The  word  suggests  the  Platonic  doctrine 

En 


of  dj'd/x.j'T/o-ts  (recollection),  familiar  to  English  readers  from  Words- 
worth's Ode  on  the  Intimations  of  Immortality. 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  219 

1302.]    See  above,  J  l'.»± 

1309.  In    such    conception,    etc.]    The    'humanitarian    thei-m 
expounded   later  in   the    paragraph  is  not  presented  as   absolute 
truth,  but  as  the  highest  conception  of  the  divine  nature  possible 
to  '  the  little  mind  of  man  '  in  his  present  state.     See  note  on  1366. 

1311.  what  is  it  but  a  convex  glass.]  Cf.  the  closely  parallel 
passage  in  A  Death  in  the  Desert,  lines  226  seqq. 

1318.  There  (which  is  nowhere)],  nowhere  in  particular ;  we 
speak  of  God  as  *  in  heaven ',  but  He  transcends  the  category  of 
space. 

1327-8.]  On  the  relations  of  love  and  knowledge  as  conceived 
by  Browning  see  the  discussions  in  Sir  H.  Jones's  Browning  as  a 
Philosaphical  and  Religious  Teacher ;  see  also  the  note  on  1016 
seqq.  above. — Here  knowledge,  however  incomplete,  is  spoken  of 
as  a  necessary  basis  for  love  ;  contrast  with  the  Pope's  '  how  love 
unless  they  know  ?  '  the  poet's  language  at  a  later  date  in  Ferishtah's 
Fancies  (A  Pillar  at  Sebzevah) : — 

So  let  us  say — not  '  Since  we  know,  we  love  ', 
But  rather  '  Since  we  love,  we  know  enough  '. 

1330.]  Higher  '  modes  of  life  '  may  reflect  more  of  the  absolute 
truth  ;  the  conceptions  of  '  angels '  may  be  more  adequate  than 
such  as  are  possible  to  man.  Cf.  Ferishtah's  Fancies  :  The  Family, 
and  the  lyric  which  follows  ;  see  also  1654  below. 

1339.  Thy  transcendent  act],  i.e.  the  act  revealed  in  the  '  tale ' 
(1348)  *  of  lovejjyithout  a  limit ' ;  see  note  on  1366. 

1348  seqq.]  Un  lines  1348-52  the  Pope  speaks  of  a  '  tale  '  about 
God  (viz,  the  Incarnation)  which  is  not  only  dear  to  his  'heart  ' 
but  is  also  pronounced  to  be  sound  by  his  '  reason  '  ;  in  lines"  1362 
seqq.  he  proceeds  to  snow  wherein  the  value  ol  the  tale  lies.  The 
intervening  passage  (1353-61)  may  seem  at  lirst  sight  to  be  a  digres- 
sion, but  the  appearance  of  irrelevance  is  due  to  the  condensation 
of  the  argument.  Thn  folftr  t.hfl  Pnpo,  savs  or  implies,  satisfies  both 
hjs  heart  and  his  reason  ;  u'hy  does  it  tuitixfi/  ///.«  reason  ?  Because. 
apparently^  l^o  like  nT^st  of  us  has  an  intuitive  conviction  tnat 
perfectionmust  somewhere  exist.  H.-  ramiu^  inui  if  in  J  m.ir.M»r  *  : 
it  mustLbcTound.  if  anywhere,  in  '  mind  '.  Of  the  minds  of  created 
beings  that  of  man  is  the  highest,  but  perfection  is  assuredly  not 
there ;  it  is  present  in  none  of  the  three  spheres  in  which  we  seek 
for  it,  neither  in  his  strength,  nor  in  lu>  intelligenee,  nor  in  his  love 
(or  '  goodness  ').  Can  it  be  found,  in  all  Utt»  three,  in  God  ?  That 
God's  strength  and  intelligence^ are  ijcrfcci^Natural  Religion  amply 
attests  *,  but  evidence  that  His"  love  is  also  perfect  is  wanting  '  to 

i   In   his  later  poem  La  Saisiaz  (published  In  1878)  Browning  wrote  very 

differently  on  this  point  :    set-  t  b  rmlinu'  with  liiu-s  :>l?-8: — 

••:  man.  1   mourn  I  I    mn>t  impute  : 

tJiioiln.  .  IHIWIT,  all  honinlcil,  c.tdi  a  human  attribute... 

J  J    'i  •«>  ^   I'1 


220  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

the  human  eye,  in  its  present  state  '  ;   the  two  corresponding  sides 

of  the  triangle  —  His  perfect  strength  and  perfect  intelligence  —  are 

lain  to  us,  but  its  base  —  '  love  without  a  limit  '  —  we  cannot  see. 

,  however,  as  we  feel  sure,  there  is  complete  perfection  some- 

where, the  fact  that  God  is  perfect  in  strength  and  intelligence 

gives  us  a  presumptive  (and  reasonable)  expectation  that  He  is 

also  perfect  in  love  :    and  the  '  tale  '  comes  in  to  confirm  that 

expectation. 

1351.  discept],  '  express  disagreement  '  —  a  very  rare  word,  says 
the  N.E.D.  quoting  Master  Hugues  of  Saxe-Gotha,  xiv. 

1360.  in  evidence],  belongs  to   '  the  effect  '  ;    the  effect  which 
we  can  see  with  our  eyes. 

1366.]     Browning  admits,  or  rather  he  contends,  that  Natural 
wa.rra.nt.  for  t.hft  belief  that  God  is  '  all-l 


but.  the.  idea._oj_a  loveless  God  was  utterly  repugnant  to  him  ;  such 
a  GQjL-W,QlilcLbe  inferior  to  man.  See  e.g.  A  Death  in  the  Desert,. 
lines  552  seqq.  (if  man  has  will,  power,  and  love,  however  weak, 
and  God  has  only  will  and  power,  however  strong,  man  is  '  higher 
in  the  scale  than  God  ')  ;  Christmas-Eve,  v.  : 

For  the  loving  worm  within  its  clod 
Were  diviner  than  a  loveless  god 
Amid  his  worlds,  I  will  dare  to  say  ; 

An  Epistle  of  Karshish,  ad  fin.  ;  Saul,  XVH.  and  xvin.  ;  Ferishtah's 
Fancies,  The  Sun. 

TKa±  nr>H  is  ^Moving  was  to  the  poet,  however  he  arrived  at 
,hat,  nonclusion.  the  greatest  and  almost  the  surest  of  aU  truths  ; 
was  the  tale  which  ^embodies  that  truth  itself  a  truth  to  him  —  a 
truth,  that  is,  in  the  absolute  sense  ?  There  is  much  in  the  Pope's 
monologue  and  in  A  Death  in  the  Desert  (see  lines  453  seqq.)  which 
makes  it  difficult  to  answer  the  question  with  the  confident  affirma- 
tive which  might  be  given,  perhaps,  by  a  reader  of  Christmas- 
Eve  and  Easter-Day.  Mr.  Robert  Buchanan,  indeed,  reported  that 
when  asked  '  categorically  '  whether  he  was  or  was  not  a  Christian 
Browning  '  immediately  thundered  "  No  "  ',  but  the  poet  was 
often  unfortunate  in  his  reporters,  who  would  understand  aTrAcDs 
what  was  meant  to  be  understood  as  subject  to  important  qualifica- 
tion. The  evidence  of  his  poetry  shows  that  his  '  No  '  should  have 
been  so  understood  ;  his  '  thunder  '  may  have  been  due  to  a  cause 
of  which  the  indiscreet  questioner  was  serenely  unconscious.  Mean- 
while it  is  certain  that  what  the  poet  wrote  is  in  general  accord 
with  what  one  who  knew  him  well  tells  us  that  he  often  said,  viz. 
/'  that  religious  certainties  are  required  for  the  undeveloped  mind, 
jbut  that  the  growing  religious  intelligence  walks  best  by  a  receding 
(light  '  (Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  p.  178). 

The  question  of  the  extent  and  content  of  Browning's  eclectic 
Christianity  has  been  much  discussed  ;    in  spirit  it  agrees  closely 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  221 

with  what  is  said  in   IMiilippians  ii.  4-8  (L  quote  from  the  R.V.  ; 

tin-  A.V.  translates  incorrectly): — 

.  .  .  not  looking  each  of  you  to  his  own  things,  but  each  of  you 
also  to  the  things  of  others.  Have  this  mind  in  you,  which  was  also 
in  Christ  Jesus  :  who,  being  in  the  form  of  God,  counted  it  not  a  prize 
|  lit.  a  thing  to  be  grasped]  to  be  on  an  equality  with  God,  but  emptied 
himself  [of  the  prerogatives  of  Deity',  taking  the  form  of  a  servant, 
being  made  in  the  likeness  of  men  ;  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a 
man,  he  humbled  himself,  becoming  obedient  even  unto  death.  .  ,  .* 

1367-72.]     See  the  last  note.     The  doctrine  here  enunciated — 

one  of  Browning's  '  two  main  doctrines  or  opinions ' — is  obscured 

\\ •  I  irn  formulated  as  Mr.  Chesterton  says  that '  it  can  only  be  properly 

stated',  vi/.  as  'the-  hope  that  lies  in  the  imperfection  of  God  ' 

>• /tiny,  p.  178).     The  doctrine  is  that  God  would  be  imperfect 

Hi-  were  incapable  of  self-sacrificing  love  ;  the  hope  it  gives  lies 
in  its  assurance  that  there  is  no  such  imperfection  in  Him.  'The 
All  Great'  is  'the  All -Loving  too'  (An  Epistle  of  Karshish) :  no 
more  than  in  power  and  in  wisdom  does  '  the  creature  surpass  the 
Creator  '  in  love  (Saul). 

1375  seqq.]    The  presence,  says  the  Pope,  of  sin  and  sorrow  in 
t  h<-  world  is  only  explicable  on  the  theory  that  '  Lifcjs  Probation  '^-  . 
that  their  purpose  is  to  'evolve  the  moral  qualities  of  man   ,  and 
to  lit  him  for  a  higher  life.     We  come  across  this  doctrine,  in  onel 
or  other  of  its  aspects,  repeatedly  in  Book  X.  :  in  409-10,  in  1185-7,1 
in  1415-19,  in  1436-9. 

In  an  article  in  The  National  Review  (December  1902)  Leslie 
Stephen  remarked  that  when  expounding,  in  La  Saisiaz,  the  doctrine 
of  immortality,  Browning  *  repeats  the  most  familiar  of  all  arguments 
...  as  if  they  had  never  occurred  to  any  one  before,  instead  of 
lieing  the  staple  of  whole  libraries  of  theology'.  A  like  criticism 
may  be  made  of  liis  treatment  of  the  doctrine  that  Life  is  Probation. 
By  its  setting,  by  the  mode  of  its  presentation,  he  often  gives  a 
ness  to  it,  as  for  instanee  in  Jochanan  Hakkodosh  (ail  fin.)  or 
in  J'ncchiarotto,  xxii. 

All's  for  an  hour  of  essaying 
Who's  lit  and  who's  unfit  for  playing 
Hi-  part  in  the  after-construction 

Euaven'fl   l''<e  whereof  Earth's  the  Induction? 
Thinizs  rarely  go  smooth  at  Rehearsal. 
Wait  patient  the  change  universal — 

r  again  in  the  late  and  very  interesting  Rephan  ;    but   the 


1  Since  noting  ttii«  |M-<-IL'I-  i»r  limitation  here  I  tlntl  that  it  is  used  forShe  same 
purpose  in  Professor  I'L'.m  >  r>r«» ning  as  a  Religious  Teacher,  pp.  34-5.— This 
littl.-  book,  in  which  Hr<.\\  ninu's  theology  is  expounds!  :m<l  <tNai>N,-.|  with 
.il.|»-  liirj.ijty  should  not  I'-  allowed  to  continue  out  of  print. 


222  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

can  hardly  be  said  of  its  naked  presentation  here-  and  in  La  Saisiaz 
(lines  266  seqq.)  :— 

There  is  no  reconciling  wisdom  with  a  world  distraught, 
Goodness  with  triumphant  evil,  power  with  failure  in  the  aim,  .  .  . 
If  you  bar  me  from  assuming  earth  to  be  a  pupil's  place, 
And  life,  time, — with  all  their  chances,  changes, — just  probation-space. 

1376.  would  confound  me  else.]    See  note  on  738-40  above. 

1377-8.  at  most  expenditure,  etc.]  The  poet  conceives  of  God 
as  devising  sin  and  sorrow  as  the  necessary  means  of  man's  pro- 
bation, but  as  devising  them  sorrowfully.  He  shares  men's  pain 
and  grieves  at  their  sin.  See  Pigou,  Browning  as  a  Religious  Teacher, 
pp.  32-4. 

1382.  Creative],  because  he  brings  good  out  of  evil,  '  moral 
qualities  '  out  of  pain. 

1384.  "  /  have  said  ye  are  Gods  ".]     Psalm  Ixxxii.  6  ;  John  x.  34. 

1387-8.  this  .  .  .  The  other.]  'This'  is  the  reason  for  the 
presence  of  sin  and  sorrow  in  life  ;  '  the  other  '  is  '  the  tale  '  of  1348. 

1393.  else  unconceived.]  For  if  it  were  the  same  (i.e.  absolute 
truth)  man's  miifd  could  not  conceive  it. 

1400.]     Cf.  1772  seqq. 

1407.  by  God's  gloved  hand  or  the  bare],  i.e.  by  truth  veiled  in 
myth,  or  by  naked  ('  absolute,  abstract,  independent ' — see  1389) 
truth. 

1408-9.]  Browning  was  not  interested  in  the  '  higher  criticism  ' 
of  the  gospel-story  ;  see  Christmas- Eve,  xv. 

1412.  some  flat  obstacle],  some  obstacle  which  we  can  flatten 
and  surmount. 

1413-14.]  Progress  consists  in  the  surmounting  of  obstacles  ; 
it  is  therefore  impossible  if  either  (1)  there  are  no  obstacles  or  (2) 
there  are  obstacles,  but  they  are  unsurmountable. 

Does  Browning  suggest  here  that  the  presence  of  '  solid  truth 
in  front '  means  the  absence  of  obstacles  to  surmount,  or  that 
solid  truth  would  be  itself  an  unsurmountable  obstacle  ?  The  former 
explanation  may  seem  the  simpler,  and  it  is  consistent  with  the 
poet's  teaching,  but  the  phrasing  of  lines  1412-15  supports  the 
latter.  '  Solid  truth '  is  not  conceivable  by  man  in  his  present 
state  ;  it  is  an  obstacle  which  he  cannot  flatten. 

1419-29.]  If,  says  the  Pope,  we  view  the  story  of  Guido  and 
Pompilia  in  the  light  of  the  belief  that  life  in  this  world  is  merely 
probation  for  life  beyond  it,  we  realize  that  the  destruction  of 
Pompilia's  life  in  this  world  and  what  would  have  been,  but  for 
the  detection  of  his  guilt,  the  saving  of  Guide's  are  unimportant 
facts.  Life  in  this  world  is  a  little  thing,  life  beyond  it  is  a  great 
one.  To  form  a  true  estimate  of  life  as  a  whole  we  must  '  wait 
till  life  have  passed  from  out  the  world  '. 

1419-20.]     The  first  edition  has : 


BOOK  X.     Till:  rOPE  -2-2X 

Him, 

(}'  the  present    prohlem  :    AS  we  see  and  <praU. 

1  Ji'7.  the,  minute's  worth],  i.e.  of  how  little  worth  it  ia.  We  are 
not  *  K-it.es  \vlu>  live  entirely  in  the  sensations  of  the  moment. 

11:57.  rnnifii-l  him  strive.]  Cf.  1547  below,  'thus  compelled 
IK  MX  -cive  '. — The  Pope  argues  that,  if  the  gain  of  right  living  were 
so  manifest  that  it  exercised  an  imperative  force  on  conduct,  life 
would  not  be  probation  ;  men  would  live  rightly  of  necessity. 
Browning  often  insists  upon  this,  e.g.  in  A  Death  in  the  Desert, 
lines  274-97  and  464-73.  Miracles,  says  St.  John  in  the  latter 
passage,  may  have  been  necessary  in  the  earliest  days  of  Christianity  ; 
at  a  later  stage  they  would  '  compel ',  and  (life  being  probation) 
would  not  help. 

1440-1536.]  The  Pope  is  not  surprised  to  find  that  worldlings 
and  sceptics  have  no  use  for  'the  j>earl  of  great  price'.  He  is  ^ 
>uiprisr<l,  and  even  terrified,  to  find  that  churchmen,  who  know 
its  worth,  join  the  worldlings  and  sceptics  in  disregarding  it  and 
pursuing  worldly  aims  ;  it  was,  for  instance,  for  mere  worldly 
'iis  that  the  Bishop  of  Arezzo  virtually  abarfdoned  the  faith 
by  his  treatment  of  Pompilia.  It  may  be  said,  perhaps,  that  the 
Church  enfeebled  the  bishop~by  coddling  him  ;  what,  then,  of  the 
friar  called  Romano  ?  He  was  not  coddled,  but  he  proved  wanting 
in  precisely  the  same  way.  Since,  therefore,  individual  church- 
mcn,  whether  coddled  or  not,  fail  the  faith  in  its  hour  of  need, 
let  us  '  bind  weaknesses  together '  in  the  hope  that  we  may  find 
faithfulness  in  Christian  corporations.  Alas,  they  too  are  un- 
faithful ;  witness  the  Convertites,  *  meant  to  help  women  because 
these  helped  Christ ',  who  fell  away  from  Christian  love  and  were  • 
ready  to  slander  Pompilia  when  worldly  interest  prompted.  Is 
this,  then,  the  end  and  outcome  of  Christ's  self-sacrifice  ?  Is  this 
all  that  his  own  stewardship  has  to  show  ? — The  Pope's  dismay 
at  finding  that  love  and  faith  '  lie  sluggish  '  at  the  call  of  the  Church 
is  made  more  poignant  when  he  sees  them  roused  into  activity 
by  a  call  from  out-ide  ( 1547  seqq.). 

1445.  it  proves],  i.e.  in  their  mistaken  judgment. 

1446.]    Cf.  IX.  372-3,  note. 

1453.]    James  i.  27. 

1472.  barefoot  monk.]     Hi-  \\as  an  Augustinian  Scul~<>. 

1482.  Who  was  it  ?]  It  was  Uzzah  (2  Samuel  vi.  6,  7),  but 
when  Browning  made  the  friar  ask  the  question  he  thought  that 
it  was  Hophni ;  see  note  on  IV.  8:5 1. 

1488.]     Matthew  i 

1491.]     Ephe>ian>  v.  \\'l,  etO. 

1499-1524.)  The  Pope's  attack  on  'the  Monastery  called  of 
Convert iles  '  i>  not  warranted  by  the  facts;  se.  n«.t.  ,,n  II.  1198. 

1511-18.]    See    the   last  note.     The   claim   of   the   Convertites 


224  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

must  have  been  made  very  soon  after  Pompilia's  death  ;  it  is  often 
mentioned  during  the  murder-trial.  See  also  the  Instrumentum 
Sententice  Definitive  which  cleared  her  reputation  (O.Y.B.  cclix.- 
Ixii.,  E.L.  252-6). 

1518.  by  the  Pise's  advice.]  The  application  to  the  Court  on 
behalf  of  the  Convertites  was  made  by  Gambi,  '  Procurator  General 
of  the  Fisc  ',  who  in  the  trial  of  Guido  had  appeared  with  Bottini, 
*  Advocate  of  the  Fisc  ',  for  the  prosecution.  See  XII.  672  seqq. 

1526.]     Cf.  VI.  57  seqq. 

1545-6.]  '  No  ;  that  ice  and  that  stone  (i.e.  human  nature)  is 
not  as  insensitive  as  real  ice  and  stone.  The  moon  cannot  make 
ice  melt,  the  sun  cannot  make  stone  bloom,  but  human  nature 
can  be  made  to  melt  and  to  bloom  by  the  action  of  certain  "  powers 
o'  the  air  "  (1553-4).  It  has  done  so  in  many  men  of  times  past ; 
we  see  it  doing  so  in  Caponsacchi  to-day  '. 

1547.  compelled  perceive.]     Cf.  1437,  '  compel  him  strive  '. 

1553-8.]  '  Love  and  faith  ',  says  the  Pope,  '  leapt  forth  profusely 
in  old  time  at  advent  of  the  authoritative  star '  (i.e.  when  the 
Church  called  for  them) ;  '  now  they  no  longer  respond  to  its 
influence,  to  warmth  by  law  and  light  by  rule,  but  to  uncommissioned 
meteors  '  (i.e.  to  the  '  instinct  of  the  natural  man ' — 1583,  to  the 
call  of  honour,  manliness,  and  pity — 1557-8). 

1564.  Should  interfuse  him],  i.e.  which  in  the  supposed  circum- 
stances would  interfuse  him. 

1566-70.]     Ephesians  vi.  14-17. 

1571-1613.]  The  Pope  answers  the  '  hubbub  of  protestation ' 
which  he  expects  by  arguing  (1)  that  the  zeal  of  servants  of  the 
Church  should  outstrip  that  of  men  who  act  upon  instinct  (1584-7) ; 
(2)  that  it  is  in  fact  usually  shown  in  defending  mere  '  dogma ' 
(1577)  and  is  aroused  by  mere  trivialities  of  definition  (1589-1613) ; 
it  neglects  '  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law  '. 

1585.  Do  not  these  publicans  the  same  ?]    Matthew  v.  46,  47. 

1589-1604.]  The  Jesuits  in  China,  ever  since  their  mission- 
work  began  there  in  the  year  1582,  had  shown  a  '  politic  '  (line  1597) 
tolerance  of  native  customs  and  beliefs,  making  the  most  of  points 
of  contact  between  Confucianism  and  Christianity.  This  tolerance 
caused  '  qualms  '  in  the  minds  of  other  missionaries,  and  in  1693 
the  Pope's  Vicar  Apostolic  in  China,  Bishop  Maigrot  '  of  Conon 
in  the  province  of  Fo-kien  ' — Browning's  '  To-kien  '  is  a  mistake — 
condemned  it  in  the  decree  here  mentioned  ;  the  point  which  he 
most  emphasized  is  that  to  which  Browning  refers.  Tien  means 
literally  '  heaven '  and  the  Jesuits'  use  of  it  seemed  to  Maigrot 
to  imply  a  non-insistence  on  the  personality  of  God  ;  he  was 
particularly  scandalized  by  the  inscription  King  Tien  (literally, 
'  worship  Heaven ')  being  placed  in  Jesuit  churches.  But  the 
Jesuits,  backed  by  the  enlightened  Emperor  of  China,  declared 
that  Maigrot,  who  was  almost  completely  ignorant  of  Chinese, 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  225 

\\as    mi-taken  ;     Tim,    they  in-i-ted.  denoted.   k  not  the   material 
heavens,  luit   tin-  ('rcator  of  all  things'. 

.M.iiirmfs  decree  aroused  keen  controversy  at  Rome,  and  a 
pronouncement  «»n  the  subject  by  tin-  I'ope  was  anxiously  expected. 
Innocent,  however,  delayed;  he  did  not  wish  to  quarrel  with  the 
is.  and  perhaps  hojx-d  that  the  storm  would  blow  over; 
perhaps  al-o,  as  l'>ro  wiling  suggests,  he  was  convinced  that  the 
tarae*  in\<»l\, d  \\,  i,  of  no  real  consequence.  It  was  not  till  1701, 
when  Clement  XI.  had  >uccccdcd  Innocent,  that  it  became  clear 
that  'a  Fabian  policy  could  not  l>e  safely  prolonged';  Clement 
accordingly  sent  out  the  Tournon  whom  Browning  mentions  as 
his  legate  \\ith  full  powers,  luit  this  le^atcship  was  most  tragically 
unfortunate;  it  ended  with  Tournon's  death  in  prison  and  the 
expulsion  of  the  missions  fi-om  ( 'hina. 

Browning  must  l»e  wrong  in  stating  that  the  appointment  of 
Tournon  had  l»een  pressed  upon  Innocent  :  he  was  'a  very  young 
ID  in  ',  '  hardly  more  than  a  youth ',  in  1 70 1 ,  the  year  after  Innocent's 
death.  Tin-  port  makes  the  Pope  call  him  'Cardinal  Tournon', 
hut  he  did  not  become  a  cardinal  till  1707. 

i  .  <  .  Jenkins.  The  Jesuit*  in  China  ;    .Mr.  .Jenkins  tells  the 

story  on  the  authority  of  the  original  documents.     The  text  of  a 

decree  issued   by  Tournon  from  Pondicherry  in  1704,  condemning 

i    accommodations  to  native  beliefs,  will  be  found  in  Mirbt, 

V'"  II'  n  ~,ir  f.'i-xrln'rhte  des  Papstthums,  pp.  303-5,  cf.  288-91. 

1589.  Five  years  long,  now.]    Since  Maigrot's  decree  in   1693  ; 
•  lie  l.i-l    note. 

— .  roitwls  into  mi/  ears],  i.e.  dins  into  my  ears;  Browning  uses 
the  phrase  incorrectly  (>eo  note  on  IV.  600). 

l»»ol.   tir<i>nt\,  i.e.  so  urgent. 

Hin.VI.'J.  |  The  Pope  docs  not  mean  that  the  interests  of  Chris- 
tiain'  vital  in  China  than  in  Kuropc,  but  that  these  interests 

arc  not   really  threatened  there;    the  question  which  zealots  have 
I  in  <  hina  touches  a  mere  fringe,  not  of  geographical  Christen- 
dom, but  of  Christian  doctrine. 

Kins.  iiniinliitnl.\     See  note  on  423  above. 

1616.  Metamorphosis    the    immeasurable.]     Originally  '  The    im- 
-urablc  metamorphosis',  but  in  the  second  edition  Browning 
pi.  fen.  ,|  to  avoid  the  accepted  false  quantity  (metamorphosis). 

1618.  its  price],  the  price  paid  for  it  by  Christ  on  the  Cross; 

hence   the    '  mere  '   of  the   next    line. 

1619.  Rosy  Cross.]    The  Rosicrucian  sect,  which  had  its  origin 
in    Germany    in    the    fourteenth    century   and    claimed    a   certain 

llosciikrcu/.  as  its  founder, 

the  stone  still  sought 
\Vhcicl.y  [,asc  metal  into  gold  is  brought. 

The  search  was  its  « Great  Work '. 

Q 


226  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1634.  Power,  Wisdom,  Goodness,— God.]     See  above,  1363-6. 

1636-7.  When  I  outlive,  etc.],  i.e.  when  I  have  outlived  the  belief 
in  God  and  my  soul  is  mere  dust  and  ashes.  . 

1643-5.  Clouds  obscure,  etc.]  It  would  be  over-hasty,  says  the 
Pope,  to  conclude  that  because  difficulties  attend  the  Faith  the 
path  of  the  believer  would  be  easier  if  those  difficulties  were  removed. 
In  the  lines  which  follow  the  Pope  gives  singularly  beautiful  expres- 
sion to  Browning's  favourite  paradox  that  the  weakness  of  a  faith 
may  be  its  strength.  Cf.  e.g.  Easter-Day,  iv.,  where  the  speaker 
argues  that 

You  must  mix  some  uncertainty 

With  faith,  if  you  would  have  faith  be — 

and  1852  seqq.  below,  where  the  Pope  says  that  '  assurance '  may 
produce  '  torpor '. 

1647.  better],  i.e.,  of  course,  '  may  better  '  ;  '  better  '  is  a  verb. 
1650-51.  The  incentive  .  .  .  no  strength  .  .  .  comports],  i.e.  '  the 
incentive  which  irresistible  strength  does  not  bring  with  it  or  in- 
volve '.  The  French  comporter  is  often  a  transitive,  verb  with 
this  meaning  (e.g.  Vaction  comportait  le  repentir — Dumas),  but  I 
can  find  no  other  example  of  such  a  use  of  the  English  verb. 

1657-8.]  The  '  transcendent  act '  of  the  tale  of  line  1348  (Christ's 
incarnation  and  suffering)  is  to  Browning  but  a  type  of  '  the  never- 
ending  self-sacrifice  of  a  loving  God  '  ;  the  poet's  doctrine  is  finely 
stated  in  Pigou's  Browning  as  a  Religious  Teacher,  pp.  32-4. 

1661.  But]  is  transitional  rather  than  adversative.  After  a 
passing  allusion  to  the  '  phantoms  '  of  1663-6  (see  next  note)  the 
Pope  leaves  the  Christian  world  with  which  he  is  familiar. 

1665-6.]  '  Like  phantoms — weaklings  crying  for  help  as  they 
trip  and  fall  over  the  obstacles  to  the  Christian  faith  ("  clouds  "  ; 
cf.  1643)  as  if  they  were  unsurmountable  ("crags")'.  To  these 
phantoms  the  Pope  has  already,  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  given 
such  help  as  he  can  offer. 

1670-1790.]  This  brilliant  and  finely  phrased  pleading,  intro- 
duced as  that  of  some  anonymous  old-time  bard  or  philosopher 
or  both,  who  however  proves  to  be  Euripides  (1703-9),  falls  into 
three  parts,  p In  the  first  the  speaker  urges  that  men's  judgments 
upon  their  fellows — such  judgments  as  the  Pope's  office  requires 
him  to  pronounce — may  be  fallacious,  for  they  are  based  upon 
their  '  outward  product '  ;  of  which,  even  if  it  were  a  true  criterion, 
we  can  judge  but  crudely.  ^In  the  second  he  describes  his  own 
moral  and  theological  teaching  and  its  relation  to  Christianity,  of 
which  he  claims  that  it  is  at  least  an  adumbration.^  In  the  third  he 
contends  that  in  spite  of  all  their  advantages  the  accredited  repre- 
sentatives of  Christianity  in  the  seventeenth  century  A.D.  do  not 
attain  to  the  high  moral  and  religious  level  reached  by  himself 
in  the  fifth  century  B.C. — Before  the  pleading  begins  we  are  led  to 


X.     '/'///•:  /'"/>/;  227 

expect,  during  its  course  it  i->  a-^limed  (IOST),  that  tin-  I 'ope  will 
iiiiswi-r  it  ;  and  an  aiis\\er  is  profe^-dlv  -.'Ken  in  the  paragraph 
\\hich  begins  with  line  IT'.M.  The  Pope,  however,  doe-  nut  traverse 
any  of  the  pleader's  contentions;  In-  men-ly  tries  to  explain  why 
the  Christians  of  his  time  are  less  earnest  and  zealous  than  the 
( 'hristians  of  the  day-spring  ' — a  point  which  has  not  been  directly 
raised.  The  pleading  is  not  answered,  for  indeed  the  Pope  doubts 
whether  it  is  answerable  ;  admirably  suited  as  it  is  to  the  Euripides  /{/- 
in  whose  month  it  is  [  nit,  it  is  in  fact  an  avowal  of  his  own  misgivings.  ' 
*  1670-81.]  The  contention  of  lines  1670-74,  that  God  judges 
us,  not,  as  we  judge  one  another,  by  our  *  outward  product ',  but 
by  our  'inward  worth',  finds  frequent  expres-ion  in  Browning's 
poetry:  the  Po}>e  himself  urges  it  in  272-5.  In  1675-81  it  is 
admitted  as  a  possibility  that  the  outward  product  may  in  a  sense 
•  od's  test,  but  it  is  argued  that,  if  this  is  so,  He  appraises  the 
product  by  its  more  or  less^not  absolutely,  but  relatively  to  what, 
given  the  producer's  powers  and  opportunities,  may  be  fairly 
expected  from  him.  God  is  figured  as  a  'Machinist'  (1678)  whose 
machines  may  do  more  or  less  than  He  'exacts'. 
1683-4.]  See  note  on  1708-9  below. 

1692.  irithont  a  ivarrant  or  an  aim.]  Possibly  an  unconscious 
reminiscence  of  a  line  in  In  Mtnmrinm  (xxxiv.  8). 

1698.  *  Know  thyself'.}  rVwtfi  tr€a.vr6»t  the  motto  engraved  on 
the  temple  at  Delphi,  was  ascribed  to  one  of  the  seven  sages,  or 
even  to  Apollo  ;  Juvenal  (Sat.  11.  27)  says  that  it  '  came  down 
from  heaven  '. 

— .  ''Take  the  golden  mean'},  the  mirrn  inediocritas  of  Horace 
(Od.  2.  10.  5),  the  TO  ^<rov  which  numberless  Greek  maxims  and 
the  philosophy  of  Aristotle  prescribed. 

I  Tot-.").  |  The  pleader  proves  to  be  p]uripides ;  the  details 
_M\eii  about  him  come  from  Aulus  Gellius,  a  grammarian  of  the 
second  century  A.D.,  or  from  late  Lives  of  the  poet.  Kuripid 
said  to  have  gained  pri/.es  in  athletic  contests,  to  have  painted 
pictures  which  were  long  preserved,  to  have  been  a  pupil  of  the 
philosophers  Ana'xagoras,  Prodicus,  Protagoras. 

He  strongly  attracted  Browning,  who  when  In-  was  preparing  for 
work  upon  The  A'///;/  and  the  Book  wrote  (in  September  1862)  from 
Bianit/.  to  a  friend  that  he  was  'having  a  great  read  at  Euripides 
— the  only  book  I  brought  with  me  ',  and  was  at  the  same  time 
attending  to  his  'new  poem  that  is  about  to  be  ...  the  Roman 
murder  story  '  (see  Appendix  I.).  At  a  later  time,  when  the  murder 
story  had  been  told,  his  admiration  for  Euripides  found  expression 
in  UnluistMs  Adventure  (1871)  and  Aristophanes'  Apology  (l.sT 

1707.  When  the  Third  Poet's  tread,  etc.],  i.e.  when  .flSschylus  and 
Sophocles  began  to  find  a  rival  in  Euripides,  their  younger  con- 
temporary. 

1708-9.]     Kuripidcs    was  born,  according  to  many  authoriti 


228  THE  KING  AND  THE  BOOK 

in  the  year  (and  perhaps  on  the  day)  of  the  victory  over  the  Persians 
at  Salamis  (480  B.C.).  He  died  in  406  B.C.,  the  year  before  the 
defeat  of  the  Athenians  at  ^Egospotami.  His  lifetime  thus  included 
the  great  age  of  Pericles. 

1711-12.]     Cf.  Romans  ii.  14,  15. 

1718-20.]  Acts  xxiv.  25.  Compare  the  last  sentence  of 
Westcott's  essay  on  ;  Euripides  as  a  Religious  Teacher '  in  his 
Religious  Thought  in  the  West,  p.  141  :  '  It  cannot  be  a  mere  acci- 
dental coincidence  that  when  St.  Paul  stood  on  the  Areopagus 
and  unfolded  the  meaning  of  his  announcement  of  "  Jesus  and  the 
Resurrection  "  he  did  in  reality  proclaim,  as  now  established  in 
the  actual  experience  of  men,  the  truths  which  Euripides  felt 
after '. 

The  whole  of  this  essay,  which  gives  an  admirably  documented 
account  of  the  ethics  and  theology  of  Euripides,  should  be  read  in 
connection  with  lines  1718-90. 

1721.  strong  style],  i.e.  powerful  pen  (Lat.  stilus) ;  cf.  1786  below. 

1723.]  The  note  of  interrogation  in  the  text  should  be  one  of 
exclamation  ;  so  in  lines  1724,  1726. 

1730.  Galileo's  tube.]  The  books  of  Galileo,  who  was  '  a  prisner 
to  the  Inquisition '  (Areopagitica)  when  Milton  visited  him  in  1638, 
remained  on  the  Index  till  1835,  but  Browning's  broad-church 
Pope  of  1698  is  interested  in  his  discoveries. — '  Optic  glass  ',  '  optic 
tube ',  were  common  phrases  for  Galileo's  telescope ;  see  e.g. 
Paradise  Lost,  1.  288,  3.  590. 

1734-53.]  A  study  of  the  passages  quoted  by  Westcott  (see 
note  on  1718-20)  will  suggest  that  Euripides's  insight  as  theologian 
was  even  keener  than  Browning  represents. 

1762.  tenebrific.]     Cf.  III.  789. 

1766-71.]  Compare  with  this  the  polytheistic  system  which 
Guido  elaborately  improvises  in  XI.  1934-2003. 

1772-6.]     See  above,  1400. 

1784.  rewardest.]  Innocent,  at  any  rate,  is  far  from  rewarding 
them,  as  we  have  seen. 

1792.]  In  the  fourth  century  A.D.  certain  letters  (still  extant), 
alleged  to  have  passed  between  Seneca,  the  philosopher  who  was 
Nero's  tutor,  and  St.  Paul,  came  to  the  notice  of  St.  Jerome,  who 
placed  Seneca  '  in  the  catalogue  of  the  saints  '  on  the  strength  of 
them.  They  were  indeed  a  recent  and  a  clumsy  forgery  ;  but  the 
close  resemblance  between  Seneca's  precepts  and  those  of  Chris- 
tianity has  given  plausibility,  or  at  least  persistency,  to  a  belief 
that  he  had  personal  relations  with  St.  Paul.  See  the  interesting 
argument  in  Boissier,  La  Religion  romaine,  Book  II.  c.  5. 

1794.  have  got  too  familiar.]  For  Browning's  use  of  the  verb 
'  to  get '  see  note  on  IV.  1541. 

1796  seqq.]  The  Pope  describes  the  enthusiasm  and  self- 
abnegation  of  the  first  converts  to  Christianity  in  language  which 


BOOK  X.—THE  POPE  229 

suggests  that  their  new  birth,  their  'initiatory  spasm',  was  neces- 
j  martvnlom  (cf.  1S33).  But  1  do  not  think  that  he  means  this  ; 
'  ' 


1800.|      Ke\elation>  xxi.  5, 

1806.J  The  Pope  follows  Luke  xviii.  30;  the  parallel  passage 
in  Matthew  (xix.  -0)  omits  the  definite  promise  of  reward  'in  the 
present  time  '. 

1828.  fail  see.]  Cf.  IV.  1255,  'he  fails  obtain';  IX.  1240, 
'ye  fail  preoccupy'.  Other  omissions  of  *  to  '  before  infinitive- 
occur  in  1815  .and  1831-2;  with  'allowed  initiate'  (1815)  cf.  Mr. 
'  allow  us  share  your  luck  '. 

1829-30.  J  Originally  '  Who  is  faithful  now,  Untwists  heaven's 
pun-  white.  «-tc.'.  The  alteration  makes  the  meaning  clearer. 

1836.  Will],  i.e.  the  way  which  will.—  The  worldling  admits 
with  a  smile  the  greater  prudence  of  the  faithful  Christian,  which 
will  enable  him  to  reap  a  richer  reward;  but  feels  sure  that  his 
own  improvident  disregard  of  the  future  will  have  no  very  serious 
consequences. 

1851-1909.]  The  Pope  anticipates,  with  grave  misgivings  but 
not  without  hope,  the  coming  of  an  Age  of  Doubt  ;  see  XII.  775-8. 

1854-63.]  'Doubt,  rightly  understood,  is  just  that  vivid, 
personal,  questioning  of  phenomena  which  breaks  "the  torpor  of 
assurance  ",  and  gives  a  living  value  to  decision  '  (Westcott,  BtKgioiu 
ThniKjht  in  tin'  West,  p.  262).  •  The  value  and  strength  of  a  faith""] 
'one-  ponds  accurately  to  the  doubts  it  has  overcome.  Those 
who  IK  \cr  went  forth  to  battle  cannot  come  home  heroes'  (.lone-. 
linnriiiiiij  as  a  Philosophical  atid  lt?li<jious  Teaclier,  p.  317). 
Crowning's  thoughts  about  doubt  in  religion  underlie  much  of  th-- 
mere  selfishness  and  sophistry  of  his  Bishop  Blougram. 

The  assurance  which  the  Pope  regards  as  causing  torpor  is  that 
of  in-  i  id  wont.  In  An  Epistle  of  Karshish  the  torpor  of 

Lazarus  is  due  to  the  assurance  of  absolute  certainty.  But  faith 
should  not  be  based  on  certainty  if  life  is  to  be  probation;  cf. 
Easter-Day,  iv.  and  the  note  on  1437  above. 

1858.  the  infant  camp],  i.e.  the  camp  which  was  formerly  but  is 
*no  longer  'infant  . 

1867.  need],  i.e.  there  is  need. 

1892.  the  lust  and  pride  of  life.]     1  John  ii.  16. 

1901.]    The  note  of  interrogation  should  be  one  of  exclamation, 
as  in  1723,  1724,  1726.—  In  the  first  edition  Browning  wrote  '  whit  1  1 
which  he  afterwards  changed  to  'shall  they  ". 

1904-!).  |     An    antimasqiie    (Ben    Jonson    called    it    an    *  antic- 
masque")  was  an  interlude,  introduced  as  a  conlra>t   between  the 
acts  of  a  masque,  in  which  'antics'  or  grotesque  tLnnvv  took  pud 
it    \\a-  often   a    burlesque  of  the   ma>qiie.      The   '800k1   of  line    I 
is  the  boot  of  the  comic,  as  the  busk  is  that   of  the  tragic,  actor 

(Latin 


230  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

A  '  kibe '  is  in  Shakespeare,  as  here,  a  chap  on  the  heel ;  see  King 
Lear,  1.  5.  8-9,  Hamlet,  5.  1. 152-3.  Browning  had  the  latter  passage 
in  his  mind :  '  the  toe  of  the  peasant  comes  so  near  the  heel  of 
the  courtier,  he  galls  his  kibe  '.  t^, 

1912-13.]     See  above,  1553-8.  ;  e  J< 

1925.  the  morrice.]-   The  '  maze  '  of  line  1917. 

1928.  the  Augustin],  the  saint  who  made  '  the  Church's  rule  his 
law  of  life  '  (1912-13). 

1931.  second  in  the  suite],  the  second  '  experimentalist '  (see 
above,  1910). 

1942.]  That  is  what  the  worldly  wisdom  and  casuistic  '  accom- 
modations '  of  Jesuitism  to  current  ethics  have  come  to  to-day. 

1945-8.]     See  above,  926-64. 

1954.  The  world's  first  foot  61  the  dance.}  Substituted  in  the 
second  edition  for  the  original  '  The  first  foot  of  the  dance  '  ;  prob- 
ably to  introduce  the  tripping  anapaest  ('  o'  the  dance '). 

1958.  PauVs  sword.}  The  sword  (which,  when  raised  aloft, 
'expresses  his  warfare  in  the  cause  of  Christ')  was  given  to  St. 
Paul  in  art  at  a  late  period  ;  according  to  Mrs.  Jameson  (Sacred 
and  Legendary  Art,  p.  213),  not  till  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century. 
Since  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  '  it  has  ',  she  says,  '  been  so  generally 
adopted,  that  in  the  devotional  effigies  I  can  remember  no  instance 
in  which  it  is  omitted  '. 

1968,  1971.  Perchance],  i.e.  '  Is  it  .  .  .  ?  '  The  answer  is  '  no  '. 
Notes  of  interrogation  are  needed  at  the  end  of  lines  1970  and  1974  1. 

1975-6.]     Originally  '  Remonstrance  on  all  sides  begins  Instruct 


1976-8.]  For  this  '  new  tribunal '  of  '  the  educated  man ', 
« the  spirit  of  culture '  (2017),  see  the  note  on  II.  1473. 

1981.  blind  predecessors.]  Substituted  in  the  second  edition 
for  '  the  predecessor  '. 

1983.  /  find  it  pleaded  in  a  place],  viz.  in  the  First  Anonymous 
Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  cli.,  E.L.  154-5) ;  Browning  makes  his  Arcangeli 
use  the  very  words  of  the  pamphleteer's  plea.  See  note  on  VIII. 
663-7,  where  I  have  explained  that  the  Pope  might  well  ask  '  when, 
where  ?  '  (line  1982)  Christ  said  nemini  honorem  trado. 

1999.  if  thou  please.]  Cf.  La  Saisiaz,  404 :  '  Thine  the  prize,  who 
stand  aloof '. 

2003.  The  minor  orders.]    Cf.   444-8   above,   and  see  note  on 
I.  261-5. 

2004.  With  Farinacci' s  licence.}    For  Farinacci,  whom  Arcangeli 
describes  as  his  '  Gamaliel ',  see  notes  on  VIII.  148  and  328.     In 
the  O.Y.B.  there  is,  I  think,  no  discussion,  and  consequently  no 
reference    to    Farinacci' s    opinion,    concerning    the    extent   of   the 

i  Since  writing  this  note  I  find  that  the  first  edition  has  '  Is  it '  (with  notes 
interrogation,  of  course)  in  both  places. 


BOOK  X.—T//K  /'OPE 


231 


immunity  which  minor  orders  gave;  but,  as  Professor  Hodell  has 
shown  (h.  }'./>'.  :;.">:>),  Uiounin^  consulted  for  himself  tin-  text  of 
Fnrinarri  on  another  point,  and  perhaps  he  did  so  on  this. 

2015.  criiu'itiny.]  A  decided  improvement  on  the  'proper'  of 
the  first  edition. 

2022-33.]  Several  small  alterations  (and  improvements)  were  here 
introduced  in  the  second  edition.  In  2022  *  Remonstrances  '  was 
substituted  for  '  Apologies  '  ;  in  2030  '  to  '  for  fc  thy  '  ;  in  2032 
'Anticipate  a  little!  We  toll  thoo  '  for  'She  anticipates  a  little 
to  tell  thee  '  ;  in  2<K{:>  '(Uiido's  life,  sapjx'd  society  shall  crash' 
for  '  Count  Guide's  life,  and  sap  society  '. 

2040.  silly-sooth.]    See  note  on  III.  806. 

•_>o.->3.]    Cf.  XII.  316. 

2060.  the  three  little  laps.]  Upon  the  death  of  a  Pope  the 
Cardinal  Camerlengo  (Chamberlain)  is  summoned  to  the  room 
where  the  body  lies.  '  After  making  a  brief  prayer  he  rises,  the 
face  of  the  Pope  is  uncovered,  and  approaching  the  bed  he  strikes 
three  times  with  a  silver  hammer  on  the  forehead  of  the  corpse, 
calling  him  as  many  times  by  name  to  answer.  As  the  corpse 
remain-  speerhless,  he  turns  to  his  companions,  and  formally 
announces  that  "  //  papa  e  realmente  morto  "  '  (Story,  Roba  di 
Roma,  p.  516). 

2069.  petit-mattre  priestlings.}  In  John  Inghsant  (c.  xxxvii.) 
Shorthouse's  seventeenth-century  hero  is  deseriln  •<!  as  having,  on 
a  certain  occasion  at  Rome,  '  entirely  the  look  of  a  petit-mattre, 
and  even  —  what  is  more  contemptible  still  —  of  a  jx/it-iiidltre  priest  '. 

2073-4.]    See  note  on  838-41  above. 

2080-81.  all  four  lives,  etc.]  A  mistake.  Browning  supposed 
the  Pope  to  be  somewhat  older  (see  note  on  166),  and  Guide's 
confederates  to  be  much  younger  (see  note  on  964),  than  they  really 
were. 

2089.  Hecuba-like.}  \Vhon  in  the  last  agony  of  Troy  the  a#-d 
Priam  armed  himself  for  its  defence  Hecuba  is  represented  in 
Virgil  as  protesting  : 


Non  tali  auxilio  net- 
Tnnpus  eget  (,-£//. 


jstis 


('The  hour  calls  not  for  such  succour  or  such  defenders'.) 

2093.  Reply  is  apt],  i.e.  the  Pope's  (favourable)  answer  to  our 

appeal  is  ready  to  be  given. 

2101.  asked  the  Count],   in   V.    1549,   when   he  summoned    his 

milfeder  .,' 

2108-12.]     See  note  on  I.  350-60. 

2119-28.]     With    this    magnificent  description   and    line   use   of 
a    thunderstorm    compare    another    in    I'i/>/>tr    /' 

where  Ottima   recalls   how,  when   she  and   her   paramour  were   lyin-_r 
in  a  pine-wood. 


232  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Swift  ran  the  searching  tempest  overhead  ; 

And  ever  and  anon  some  bright  white  shaft 

Burned  thro'  the  pine-tree  roof,  here  burned  and  there, 

As  if  God's  messenger  thro'  the  close  wood  screen 

Plunged  and  replunged  his  weapon  at  a  venture, 

Feeling  for  guilty  thee  and  me  :  then  broke 

The  thunder  like  a  whole  sea  overhead.  .  .  . 

2127-8.]    See  Appendix  X. 

2130-32.]  The  Pope  sees  a  second  chance  for  Guido  in  the 
'  obscure  sequestered  state  '  of  Purgatory.  Of  his  phrase  '  which 
must  not  be  '  Sir  H.  Jones  says  that  '  it  seems  to  carry  in  it  the 
irrefragable  conviction  of  the  poet  himself '  (Browning  as  a  Philo- 
sophical and  Religious  Teacher,  p.  118).  Cf.  Browning's  reflections 
on  the  suicides  he  saw  lying  in  the  Paris  Morgue,  for  whom  his 
*  own  hope  is '  (Apparent  Failure,  vn.)  that 

a  sun  will  pierce 
The  thickest  cloud  earth  ever  stretched  .  .  . 

That  what  began  best,  can't  end  worst, 
Nor  what  God  blessed  once,  prove  accurst. 

2133.  /  may  die  this  very  night.]     See  above,  318-31. 


BOOK  XL— GUIDO 


INTRODUCTION 


IN  Book  V.  Guido  speaks  2058  lines  before  his  judges  in 
the  witness-chamber,  in  Book  XI.  he  speaks  2427  to  his 
visitors  in  the  prison  ;  thus  he  is  allotted  between  a  fifth 
and  a  fourth  part  of  the  whole  poem,  exclusive  of  the 
many  long  quotations  from  his  utterances  which  will  be 
found  in  other  Books.  It  is  perhaps  too  large  an  allot- 
ment ;  Mr.  Henry  James  complained,  not  without  reason, 
that  his  second  harangue  is  '  alas  !  too  boundless  ' x,  while 
Sir  Leslie  Stephen  demurred  to  the  concession  of  any 
'  second  innings  '  to  the  '  loathsome  murderer  '  ;  the  con- 
—  imi.  he  said,  was  'the  result  of  Browning's  strange 
interest  in  morbid — iaaychology  \  and  that  interest,  he 
implied,  was  not  only  strange  but  itself  morbid2.  To  the 
tnrmer  of  Sir  Leslie's  two  propositions,  exeept  to  the 
word  strange',  the  poet  would  certainly  have  assented  : 
he  would  have  hotly  disputed  the  latter.  When  Kuskin 
was  *  angry  with  '  his  Mr.  Sludge  the  Medium,  he  defended 
himself  for  having  '  anatomized  the  mood  of  the  juggler  ' 
on  the  ground  that  '  all  morbidness  of  the  soul  is  worth  the 
soul's  study  ' 3 ;  it  was  not,  therefore,  morbid  to  be  interested 
in  that  morbidness.  For  Guide's  second  harangue  (where 
Browning,  indeed,  created  as  well  as  anatomized4)  he 

i  Qwirti-rla   /frnVw,   July    H)1'J,  p.  ts:5.—  (iuidn  himself  speaks  of  his  •  Vdlul.lt- 
rhetoii,  '  (XI.   171).  .•/.»/„//  Rfrfctt,   !><••  ember  I'.xn.1.  p. 

Ku>kin's  UW/.-X  ( Library  edition).  \\\\i..  p.  \\\viii. 

m  extract  fnun  NY.  M.  i;..--etti\  diar>  (July  4,  !«<»'.>)  in  Itoxm-tti  l'ni»-rs. 
p.  |n|  :  '  r.riiwiiiim  c-;illcd  .  .  .  t;ilkcil  about  an  ;irt  irlr  in  '1'i-m/i/,'  /;/;/-.  -ayiii'j  th;it 
tic,  ;i-  -licuii  in  tin-  liitiif  iiinl  tin'  /)'<»•/,-,  is  an  ;in:ily>t.  imt  rrv.itor,  »\  rh.,: 
I  ln~.  I'..  \ri\  tiiil\  >ay~.  i->  in  it  applicable  ;  berause  he  has  In. I  t<>  create  .  .  .  the 
eharactrr.-,  < >'|  the  hn.ik  as  he  OOBCeivefl  them,  an. I  it  is  <.nl>  alter  that  pn,.,.^  that 
the  aiiah.-ini:  nietliM.I  C.MHO  int..  pla\  '. 


234  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

would  have  offered  the  same — sufficient  or   insufficient — 
justification1. 

Mr.  Stopford  Brooke  was  a  more  sympathetic  critic 
of  the  poem  than  Sir  Leslie  Stephen.  He  suggested  that 
'  a  weaker  poet ',  after  giving  Guido  his  say  in  Book  V., 
'  would  have  left  him  there,  not  having  capacity  for  more  '  ; 
'  but  Browning ',  he  adds,  '  so  rich  in  thought  he  was,  had 
only  begun  to  draw  him '  2.  In  what  Stephen  called  his 
first  innings  the  batsman '  is  obliged  to  play  for  safety, 
and  exhibits  a  masterly  defence.  In  his  second  innings 
he  plays  his  truer .  game  and  hits  all  round  the  wicket ; 
to  use  his  own  metaphor,  he  puts  off  his  '  sfteepskmj^&rb,  / 

rolf ,  it 


with  a  curse  on't ',  and  'shows  his  shag'Sr  The  wolf, 
is  true,  is  not  completely  hidden  in  Book  V. — his  hate, 
which  is  '  the  truth  of  him ' 4,  Guido  cannot  hide — ,  and 
for  that  reason  5  the  judicious  reader,  even  if  the  summary 
in  Book  I.  has  not  put  him  on  his  guard,  will  hardly  be 
one  of  those  '  not  a  few  persons  who  when  they  have  finished 
Guide's  first  monologue  are  inclined  to  believe  his  plea  ' 6  ; 
he  will  not  be  '  baffled  and  won  '  by  Guide's  sophistries. 
Meanwhile  the  criminal  gains  a  hearing  by  his  frank  dis- 
avowal of  any  claim  to  be  on  a  higher  level  than  the  average 
worldling  of  his  time  ;  he  even  excites  a  certain  sympathy 
by  his  presentation  of  himself  as  one  whom  his  poverty 
has  made  a  laughing-stock7,  and  whose  life  has  been  blighted 
by  deceptions  and  disappointments.  His  defence  is  adroit ; 
his  points  are  often  good  points  ;  his  ecclesiastical  attitude 
is  unimpeachable;  his  attitude  towards  the  judges,., 
although  now  and  then 

Incisive,  nigh  satiric,  bites  the  phrase  8, 

1  In  a  short  notice,  written  when  only  a  fourth  part  of  the  poem  had  been 
published,  the  Editor  of  the  Fortnightly  Review  (January  1, 1869,  p.  125)  remarked  : 
'The  theme  .  .  .  lies  in  that  department  to  which  English  taste,  narrow  and 
rigid,  usually  expresses  its  repugnance  by  labelling  it  as  morbid  anatomy.  .  .  . 
That  in  his  mode  of  handling  a  theme,  at  any  rate,  Mr.  Browning  is  not  morbid, 
needs  not  be  said.     Of  all  contemporary  poets  he  is  the  most  healthy.  ..."    In 
a  subsequent  article  on  the  completed  poem  the  same  writer  spoke  trenchantly, 
in  his  earlier  manner,  of  '  all  the  odious  cant  about  morbid  anatomy '  (March  1, 
1869).     '  Odious  cant '  from  Sir  Leslie  StepTTeTr-*. 

2  Browning,  p.  407.  ^'XI.  443-4>"v  •*  VII.  1727. 
5  As  well  as  for  another  mentioned  ifrfB*>  f ntrnri  n  rifoon  to  Book  V. 

0  The  words  quoted  are  Professor  HodelPs  in  O.Y.B.  279. 

7  Nil  habet  infelix  paupertas  durius  in  se 
Quain  quod  ridicules  homines  facit 

(Juvenal,  Sat.  3.  152-3)  is  the  burden  of  much  of  Book  V.  »  I.  965. 


BOOK  XL— GUIDO  235 

is  usually  conciliatory  ;    he  compels  us  to  admit,  what  the 
Court  and  at  least   halt'   Rome  would  have  admitted  very 
readily,  that  his  wrongs  an-  not  all  unreal.     In  the  second 
monologue  he  has  changed  his  attitude  ;   he  has  abajulonfid. 
diplomacy.     We   have   here   and   there   a  frantic   appeal, 
here~"and  there  the  merest  whine,  but  he  is  usually  defiant 
and   his   arguments   have   ceased   to   be   self-exculpatory. 
He   no   longer  poses   as   the   Church's   faithful   son ;    its 
me  inhere,    he    declares,    are    '  born  -  baptized  -  and  -  bred 
Christian    atheists'1;     he    exposes    most    ruthlessly    its 
falsities  and  insincerities.     S^ftp-r  hatred,   not,   as  before, 
injured  honour,  is  avowed  to  have  been  the  motive  of  his 
crimes  ;    so  far  as  Pompilia  was  its  object,  he  admits,  or 
rather  he  insists,  that  it  was  aroused  by  her  purity  and 
innocence.     The   criminal   finds  relief  in  laying   bare,   in 
all  its  ugliness,  his  ingrained  and  passionate  love  of  evil.-*^- 
K\<  ellent  illustrations  of  the  difference  between  the  two 
Guidos  will  be  found  in  their  allusions  to  the  Molinist 
heresy2 — of  these  I  shall  speak  in  Appendix  VIII. — ,  or 
again  in  the  places  where  they  deal  wit  h  the  same  incidents  ;    , 
contrast  for  example  the  full  account  of  the  murders  in/1/ 
V.   1582-1669  with  the  shorter  references  to  them  in  Xltfl 
1275-87  and  1575-1610.    1 -suggest  for  special  comparisoi||| 
the  reflections  of  the  hypocrite  in  V.  1715-25  and  of  tht| 
frank  ruffian  in  XI.  1614-60  on  his  omission  to  take  pre-  ' 
<  autions  before  the  murders  for  his  safety  afterwards.     In 
the   witness-chamber   that   omission   is   emphasi/ed    as    a 
proof  that  he  has  not  '  schemed ' 3.     In  the  prison  it  is 
cited  as  an  instance  of 

Aitistry's  haunting  i-iuxo,  the  Incomplete4; 

as  the  Pope  conjectured,  Guido  '  curses  the  omission  more 
than  the  murder  '  ;  it  was  the 

One  touch  of  fool  in  Guido  the  astute  6. 

Some  parts  of  The  Ring  and  tlie  Book  attract  by  sheer 
attractiveness,  Caponsacchi's  monologue  partly  by  the 
happy  variety  of  its  tone  and  manner,  chiefly  1>\  its  noble 

'    XI. 

i.uiilo  proiV^x-;  to  slum-,  ill   I'.""U    XI.  In-  riilinil.-;.  tin-  popular 
horror  oi  Molini-m. 

17JJ.  \l.  1561.  3  X.  853-5. 


236  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

motive  and  high  passion ;  Pompilia's  by  its  sustained 
simplicity,  its  '  candour '  and  innocence,  its  revelation 
of  the  holiness  of  motherhood,  the  heroine's  reverence 
for  the  hero  ;  the  Pope's  by  its  mellow  wisdom,  its  breadth 
of  outlook,  its  dignity  and  elevation.  Guide's  second 
monologue,  like  lago's  speeches  in  Othello,  aj^racts  chiefly 
by  repulsion  ;  there  is  indeed  nothing  in  the  poem",  nothing 
in  Browning,  nothing  perhaps  in  all  literature  more  attract- 
ively, or  at  any  rate  more  arrestingly,  repulsive  than 
the'  sudden  jjfcange  from  Vn-n.-i7n.jp  fr>  ^r^^en  terror  in  its 

~ ore  than   lago's   speecKes^Ts"^ 
Book   XI.   a   mere    study   of   the    depths   of   wickedness.  • 
Browning's  Guido,  like  his  other  scoundrels,  his  deceivers 
and  self  -deceivers,  is  highly  intejlsciiialized  ;  ,his  thoughts, 
like  theirs,  often  hit  the  truth,  they  flresnTastimes  profoundt. 

nlnmst  noble  ;  he  is  a  master  of  irony,  satire, 
invective ;  many  of  his  descriptions,  some  of  his 
vilest  imaginings,  are  of  amazing  power  and  brilliancy. 
Among  passages  which  justify  one  or  other  of  these  stater 
ments  may  be  mentioned  his  account  of  his  first  introduc- 
tion to  the  newly-devised  mannaia  (179-258)  ;  his  attack 
on  the  Christians  and  Christianity  of  his  day  (515-70.'>)  ; 
his  avowal  of  his  own  fundamental  beliefs  (1915-2003)  ; 
r*"his  expression  of  his  preference  for  '  colour  '  in  women  ,i 
^— of  his  loathing  for  '  chalky  '  purity  (2045-2227).  It  mayjlj 
also  be  noticed  that  the  colouring  of  place  and  time,  so||| 
vivid  throughout  the  poem,  is  not  least  vivid  here, 
is  present  throughout  the  Book  and  not  merely  in  patches 
but  attention  may  be  called  to  Guide's  sketches  of  th( 
insolence  of  Tuscan  and  of  Roman  nobles  (99-106,  191-1 
213,  267-75),  of  the  sacristan  among  his  relics  (567-78), 
of  the  conduct  to  be  expected  under  given  circumstances 
from  the  Pope's  halberdier  and  from  '  his  Altitude  the 
Referendary  '  (626-62),  of  the  layman  who  is  reminded 
when  at  mass  that  he  has  left  '  his  cask  a-tilt,  the  Trebbian 
running  '  (682-92),  of  the  eunuch  who  plays  Armida  at 
the  opera  (1410-20),  of  the  probable  result  of  the  expected 
election  to  the  papacy  (2259-65) 1. 

1  In  parting  company  with  the  Guido  of  Book  XI.  I  would  direct  attention  to 
Mr.  Swinburne's  enthusiastic  appreciation  of  that  '  model  of  intense  and  punctili- 
ous realism  ...  so  triumphant  a  tiling  that  on  its  own  ground  it  can  be  matched 
by  no  poet;  to  match  it  we  must  look  back  to  Balzac'.  It  occurs  in  an  e-s-iy 


BOOK  XL—QUIDO  237 

l'.r«'\\nii|.j    i»iiiii|    no   hints   in    his    Ycll<>\\     |>nnk    for  the 
Belf-revelation    of    (Juido    which    his     monologues    promt  ; 
it    doe>   not    e\en   contain   his  deposition   in   the    I'rn.-e- 
riiuht.   though    it    contains  those  of   Pompilia   and   Capon 
saechi.     It  gi\  cs  a  tew  of  his  utterances  on  various  occasions 
and    sonic    portions    of    his    evidence    in    the    murder-trial, 
hut  neither  these,  nor  the  kno\\n  facts  of  the  story.  BUg 
(he   highly  educated   and   intellectual   villain  of  the   poem. 
The   liivc-lcttcrs.    if   Cuido   forced   them,  shou    that    he  had 
some    acquaintance    with    literal  lire,    the    design   of    which. 
on    that    hypothesis,    they    were    the    instrument,    show    a 
criminal's    ingenuity  ;     but   that    is   all.  —  For   the    visit   of 
the   ecclesiastics  to   the    prison    l>n»\\ning   had   authority; 
he  read  in  the  Secondary  Source  :  — 


At   the  eighth  hour  [say  ali»iit   i(    \.M.  on   Kehruary  l'_  | 
and   his  oompUUOQfl   \\ere   marked   out    for  death   |?|  .    .    .     \     i  '  d    by 
.  \ltatr    I'aneiatiehi    and    Cardinal   Acciajoli    they  did   not  delay  in   |ti« 
paring  themselves  to  die  well1. 

The  same  writer  says  further  that  (luido  made  a  good  end. 
'dying  with  the  name  of  Jesus  on  his  lips'  ;  of  this  the 
poel  uakfifl  use  in  Hook  XII.  (173-S!)).  The  object  of 
the  visitors  \\as  of  course  to  extract  from  the  prisoner 
a  full  confe»ion.  so  that  he  might  b-  '  absolved  and  recon- 
ciled with  (!od  '  and  might  supply  a  conclusive  testimony 
to  the  justice  of  the  judgment  of  the  ecclesiastical  court  :{. 
In  declaring  that  their  object  was  attained  the  author  of 
the  Secondary  Source  is  supported  by  the  ecclesiastically- 
minded  author  of  the  post-  Brou  ning  pamphlet.  If  thi-; 
latter  writer  was  correctly  informed,  (luido  did  not 
team1  and  'foam  and  curse  and  blaspheme'  as  the 
poet  represents,  in  his  last  hours;  'he  cast  himself  into 
the  arms  of  the  Frati  and  sho\\ed  such  signs  of  lively 


'Notes  on  the  Text  of  sh.'llry  '  uhi.-li  ap)M-;in-,l  in  tli.-  l-'urlnigWy  Review 
\«r  \l.i\    I.   I  •»••-'.•.  tlin-f  iiiuiitlis  alter  tin-  pultlicat  inn  ,,|   |;.,,,k  XI.  :    the  es>ay  r..ii- 
,i    iiia-l.Tly    ciini|iari<"ii    "i    I'.n  «\\  nine's    C,(\\<\<>   \\itli    Slielh-y's   C.iiint    CIMH-J. 
Writing  on   Nnvciiit-ci  .id   ul    what    In-    ••a|l.-«l    llmuuing's 

•new  sfii-:ition  iu.  \-i-l  '  (  'I'll-   I  I'n  .1  i  liiif-tu.ly  in  t  he  later  manner  of 

I'.al/ac.  ami  I  alwa\  -;  think  1  1  :i-h  ;in.il\  -t  t:re.it<--«  M   IK-  OO1 

in    matter   ami    pr.xv.lnre    t.'   th.     -till    u-reater    l_'r.-nchnian  '  (Tl<-    l.>t!>r*  i./.l.  ('. 
.-.lite«l  l.y  Uosseaml  Wi-e,  i.  |-p.  ^U>-7). 

I 

(Jni.io  insists,  e.g.  in  XI.  512-14. 


238  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

contrition   that   his   prayers   were   accompanied    by   their 
tears  rather  than  by  their  exhortations  ' 1. 


NOTES 

(N.B. — The  numbering  of  the  lines  in  the  notes  to  this  Book,  aft 
line  923,  is  that  of  the  second  and  all  subsequent  editions,  but  not 
that  of  the  first  edition.     See  '  Lines  Added  '  in  Appendix  XL) 

2.  Abate  Panciatichi.]    A  relative  of  this  Abate — the  Cardinal 
of  line   1245 — was  Secretary  of  Briefs  to  Innocent  XII.   and  his 
predecessor. — The  Panciatichi  family,  who  had  been  the  leaders  of 
the  Ghibellines  in  Pistoia,  settled  in  Florence  about  A.D.  1300. 

3.  your  ancestor.]    The  Acciaiuoli  were  another  old  Florentine 
family.     A  dynasty  of  this  family,  '  plebeian  at  Florence,  potent 
at  Naples,  and  sovereign  in  Greece'  (Gibbon,  c.  Ixii.,  ad  fin.),  held 
the  dukedom  of  Athens  in  the  fifteenth  century.     Niccolo  Acciaiuoli, 
the  ancestor  here  mentioned  as  the  founder  of  the  Certosa  di  Val 
d'Ema  (see  next  note),  settled  at  Naples  as  a  trader,  made  a  large 
fortune   there,  and   became  Grand   Seneschal  (see  line   14  below) 
of  the  kingdom.     Landor  gives  an  account  of  him  in  his  Pentameron 
of  Bocca,ccio  and  Petrarca. 

4-14.]  The  Carthusian  monastery  (Certosa),  built  on  a  hill  at 
the  confluence  of  the  Greve  and  the  Ema,  is  well  known  to  visitors 
to  Florence.  The  one-arched  bridge  of  line  9  is  some  2|  miles 
from  the  Porta  Romana. 

17.  their  scaffold  planks.]    See  the  description  below,  207-49. 

24.  ere  break  of  day.}  See  the  passage  quoted  from  O.Y.B. 
213  in  the  last  paragraph  of  the  Introduction  to  Bock  XI. 

32.  twelve  hours  hence.]  Cf.  123  below.  According  to  the 
records  Guido  was  told  at  the  eighth  hour  (about  2  A.M.)  that  he 
must  die  ;  '  the  Company  of  Death  and  of  Pity '  (see  last  paragraph 
of  this  Book)  arrived  at  the  prison  at  the  twentieth  hour  (about 
2  P.M.)  ;  the  execution  took  place  '  after  dinner  '  (O.Y.B.  ccxxxix., 
213,  E.L.  238,  265). 

33-8.]  The  gaoler's  encouraging  belief  're-echoed  the  convic- 
tion of  all  Rome ',  if  Browning's  Venetian  of  rank  judged  rightly 
(XII.  78).  The  poet's  authority  was  a  letter  written  by  a  certain 
Carlo  Ugolinucci  immediately  after  Guide's  execution  (see  Introduc- 
tion to  Book  XII.) ;  he  declares  that  on  the  resolution  of  the  court 
to  await  the  proofs  of  Guide's  '  clericate '  the  defence  '  began  to 
breathe  again'  (O.Y.B.  ccxxxix.,  E.L.  238). 

37.  fee  of  the  good  hand],  i.e.  a  tip  ;  Italian  buonamano. 

40.   Whoever  owned  wife,  etc.]    Cf.  e.g.  I.  866-7,  II.  ad  fin. 

i  O.Y.B.  224,  E.L.  279  ;  Hall  Griffin,  p.  324. 


l!f*fil<  XI.     OUIDO  239 

|.'»  .M.  |  For  duido'*  claim  <>n  the  ground  of  hi*  '  clei i 
of  which  ue  learn  in  the  record*  miK  from  the  lelteis  uritten 
hi*  execution  (I.  iV.T-'.i).  sec  e.g.  X.  1999-2014;  for  tin-  Pb] 

rejection  of   the   flailil   see    1.    :>L}8-36. 

56-7.]     See  Appendix  VII. 

t)J.  mi  «iiclt  xtnj'fx  extant.  \  See  below,  557  seqq.  There  an-  no 
Christian*  n«»\v  in  Home,  says  Guido,  only  *  born-bapti/.ed-and- 
bn-d  Christian-atheists'  (709);  if  by  waving  a  wand  he  could 
make  Rome  Chri*tian,  an  explosion  would  follow  (622-5). 

TL*.  i-ti/iildl  <>'  flu-  r///-.W  kiiul.\     See  note  on  I.  178-9. 

108.  JH  nudity  i>ri</f  <nnl  jn iintij  />orl.\  In  Riclmni  II.  (5.  -~>.  !»h 
the  king  says  that  he  is  '  spurr'd,  ^all'd  and  tired  by  jauncing 
Bollngbroke  '  ;  in  their  note  Clark  and  Wright  quote  from  Cotgravc  : 

*  lancer   un  cheval.      To   stim-    a  horse   in  stable   till    hcc   sweat 
wit  hall;    or  (as  our)  to  jaunt;    (an  old  word)'.      In    Romeo  uml 
.Juliet  the    Nurse    exclaims  'What    a    jaunt     \(}'2    has    •jauncc'J  I 
have   had  ! '     She  has,  she  says,   been   '  jauncing   up  and  down ' 
(2.  5.  26,  ."):{). 

130.  while  I  (ell  you.]     Below,  179-258. 

14").  8kntnk~thanked.]  As  you  like  it,  2.  7.  161  :  'His  youthful 
h".-e  ...  a  world  too  wide  For  his  shrunk  shank  '. 

1  17.   irintllt'NtruH'x.]     The   word  is   applied   in   Scotland    and    in 
the   North  of  England  to  dry  stalks  of  grass  left  standing;    also. 
Figuratively,  to  persons  feeble  in  physique  or  infirm  of   pin  j 
Browning  uses  it  in  the  literal  sense  in  Fijincnl  the  F"l/\  ix..  where 

•  thistle-fluffs  and  bearded  windlestraws '  are  spoken  of  as  materials 
for  birds'  nests;    cf.  Old  Mortality,  c.  vii.  :    '  1  had  rather  that  the 
rigs  of  Tillietudlem    hare   naethuig   but    windlc-straes   and   sandy 
lavrookfl  than  that  they  were  ploughed  by  rebel*'. 

181.  many  a  good  year  gone.]     See  note  on  272  below. 

188.  the  Mouth-of-Truth.]  The  Bocca  della  Verita  is  a  lar.m- 
marble  di.-e  \\ith  the  mask  of  a  Triton  and  an  open  mouth,  which 

•'bly  served  as  the  mouth  of  a  drain;  it  is  in  the  vestibule  of 
the  church  of  Santa  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  to  which  it  gives  an  alter- 
native name.  '  It  was  believed  that  if  a  \\itness,  whose  truthful- 
doubted,  were  desired  to  place  his  hand  in  the  mouth  of 
this  mask,  it  \\oiild  bite  him  if  he  were  guilty  of  ]>crjury '  (II 
II 'nlk*  in  Home,  i.  p.  159). 

Is1.).  //•//<  /•»  /(,/•'•  <-,,i/ .'),  i.e.  why  was  Mannaia  coy  ? 

I'.Mi.  \\'hn '  xtiililul  buffaloes.}  '  ButTaloe*  may' be  seen  in  licrds 
lu-re  and  there  [in  the  Campagna  |.  The*e  \» -a*t*  are  -till  more 
poueiful  than  the  oxen,  and  are  used  to  do  all  the  harde*t  work. 
.  .  .  All  along  the  outer  walls  of  Rome,  at  regular  intervals,  little 
pens  are  tailed  off  with  strong  beams  to  afford  refuge  to  any 
pedotrians  in  ease  they  may  chance  to  meet  a  drove  of  but! 
or  of  oxen  '  (Story,  Rnlm  id  l!»n>'i,  p.  :>r>7).  In  old  days  there  \\eie 
buffalo  races  in  the  city  (iliiil.  pp.  551-2). 


240  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

224.  slid]  would  perhaps  be  the  right  word.  In  the  first  of  his 
Letters  on  a  Regicide  Peace  Burke  speaks  of  the  executioner  fitting 
to  the  size  of  his  victims  '  the  slider  of  his  guillotine  '. 

234.  trundles.]  The  verb  is  often  used  intransitively  by 
Browning ;  cf.  e.g.  644  below.  Addison  notes  (Spectator,  No.  253, 
quoted  in  N.E.D.)  that  in  certain  lines  of  Homer  the  stone  of 
Sisyphus,  having  been  '  heaved  up  by  several  Spondees  ',  at  last 
'  trundles  down  in  a  continual  line  of  Dactyls  '. 

243.  Discoursed  this  platter.]  This  transitive  use  of  '  to  discourse  ' 
is  archaic  (N.E.D.) ;  cf.  I.  645,  '  discoursed  the  right  and  wrong  '. 

260.  Was  not  a  Pope,   etc.]      The   pope   in   question   must   be 
Alexander  VII.,  who  reigned  from  1655  to  1667  ;    he  was  reputed 
to  be  witty.     See  note  on  272  below. 

261.  the  Merry  Tales],  perhaps  those  of  Sacchetti ;    see  notes 
on  III.  1446  and  V.  560. 

263.  cullion.]  Properly  one  easily  deceived,  as  here  ;  but  used 
as  a  mere  term  of  abuse  by  Shakespeare  (e.g.  in  Henry  V.,  3.  2.  22). 

272.  Florid  old  rogue  Albano's  masterpiece.]  Francesco  Albano, 
born  at  Bologna  in  1578,  taught  at  Rome  and  died  in  1660  ;  Ruskin 
could  '  still  follow  his  prettiness '  and  enjoy  his  Cupids.  His 
masterpiece  of  '  bouncing  Europa  on  the  back  o'  the  bull ',  for 
which  Browning  here  provides  a  model,  is  at  Petrograd,  where  the 
poet  may  have  seen  it  in  1834  ;  there  is  a  replica  of  it  in  the  Uffizi 
at  Florence  (Hall  Griffin,  Life  of  Robert  Browning,  p.  63). — Since 
Albano  died  (at  the  age  of  82)  in  1660,  the  picture  was  not  painted 
later,  probably  it  was  painted  much  earlier,  than  in  that  year ; 
and  according  to  Browning's  story  it  was  newly  painted  when 
Guido  first  made  acquaintance  with  Mannaia.  How  old  was  he 
in  1660  ?  Browning  makes  him  forty-six  when  he  married  in 
1693  (see  note  on  I.  782-4) ;  that  would  make  him  thirteen  in  1660. 
But  he  was  in  factjjorn  in  1658. 

and  cfcmT>See  note  on  IX.    1039-40.— '  Clout '   (as 

means  literally  '  clod  '. 

ilas  and  Axis  are  the  two  uppermost  vertebrae  of 
the  neck ;  SymDhyses  are  the  unions  of  bones  by  cartilage. 
Browning  represents  Guido  as  having  studied  anatomy  at  the 
suggestion  of  his  fencing- master  (283-9) ;  he  had  himself  done  so 
'  with  reference  to  the  expression  of  form '  (Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  p.  232). 
During  her  last  winter  in  Rome,  that  of  1860-61,  Mrs.  Browning 
wrote  :  '  Robert  has  taken  to  modelling  under  Mr.  Story  .  .  . 
and  is  making  extraordinary  progress,  turning  to  account  his 
studies  on  anatomy '  (ibid.  p.  230). 

294-5.]  Ecclesiastes  xii.  6  :  'or  ever  the  silver  cord  be  loosed, 
or  the  golden  bowl  be  broken '.  Browning's  '  silver  cord  '  is  the 
spinal  cord  (see  below,  642),  and  his  '  gold  bowl '  is  the  brain. 

303.  extravasate],  i.e.  forced  out  of  its  proper  vessel. 

304-5.]     See  note  on  II.  1495. 


ROOK  XI.—GUIDO  241 

:!<>7.  iifni'liiin'nl  l/inic  «/'/////  hrnin\.  i.f.  the  mrnilirane  whieh  coats 
the  brain  and  the  spinal  cord. 

311.  Fagon\  was  chief  physician  to  Louis  XIV.  ;  was  he  also  a 
'.owning  and  Thackeray  (in  l-'.*m<>inl)  say?  I  have 
read  of  him  EM  ordering  opcrat  ions,  but  not  as  operating. — Macaiilay 
in  his  cha|»ter  (iii.)  on  the  'State  of  Kn<rland  in  1(JS."»  '  notes  that 
at  the  time  'those  exquisitely  line  blades  which  are  required  for 
operations  on  the  human  frame'  came  from  France. 

.'.1  I.  rixloja-ware.]  The  town  of  Pistoia,  formerly  Pistola,  was 
and  is  famous  for  its  manufacture  of  weapons.  From  it  comes 
the  word  '  pistol ',  which  was  originally  applied  to  a  dagger.  In 
modern  Italian  /,1^/nl'i  pistol,  pistolese = cutlass. 

327.  "  Petrus,  quo  vadis  ?  "]  Guido  alludes  to  the  legend,  told 
by  St.  Ambrose,  that  when,  in  the  reign  of  Nero,  St.  Peter  was 
tiering  from  Rome  along  the  Appian  Way,  he  met  our  Lord  coming 
to  the  city  and  asked  him,  '  Ix>rd,  whither  goest  thou  ?  '  (Domine, 
quo  vadis  ?).  On  hearing  the  answer,  '  I  come  to  be  crucified  again  ' 
(Venio  ih-ram  crncifiqi),  he  returned  to  Rome  and  was  there  martyred. 

In  the  church  of  Domine  Quo  Vadis,  half  a  mile  south  of  the 
Porta  S.  Sebastiano,  where  the  road  to  Ardea  branches  off  from 
the  Appian  Way,  the  footprint  of  the  Saviour  is  shown. 

.'WO.  raised  up  Dorcas.}    Acts  ix.  36-41. 

'.\\'l.  leave  me  linger],  i.e.  (he  should)  leave  me  (to)  linger;  cf. 
646-7  below. 

:>."»!'.  overset]^  upset '  ;  now  out-of-date,  but  used  e.g.  by  Morris 
in  The  Man  born  to  be  King,  and  often  by  Carlyle  in  his  French 
Revolution. 

358]  introduces  a  new  point.  Guido  argues  :  (1)1  am  so  near 
death  anyhow  that  the  Pope  need  not  trouble  to  kill  me  (341-57) ; 
(2)  he  ought  to  bo  more  merciful  than  the  law,  but  is  showing  himself 
less  so  (358-409) ;  (3)  he  is  acting  maliciously ;  lest  people  should 
condemn  him,  he  is  trying  to  make  me  confess  that  I  am  guilty 
(410-34). 

:UU.  fire-new.]    See  note  on  V.  529. 

:>7L]    Malachi  iv.  2. 

386.  such  illmjirul  in<;,n  sequence]  as  is  shown  in  the  words  put 
into  the  Pope's  mouth  above. 

:;'.):>.  unite  disputes,  etc.]  All  agree  that  the  I 'ope  should  ^rant 
me  the  hem-lit  of  clergy  which  1  claim  ;  see  X.  1998-2014. 

411-1  '2.  nmjlit  .  .  .  confess.]     See  note  on  14.~>l-2  below. 

People   of    importance,    >.i\>    the   >peaker,   took   different 
viewi  :  see  XII.  «.u  7.  1 10-12. 

ILVI.  9om«  o/tw  "'/,/.  nl,t,txr.\    Cf.  VIII.  1458-00.  XII.  :.T,  299; 

ill  the  l.i-t    pi. ic,-  '  Somebody's  thick  headpiece  '   is  the   I'ope's. 

129-90,    •  lirownint:  nnkrs  Areanireli  say  the 

>ime  thintr  in  his  letter  to  Ceneini  (XII.  :*0l): 

H..\\   thc~c  eld  men  like  L'ixini:  y.-uth  a 


242  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

435-7].     The  wolf  robs  the  thief  by  robbing  his  intended  victims. 

451.  boards,  shaking  now],  i.e.  the  boards  of  which  are  shaking. 

456-60.]  Guido  states  his  view  of  the  meaning  of  his  visitors. — 
In  line  460  as  printed  there  is  a  strange  mixture  of  the  oratio  recta 
of  '  so,  quick,  be  sorry  '  with  the  oratio  obliqua  of  '  my  soul '.  'So, 
quick,  be  sorry  '  should  probably  be  printed  within  inverted  commas. 

469-70.  you  dare  no  more,  etc.]  You  are  determined,  says  Guido, 
that  I  shall  die,  but  you  don't  dare  to  condemn  me  to  hell  after- 
wards ;  you  therefore  want  me  to  show  penitence. 

473-4.]     For  this  incident  see  note  on  III.  1622-4. 

476.  to  play  a  prize],  i.e.  to  play  a  winning  game,  '  to  fight  you 
and  foil  you '.  Cf.  Massinger,  A  New  Way  to  pay  Old  Debts,  4.  2. 
127-8,  '  if  I  play  not  my  prize  to  your  full  content ',  where  '  to  play 
my  prize  '  means  '  to  play  my  game  successfully  '.  For  the  precise 
technical  meaning  of  '  prize '  in  such  expressions  see  Shakespeare's 
England,  ii.  p.  389. 

489.  increase],  i.e.  raise  your  demands. 

494.  you  looked  me  low],  i.e.  laid  me  in  the  dust  by  your  mere 
glance  ;  you  had  no  need  to  use  a  weapon.  The  same  thing  is 
expressed  by  '  exposed  the  Gorgon  shield  '  in  line  507. 

506.  the  adventure]  of  a  passage  of  arms  with  me. 

507.  the  Gorgon  shield.]     Whoever  looked  on  the  Gorgon's  head 
was  turned  into  stone ;  Athene  placed  it  in  the  centre  of  her  shield. 

514.  take  the  word  you  want.]  'You  want  a  word  from  me', 
says  Guido,  '  and  you  shall  have  it '.  But  the  word  they  get  will 
not  be  the  word  that  they  would  like  to  get. 

521.  Plainly.]  The  first  syllable  of  the  word  is  emphasized  ; 
it  does  duty  for  two  (cf.  VII.  655).  Browning  might  have  secured 
the  proper  number  of  syllables  by  inserting  a  '  to  '  before  the  in- 
finitive '  put ',  but  the  rhythm  so  obtained  would  have  been  even 
less  good. 

529-30.]  A  step  in  the  reasoning  must  be  supplied;  line  530 
does  not  follow  as  an  immediate  consequence  from  529. 

533.  mere  reprisal,  envy  makes],  i.e.,  of  course,  which  envy  makes. 
The  envy  in  question  is  the  envy  felt  by  the  weak,  who  make  the 
'  pact '  and  abide  by  it,  for  the  strong,  who  break  it  for  their  own 
advantage.  Readers  of  Greek  will  be  reminded  here  of  the 
sophistries  exposed  in  the  earlier  books  of  Plato's  Republic. 

549-52.]  '  Do  you  say ',  asks  Guido,  '  that  the  fault  you  find 
with  me  is  not  that  I  defied  the  law  of  man,  but  that  I  disregarded 
a  divine  precept  which  Christians  recognize  ?  '  He  answers  that 
Christians  nowadays  are  mere  hypocrites  who  care  nothing  for 
divine  precepts  (553-763). 

553.  Colly  my  cow  /]  N.E.D.  quotes  a  Leicestershire  glossary 
for  '  colly  my  cow  '  as  '  a  term  of  endearment  for  a  cow  '  ;  '  colly  ', 
it  says,  means  '  without  horns '.  '  Sing,  oh  poor  Colly,  Colly  my 
cow '  occurs  in  Halliwell,  Nursery  Rhymes,  86. 


XL    GUIDO  843 

what    sense    did     Urowiiin.i:    understand    the    phrase?     Does 
pivtcnd  to  In-  soothing  his  visitors  '{ 
I  <|iiote  (\\ithout   ueeeptiiiL')  the  following  suggestion  from  Notes 
and  ','  l>ruary  26,  1916: — 

iy   MY  OOWl"  (12  S.   i.  91.) — Can  Guide's  exclamation  l»e  a 

remini>eenre  of  the  .»ld  H  \teeiit  h  -cent  urv  term  of  abuse  applied  to 
Ilii-ueiiots  in  its  original  form  M  the  cow  of  Colas,"  la  vache  a  Cola*': 
A  stray  cow,  belonirhiL'  to  a  certain  Colas  Pannier,  entered  a  Pn>t<->taiit 
plaee  of  worship  at  Hiomie.  The  Huguenots,  thinking  the  cow  was 
driven  in  anioim  them  on  purpose.  >(-i/.ed  and  killed  it.  Tin-  sheriff 
(liailli),  however,  made  them  indemnify  its  owner.  Soir_r-  \\.-ic 
written  and  SIIIIL:  hy  the  Catholics  in  mi-mory  of  the  incident.  Vide 
note  to  .M.  Louis  Batiffol's  The.  Century  of  the  Renaissance,  as  trans- 
lated in  The  National  History  of  France  just  published,  p.  245. 

A.   H.    BAYI.KV. 

A  quite  impossible  interpretation  will  be  found  in  Dr.  Brewer's 
Dit'tinnnry  of  Phrase  and  Fable,  p.  275. 

570.  In    Mesopotnnt//.]      The    Cophetua    of     legend    w. 
Kthiopian    king;    Guido's  reference  to   him   and  to  his  kingdom 
here  is  a  scornfully  wilful  blunder;    cf.  his  reference  to  Innocent 
XII.  as  'Pope  the  Five-Hundredth  (what  do  I  know  or  care  ?) ' 
(121  above).— In  2  Henry  IV. ,  5.  3.  105,  Falstaff  enquires  of  Pistol : 

O  base  .lxx>/ri(in  kniu'ht,  what  is  thy  news? 
Let  King  Cophetua  hear  the  truth  thereof. 

583.  Later  ten  days.]    See  note  on  VIII.  283-6. 

.>M.  Ihr  ca mile-contest}  of  the  evening  of  Shrove  Tuesday;  it 
i>  thus  described  by  Marion  Crawford,  Aye  Roma  Inniiortalis,  i. 
p.  201 :  'Then,  if  it  were  the  last  night  of  Carnival,  myriads  of 
those  wax  tapers  tii.-t  u.-ed  in  Saturn's  temple  of  old  lit  up  the 
street  [the  CorsoJ  like  magic  and  the  last  game  of  all  began,  for 
every  man  and  woman  and  child  strove  to  put  out  another's  candle, 
and  the  long,  laughing  cry  "  No  taper  !  No  taper  !  N»  ir.n  nmccolo  !  " 
\\cntringinguptothodarklingsky.  .  .  .  Put  out  at  every  instant, 
the  little  candles  were  instantly  relighted,  till  they  were  consumed 
down  to  the  hand  ;  and  as  they  l>nrned  low.  another  cry  went  up, 
i  nival  is  dead!  Carnival  is  dead!"  But  he  was  not  really 
dead  till  midnight '.  See  also  Story,  Roba  di  Mount,  p.  (.H.  There 
i-  a  lively  description  of  the  candle -contest  in  Dumas,  M»nh  O/.s/o, 
ii.  c.  \\. 

590.  Professors  turn  possessors.]     Kxplained  l»y  what  foll»> 
nit.    /'/v.s/'/V     f/nur    coll<<<tr.\     A     (Jallieism.     employed     also     by 
<'arlyle;   ef.  M.  Arnold.  Hnlle.r  Dead,  I.  wl  Jin.  : 

the  troops  of  d 
\\'hom   llela  with  austere  control  pn-sides. 

616.  gird  your  loins  and  wash  my  feet.]    John    xiii.    Ill:    the 


244  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Pope  washes  the  feet  of  old  men  on  Maundy  Thursday  in  observance 
of  our  Lord's  precept  in  verse  14.  English  sovereigns  did  the  same 
till  the  time  of  James  I. 

626-7.]  '  The  privates  of  the  Swiss  guard  carry  halberds  8  feet 
long,  with  fine  damaskeened  steel  blades.  .  .  .  The  peculiar  dress 
of  the  Swiss  guard  is  said  to  be  the  ancient  doublet  and  hose  of  the 
Swiss  national  costume,  modified  by  designs  of  Michael  Angelo. 
It  consists  of  full  breeches  to  the  knee  of  alternate  stripes  of  red 
yellow  and  black.  The  stockings  are  striped  yellow  and  black. 
.  .  .  Their  doublets,  padded  at  the  shoulder  and  drawn  in  at  the 
waist  by  a  belt,  are  of  smaller  stripes  of  red  yellow  and  black ' 
(Tuker  and  Malleson,  Handbook  to  Christian  and  Ecclesiastical 
Rome,  Part  iv.  p.  356). 

638.  His  Altitude  the  Referendary.]  '  His  Altitude '  =  Sua  Altezza. 
The  Referendarius  is  an  official  of  great  antiquity  ;  the  Gothic 
king  Theodoric  had  his  Referendarius  (i.e.,  says  Hodgkin,  reporter 
in  the  .Court  of  Appeal),  and  the  secretaries  of  the  early  kings  of 
the  Fyanks  bore  the  same  title.  In  the  later  imperial  and  the 
papal 7  courts  the  Referendary  was  charged  with  such  duties  as 
exanjnning  and  reporting  on  petitions. 
^•642.  Will  cut  the  spinal  cord  .  .  .  ugh,  ugh  /]  See  above,  294-6. 

644.  trundles.]     See  note  on  234  above. 

646.  Shall  end],  i.e.  which  shall  end. 

663.  What  talk  then  of  indecent  haste  ?]  There  would  be  talk  of 
indecent  haste  in  the  cases  described  in  626-37  and  638-58. 

675.  round  him  in  the  ears.]    See  note  on  IV.  600. 

683.  tinkle  near.]  The  '  tinkle '  is  the  ringing  of  the  bell  at  the 
elevation  of  the  Host. 

699.  mumping.]    See  note  on  1895  below. 

705.]     Cf.  VII.  1167-79. 

718.  the  creature's  obligation]  to  be  absolutely  sincere  towards 
his  Creator. 

734-40.]  Either  entirely  submissive,  or  entirely  independent 
(though  respectful). 

735.  your  caudatory.]  To  be  taken  figuratively,  of  course ;  a 
caudatorio  is  a  prelate's  train-bearer. 

750-56.]  They  '  laugh  in  the  face  of  faith '  by  rending  hair, 
gnashing  teeth,  and  cursing  ! 

758.  dungy  earth.]  The  phrase  is  from  Shakespeare  :  Winter's 
Tale,  2.  1.  157  ;  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  1.  1.  35. 

760-63.]    Luke  xv.  16^3, 

7 l^^Moody  ^drjmfaffrtZsl,  i.e.  drunkards  in  the  quarrelsome  stage, 
ready  to  use  their  knives  like  true  Italians  ;  cf.  784. 

788.  Chap-fallen.]  In  VI.  134  Browning  writes  '  chop-fallen  '  ; 
cf.  Hamlet,  5.  1.  212.  The  two  forms  are,  perhaps,  about  equally 
common  ;  '  chap-fallen  '  is  preferred  here  because  of  '  chop  '  in  785. 

789.]    Romans  xiii.  4  ;  a  passage  already  used  in  IX.  1116. 


BOOK  XI.—GUIDO  245 

796.  Elude  your  c.nn/.  \     Si •<•  note  on  533  above. 

800.  I    ruled   our   births.]     A    man's    '  genius '    is    his 

tutelar  spirit,  ' th^60mpanion  who  tempers  a  man's  birth-star' 
of  Horace,  Epp^.2.  18J7  (natale  comes  qui  temperat  astrum). 

821.  still  /*//!//  u'f>lj\iflc.]     Cf._4()r),  435-44.  ^-r. 

831-45.]  if  \lic  otwJrr  w&w*  PJill^TpTTTT-^-fntflcT  would  choose  to 
be  *  free  your  foe  %but,  though  not  '  •  ul.sidi/cd  ',  ho  would  contrive 
to  levy  Mack-mail. 

846.  We'd  try  conclusions.]    See  note  on  V.  1125. 

878-80.]  The  only  sense  in  which  Guido  could  maintain  that 
Pietro  and  Violante  had  helped  the  flight  was  that  they  were 
represented  as  having  advised  such  a  flight  in  the  faked  letter  of 
Pompilia  to  Paolo,  sent  from  Arezzo  more  than  three  years  earlier 
(O.Y.B.  lv.,  E.L.  57;  they  advised,  the  letter  says,  'that  I 
should  choose  a  young  man  congenial  to  me,  and  flee  to  Rome 
with  him  '). 

893.  gets  called.]    See  note  on  IV.  1541. 

rued  his  head],  i.e.  with  horns,  made  him  a  cuckold. 
Browning  saw  the  unedifying  picture  at  Vallombrosa  Convent 
during  his  visit  there,  described  by  Mrs.  Browning,  in  1847. 

916.  horn-blind.]  Guido  plays  on  his  being  blind  to  the  fact 
that  he  is  a  cuckold. 

924.]  The  line  was  added  in  the  second  edition,  perhaps  un- 
necessarily. 

925-7.]  '  I  conceive  of  the  eye  of  God  as  "  filling  up  "  the  whole 
space  above  me  and  devouring  me  as  I  crawl,  a  tiny  speck  upon 
the  ground;  I  conceive  of  it,  that  is  to  say,  as  the  wrath  which 
immensity  wreaks  on  nothingness  '. 

929-30.  by  Vittiano  .  .  .  wnntintj  to  trap  fieldfares.]  See  note 
on  V.  364. 

'.•41.  Someone  declares,  etc.}    Cf.  VII.  1731  and  2100-1  below: 

So  am  I  made,  "  who  did  not  make  myself  :  " 
(How  dared  she  rob  my  own  lip  of  the  word  ?) 

Pompilia  pardoned  Guido  on  her  death-bed  (see  the  attestations 
of  Fra  CeleMino,  O.Y.B.  Ivii.,  Iviii.,  E.L.  57-8,  59),  but  she  is  not 
quoted  as  using  this  '  argument '  in  his  defence. 

970  seqq.]  Compare  Pompilia' s  account  of  the  incident  in  VII. 
389  seqq. 

977.  balls  of  black.]     Browning   represents   Pompilia  as   black- 
1  and  black-haired  (II.  275,  III.  67,  IV.  456,  where  see  note, 

XI.  1349,  1367). 

978.  the  old  simile],  found,  for  example,  in  the  famous  passage 
in  Lucretius  (I.  87-99)  on  the  sacrifice  of  Iphianassa  (Iphigenia). 
Cf.  VII.  :,7'.»xn. 

980.  ///.sv//;/>/T,s\<?tve]  =  not  to  be  suppressed  ;  cf.  Ci>l<nnln's  liirth- 
'/'///.  Act  II.,  "  iiiMippressivc  joy  on  e\ery  face  '.  Adjectives  with 


246  THE  RING  AND  THE  ROOK 

this,  properly  active,  termination  have  often  a  passive  force  in 
Shakespeare  and  Milton  ;  '  insuppressive  '  occurs  in  Julius  Ccesar, 
2.  1.  134,  '  the  insuppressive  mettle  of  our  spirits '.  See  note  on 
'inexpressive',  IV.  528. 

997.  Esther  in  all  that  pretty  tremble.]     The  reference  is  to  '  The 
Rest  of  the  Chapters  of  the  Book  of  Esther  5  (in  the  Apocrypha), 
c.  15,  where  Esther  appeals  to  Ahasuerus  for  her  fellow-countrymen 
in  *  the  perfection  of  her  beauty  ',  but  '  in  anguish  for  fear  '.     The 
king  '  looked  upon  her  in  fierce  anger '  ;    she  '  fainted  and  bowed 
herself  upon  the  head  of  the  maid  that  went  before  '.     But  God 
'  changed  the  spirit  of  the  king'  into  mildness  ' ;    he  '  leaped  from 
his  throne,  and  took  her  in  his  arms  .  .  .  and  comforted  her  with 
soothing  words.  .  .  .  He  held  up  his  golden  sceptre,  and  laid  it 
upon  her  neckband  embraced  her '. 

998.  the,  do^  a  the  sceptre.]    The  dove  is  mentioned  neither  in 
the  chapteV  frpm  which  I  have  quoted  nor  in  the  verses  in  the 
Book  of  EstKer  (4.  11,  5.  2)  in  which  the  king  is  said  to  -hold  out 
his  sceptre  as  a  sign  of  favour  and  the  queen  to  touch  the  top  of 
it  as  an  act  of  homage.     Perhaps  Browning  had  in  mind  the  rod  (or 
sceptre)  '  with  the  Dove  upon  the  top  '  which  in  the  English  corona- 
tion service  is  called  '  the  Rod  of  Equity  and  Mercy '. 

1025.  that  first  wheelwork.]    Cf.  A  Death  in  the  Desert,  lines  448-9  : 

Was  man  made  a  wheelwork  to  wind  up 
And  be  discharged,  and  straight  wound  up  anew  ? 

and  Sordello,  V.  447. 

1028-31.]  If  Pompilia  would  but  have  admitted  what  she  saw 
but  professed  not  to  see,  viz.  that  '  I  am  the  wrought  man  worth 
ten  times  the  crude  ',  she  might  have  awakened  love  between  us. 

1040.  toy],  i.e.  fancy. 

1056.  the  next  weeks],  i.e.  the  weeks  of  which  Pompilia  speaks 
in  VII.  472-81,  those  which  passed  between  the  marriage  at  Rome 
and  the  departure  for  Arezzo.  See  Appendix  III. 

1072.  their  coming],  i.e.  the  coming  of  '  friendship,  as  they  name 
satiety  '  ;  '  its  '  would  have  suited  better  than  '  their  '. 

1089.]  The  line  was  added  in  the  second  edition.  *It  seems  so 
necessary  to  the  sense  that  it  was  perhaps  omitted  in  the  first 
edition  by  a  printer's  mistake. 

1100.  the  hundred-petalled  Provence  prodigy],  the  '  queen  rose ' 
of  the  period  (1103) ;  see  note  on  V.  673. 

1107.  the  minim.]     See  note  on  VIII.  1453. 

1118.  The  dreadful  bronze  our  boast.]  Bellerophon  (line  1120) 
slew  the  monstrous  Chimaera,  described  by  Homer  (Iliad  6.  181) 
as  '  a  lion  in  front,  a  serpent  behind,  a  kid  in  the  middle '  (irpovQe 
XeW,  6-n-idev  5£  8pa.Kuv,  /j-tva-r)  5e  x^aiPa)  '•>  it  took  its  name,  as  Guido 
says  (1120-23),  from  its  harmless  middle  part.  A.  large  bronze 
statue  of  the  Homeric  Chimaera,  believed  to  be  of  Etruscan  work- 


BOOK  XI.—OUIDO  247 

iii;msliil>,  was  diseovrn-d  at  Are/./o  in  l.V>l;  it  is  no\\  in  the 
Ktrusran  must-urn  at  Kloivnrr. 

1150.  N/Y  Itiijnit!/.}  Uf.  'Sir  Jealousy'  (V.  1147);  so  in  Shake- 
re,  '.;/.  'Sir  Valour'  (Tmilu*  and  Cressida,  1.  3.  176),  'Sir 
Oracle '  (Merchant  of  Venice,  1.  1.  93). 

1156.  tawdry]  is  usually,  of  course,  an  adjective.  The  word 
was  *  formerly  used  in  the  plirase  tawdry  lace,  which  meant  lace 
bought  at  St.  AwdryV fair,  held  in  the  Isle  of  Ely  (and  «•!>< -where) 
on  St.  Awdry's  day,  Oct.  17.  Tawdry  is  a  familiar  corruption  of 
St.  Awdry '  (Skeat). 

1179.]    See  above,  405,  443,  821  seqq. 

1190.  perdue.]    See  note  on  111.  li'.TJ. 

1 1  '.»:>.  four  hubbub  months.}     See  Appendix  III. 

iL'nt.J     See  V.  7:>4  seqq. 

1222.  Rounded  mij^lf  In  the  ears.]    See  note  on  IV.  600. 

1230.  the  silly-sooth.\    See  note  on  III.  806. 

I-M7.  The  palace  in  Via  Larga.]  The  Palazzo  Panciatichi 
(built,  says  Guido,  '  only  the  other  day ' — Baedeker  says,  '-about 
1700 ')  is  at  the  south  end  of  what  was  formerly  the  Via  Larga 
and  is  now  the  Via  Cavour.  Napoleon  was  lodged  in  this  palace 
in  1796. 

1256.  Panciatic  and  lymphatic  rhymed  so  pat  /]  The  d illness 
and  heaviness  of  the  architecture  suggested  the  '  pleasantry'. 

li'Tfi.  transformations  of  <H*jnxl\,  i.e.  disgusting  transformations. 

1277.  the  snug  little  Villa.}    See  Appendix  II. 

1278-9. 1     Si -e  note  on  III.  1622-4. 

I.-.04.]     Genesis  ii.  23. 

i:5ii:..  |     K phi-slang  v.  23-5. 

1  :;<><•> -7.  |     Cmrsis  iii.  16. 

1 :!.'!!.  the  ('nininitxanj.]     See  note  on  IV.  799. 

1349.  The  long  black  hair.]  Cf.  1365-7  below,  and  see  notr  on 
IV.  41 

1380.J     Psalm  vii.  12  (Prayer-book  Version). 

1  tn'.t.  Sltniii  the  loorse],  i.e.  profess  the  insincere  love,  do  the 
'  loving  acts '. 

1413-17.]  The  eunuch  plays  the  part  of  the  enchantress  in  an 
ojn-ra  founded  on  the  story  of  Rinaldo  and  Armida  in  Tasso's 
-i If  mine  Liberata.  The  story  was  regarded  as  well  suited  for 
o|.« -ratic  treatment;  in  1711,  on  his  return  from  his  visit  to  Italy, 
Handel  piodiicfd  his  Hiiuildo  at  the.  Haymarket  (see  the  Spectator 
for  March  6  in  that  year);  and  Gluck  (1714-87)  composed  an 
Armida. 

1  IL'O.  hrn  gnld  zwh'un-x.\  The  zecchino  (sequin)  was  worth  about 
ten  shillings.  In  XII.  71  r>i<>\vning's  Venetian  of  quality  In  t-  in 

'  gold  /.ecchilK 

ino-i.').  |  K\|n-ris  to  whom  this  passage  has  been  submitted 
kno\v  nothing  «>t  the  all« •!_'••(!  antipathy  U'tween  elm  and  ash.  The 


248  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Rev.  George  Sampson  tells  me  that  on  a  walk  in  North  Hampshire 
he  noted  ten  couples  of  elm  and  ash,  and  that  '  in  no  case  did  either 
tree  appear  to  suffer  from  the  other,  although  some  of  them  had 
their  boughs  intermingled '.  In  one  place  he  has  seen  an  elm 
supporting  an  ash,  and  '  at  the  point  where  they  rubbed  they 
appeared  to  have  grown  together '. 

Did  Browning  take  the  supposed  mutual  aversion  of  elm  and 
ash  from  some  literary  or  legendary  source,  not  from  direct  observa- 
tion ? 

1451-2.  ought  .  .  .  Have  let.]  Browning  often  omits  '  to ' 
between  'ought'  and  an  infinitive,  as  e.g.  in  411  above,  'I  ought 
in  decency  confess '.  Note  here  that  immediately  after  '  ought 
have  let '  we  have  '  ought  to  have  turned  '  (1454). 

1465.  pulpit-corner  on  the  gospel-side.]  Cf.  The  Bishop  orders 
his  Tomb : 

My  niche  is  not  so  cramped  but  thence 
One  sees  the  pulpit  o'  the  epistle-side. 

Pulpits  in  Catholic  as  in  Protestant  churches  are  sometimes  on  one 
side,  sometimes  on  the  other  ;  sometimes  (as  e.g.  in  St.  Mark's, 
Venice)  there  are  pulpits  on  both  sides.  I  find  it  stated  in  Addis 
and  Arnold's  Catholic  Dictionary  that  the  pulpit  '  should  be  placed 
on  the  gospel-side,  unless  that  place  is  already  occupied  by  the 
Bishop's  throne '.  Whether  there  is  any  special  reason  why  '  on 
high-days'  (1479)  the  high  ecclesiastics  to  whom  Guido  is  speaking 
should  preach  from  a  pulpit  '  on  the  gospel-side  '  I  do  not  know. 

1469.]     Deuteronomy  xxv.  4. 

1472.  o'  the  world  that's  trodden  flat],  i.e.  of  the  green  grass  world 
which,  so  far  as  you  know  it,  and  so  far  only,  is  trodden  flat. 

1489.  promise,  which  is  air.]  Cf.  Hamlet,  3.  2.  99,  '  I  eat  the 
air,  promise-crammed '. 

1491.]     Guido  repeats  what  he  has  said  in  719  seqq. 

1499.  save  the  mark /]  The  origin  of  '  (God)  save  [or  bless]  the 
mark '  is  uncertain.  It  is  '  an  exclamatory  phrase,  probably 
originally  serving  as  a  formula  to  avert  an  evil  omen,  and  hence 
used  by  way  of  apology  when  something  horrible,  -disgusting, 
indecent  or  profane  has  been  mentioned.  In  modern  literary  use 
(after  some  of  the  examples  in  Shakespeare)  it  is  an  expression  of 
impatient  scorn  appended  to  a  quoted  expression  or  to  a  statement 
of  fact'  (N.E.D.). 

1509-12.]  Isaiah  ii.  4. — Guido  makes  his  ecclesiastical  critics 
say  that  his  sword  and  spear,  his  '  wrath  '  and  '  ambition ',  should 
be  used  only  in  the  service  of  the  church — '  to  plough  our  land  ' 
and  '  to  prune  our  vines  '. 

1525-38.]  The  law  and  the  church,  says  Guido,  professed  to 
advise  me  to  appeal  to  them — to  '  pluck  at  law's  robe '  and  to 
'  kiss  divinity's  buckled  shoe '  ;  but  after  following  their  professed 


BOOK  Xl.—GUIDO 

I  came  to  sec  that  their  real  advice,  conveyed,  not  in  words, 
luit  l>v  '  nods  and  winks',  was  that  1  should  act  for  myself,  work 
out  my  own  vengeance.  He  proceeds  to  argue  that  he  did  not 
Bee  that  this  was  so  when  at  Castelnuovo  ;  had  he  avenged  himself 
there,  law  and  church  would  have  acquiesced.  WhcMi  he  did 
that  it  was  so,  and  set  the  right  way  to  work  at  Rome,  lie  tripped 
through  a  foolish  and  unaccountable  omission. 

!."•:{ I -2.]     2  Corinthians  iii.  6. 

1635-8.]     If  the  inverted  commas  are  rightly  placed,  the  whole 
of  the  four  lines  give  the  purport  of  the  'clownish  saw',  what' 
the  saw  may  be.     An  injured  man  should  avenge  himself,  and  not 
.i>k  for  damages. 

i:»r,l-2.]    Matthew  xii.  LV>.  etc. 

1  r.ii  1 .  . l///*7r//.s  haunting  curse,  the  Incomplete!]  Browning 
repeated  the  line,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  twenty  years  later 
in  his  liealrtce  Siynurini,  where  an  artist  wonders 

would  Iqve's  success  defeat 
Artistry's  haunting  curse — the  Incomplct-  ': 

1598-9.]  Contrast  with  this  what  Guido  says  in  his  speech 
in  the  witness-chaml>er,  V.  1638  seqq. 

1604.  three  only.}     See  above,  1585  seqq. 

1606.  ttenia],  tape-worm. 

1625-50.]    See  Introduction  to  Book  XL 

1641.  Sees  I  ivant  hat  on  head.]  Suggested  by  the  Secondary 
Source,  O.Y.B.  212,  E.L.  263:  'In  their  haste  one  of  them  [i.e. 
the  assassins]  left  his  cloak  [at  the  scene  of  the  murders],  and 
Frann-si-hini  his  hat,  which  betrayed  them  afterwards'. 

1  <;:>n.  /„//„*//•/>/*.  |    cf.  X.  857. 

1656.  the  boundary.]    See  note  on  V.  1725. 

1663-9.]  See  the  Sentence  of  the  Criminal  Knota  of  Florence. 
confirming,  on  December  24,  1697  ('  one  week  ,  says  Guido,  k  before 
I  acted  on  its  hint '  on  January  2,  1698),  the  decision  of  the  Com- 
minaiy  of  Aiec&o  (O. Y.I;.  \.-\iii..  /•;./,.  5-7).  The  Pope  (X.  834-<J) 
-peaks 'of  'that  strange  shameful  judgment  .  .  .  just  pronounced 
by  the  Rota  and  continued  by  the  (Jrandul. 

1669.  the  Stinche.]     See  note  on  IV.   1516. 

1680.  (/  think  I  told  you).]  See  above,  288,  and  notes  on  V. 
118  and  XI.  291-2. 

h'.'.rj.  At  th>  nu'i-tii-lf  .  >  ><•.}  She  had  received  '  twenty-two  dagger- 
wounds  \  Vll.  :ts;  cf.  III.  6,  7.  Bee  0.  >'./*.  212,  E.L.  263. 

1701.   II  ml  she.  been  found  dead,  etc.]     See  note  on  IV.  1416-21. 

1707-24.  |  Compare  the  ingenious  defence  \\hich  <  Juido's  advocate 
Arcangeli  is  represented  as  saying  that  he  might  have  made  if  onlv 
Cuido  had  not  confer.  (I  (VIM.  :;iil-82). 

I7L>9-:;±|    n.  >'./;.  l\ii..  Kiii..  E.L,  :.7-9. 
17:u-:»:i.|    Bee  note  on  VIII.  l.VJO-1601. 


250  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

1750.  /  die  last,  etc.]  From  the  Secondary  Source,  0.  Y.B.  213, 
E.L.  266 ;  so  also  the  post-Browning  pamphlet,  0.  Y.B.  224,  E.L. 
280. 

1771.  'twixt  crosses  leading  to  a  skull],  leading  to  a  place  of  execu- 
tion, a  Golgotha  ;  the  '  crosses  '  are  '  affront  and  failure  '. 

1781.  ask  Jansenius  else.  ]  The  form  of  the  phrase  is  very  common 
in  Browning;  cf.  Luria,  Act  in.  ('with  cause  enough,  consult  the 
Nuncio  else  '),  The  Inn  Album,  p.  8  ('  Such  the  sum-total — ask 
Colenso  else  ')  and  p.  36,  where  a  parvenu's  son  says : 

House,  land, 

Money,  are  things  obtainable,  you  see, 
By  clever  head-work  :  ask  my  father  else  ; 

St.  Martin's  Summer,  xn.  ('  Sober  is  genuine  joy  .  .  .  Ask  else 
Penelope,  Ulysses').  Other  examples  occur  in  Fifine  at  the  Fair, 
XLIV.,  and  in  Francis  Furini,  xi. 

The  Jansenists  had  good  reason  for  the  conclusion  that  papal 
pretensions  had  '  grown  beyond  Earth's  bearing '  ;  see  note  on  I. 
307.  ^ 

1784.  than  vrickets^i.e.  than  from  crickets.  Modern  English 
requires  the  repa*rtion  of  the  preposition  after  '  than  '  ;  Browning 
usually  omits  it.  Cf.  Romeo  and  Juliet,  2.  2.  71-2  : 

Alack,  there  lies  more  peril  in  thine  eye 
Than  twenty  of  their  swords. 

1790.  trying  all  the  spirits.]     1  John  iv.  1. 

1803-4.  I  fold  My  mantle  round  me.]    Like  Caesar. 

1808-9.]  The  allusion  is  to  the  Second  Siege  of  Vienna  by  the 
Turks.  The  emperor  Leopold  I.  had  formed  an  alliance  with 
Pope  Innocent  XL  and  John  Sobieski,  king  of  Poland,  and  his 
general  Charles  Duke  of  Lorraine  put  the  supreme  command  into 
the  hands  of  the  king,  who  on  July  14,  1683,  routed  the  Turks 
under  Kara  Mustapha,  the  grand  vizier. — The  great  victory  was 
celebrated  by  Filicaja  in  six  odes ;  Wordsworth  has  a  sonnet  upon  it. 

1812.  Why  is  it  that  I  make  such  suit  to  live  ?]  The  rest  of  the 
paragraph  (1813-1910)  gives  reasons  why  he  should  not  make  such 
suit.  If  the  Pope  pardoned  him  and  he  gained  a  fresh  lease  of  life, 
(1)  he  would  lose  '  the  popular  sympathy  ',  his  friends  would  look 
askance  at  him,  his  murdered  wife  would  become  the  idol  of  the 
people  (1813-33) ;  (2)  he  would  lose  all  authority  in  his  own  family 
(1834-43) ;  (3)  he  would  have  no  '  second  chance  '  in  life  (1844-6), 
for  his  new-born  son,  though  it  might  be  supposed  that  he  would 
be  a  joy  to  him,  would  be  no  such  joy  (1847-1902).  For  all  these 
reasons  life  is  for  him  no  longer  worth  living  (1903-10). 

1833.  the  mad  penitent  ladies.]  We  read  of  Quakeresses  in 
America  who  at  the  same  period  '  walked  naked  through  the  streets 
in  imitation  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel  [?],  as  a  sign  of  the  nakedness 
of  the  land  '  (Goldwin  Smith,  The  United  States,  p.  33). 


BOOK  XL-<;ril><)  251 

1844.  am  I  not  fifty  years  of  age  ?\    See  note  on  I.  782-4. 

is.")!*.   i.s-  nnt  that  the.  phrase?}     I  cannot  identify  the  quotation, 
'.iv.    ..IK-  here. 

1856-95.J     Guido  has  '  no  sort  of  use  '  for  a  son  (1902),  whether 
his  son  proves  a  success  in  the  ordinary  M-MSC  (1856-68),  or  a  failure 
'an  ineptitude  '  (1869-78),  or  neither  a  success  nor  a  failure,  merely 
'  the  medium  measure  of  a  man'  (1879-95). 

1869.  the  blood-offering.]     Explained  by  1854-5. 

1878.  not  quite  the  fool  my  father  was.]  The  records  tell  us 
nothing  of  Guide's  father  Tommaso  (II.  487)  except  his  name 
(O.Y.tt.  elvii.,  E.L.  162).  Browning  makes  Guido  represent  him 
as  having  been  at  one  time  '  great  and  rich '  (V.  352),  with  friends 
who  were  '  proud  to  cap  and  kiss  their  patron's  shoe '  (V.  48),  able 
to  keep  a  chaplain  and  to  give  a  handsome  present  to  a  scholar 
for  a  '  hexastich  '  (V.  309-15).  As  Toinmaso  grew  older  he  became 
gouty  (XI.  2171),  and,  being easy-natured,  luckless,  and  improvident, 
he  'let  the  world  slide'  (V.  47);  'troubles  fell  thick  on  him' 
(V.  330),  and  he  had  to  lament  the  loss  of  his  '  broad  lands '  (XI. 
2170) ;  '  the  purse  he  left  held  spider-webs '  (V.  49).  Guido  pro- 
fesses to  have  '  some  slight  feeling '  for  a  father  to  whom  he  admits 
that  he  was  not  a  dutiful  son  (V.  46,  XL  1876-8). 

1883-5.]    Matthew  xxi.  28-30. 

1887.  a  paul]    See  note  on  I.  324. 

1889.  not  on  flesh  and  blood]  as  a  son  would  be  (1854-5). 

1895.  mumping.]  Cf.  699  above,  '  nuns  a-maundering  here  and 
mumping  there'.  The  word  here  seems  to  mean  '  washily  senti- 
mental ',  as  perhaps  in  Burke,  Letters  on  a  Regicide  Peace,  HI.  : 
*  our  embassy  "  of  shreds  and  patches  ",  with  all  its  mumping  cant '. 

1900.  runs],  i.e.  makes  to  run. 

1903.]  He  is  not  sick  of  '  life's  feast ',  but  of  its  unattainability 
by  himself. 

1908.  robins.]  Commenting  on  the  fact  that  '  the  Roman  market 
is  rich  in  game  of  all  kinds',  from  the  wild  boar  to  the  .-pai-row, 
Story  remarks  that  '  there  is  nothing  an  Italian  will  not  shoot, 
and  nothing  he  will  not  eat '  (Roba  di  Roma,  p.  380).  See  note  on 
V.  364. 

1921.  Etruscan,  Aretine.]  Arezzo  is  '  ancientest  of  TU.M  an 
towns  '  (V.  142),  and  the  Etruscans  claimed  to  be  among  the  earliest 
inhabitants  of  the  peninsula. 

1922-3.]  The  reference  is  to  Mneid  8.  314-15,  where  Evander, 
sliu\\  ing  ^Eneas  the  site  of  the  future  Rome,  is  made  to 

HJCC  nemora  indigenao  Fauni  Nymphaeque  teneiiant, 
Gensquo  virum  truncis  et  duro  robore  nata. 

C  In  these  woods  dwelt  Fauns  and   Nymphs  sprung  from  the  soil, 

and  a  generation  of  men  l>orn  of  trunks  of  trees  and  >tulil»orn  oak  '.) 
Kvander   says    (.Kn,  i<l    X.    \\^'l-\}    that    his    Arcadians 


252  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

believed  that  they  had  often  seen  Jupiter  himself  on  the  Capitoline 
hill,  shaking  his  darkening  cegis  in  his  hand  and  gathering  the 
storm-clouds  : 

Arcades  ipsum 

Credunt  se  vidisse  lovem,  cum  ssepe  nigrantem 
a  concutcret  dextra  nimbosque  cieret. 


('  holder  of  the  aegis  ',  i.e.  the  shield  with  which  he  excites 
tempests  and  spreads  dismay)  is  an  epithet  of  Zeus  in  Homer 
(e.g.  Odyssey  24.  164). 

1932.]  'The  motto'  is,  I  suppose,  the  second  line  quoted  from 
Virgil  in  the  note  on  1922-3  (Gens  virum,  etc.).  For  the  shield 
whereto  Guido  is  presently  to  '  give  gules  to  vary  azure  '  see  note 
on  XL  2161-6. 

1934-2003.]  Guido  maintains  that  his  own  faith  and  that  of 
his  so-called  Christian  visitors  are  really  the  same.  They  believe, 
as  he  does,  in  an  all-good,  all-wise,  all-potent  supreme  Deity,  whom, 
remembering  the  passage  in  the  Eighth  .ZEneid  (see  note  on  1925-7), 
he  calls  Jove  ^Egiochus  (1936).  They  follow  the  Greeks,  as  he  does, 
in  introducing,  between  this  supreme  Deity  and  man,  an  '  inter- 
mediary race  '  (cf.  '  medium-powers  ',  1969)  of  agencies"  into  whose 
precise  nature  they  do  not  'pry  narrowly'  —  agencies  or  powers 
which  recognize  man's  need  to  '  live  '  and  to  '  enjoy  '  (cf.  807).  — 


Believing  all  this  contemporary  churchmen  have  excused  themselves 

from  emulating  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  '  ag 

pure  ',  but  they  mask  their  compromise,  and  '  enjoy  the  old  liberty  ' 


emulating  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  '  age  styled  primitive  and 


of  the  Greeks  '  o'  the  sly  '  (1996-8)  ;  for  they  feel  sure  that,  though 
the  Christian  law  may  frown,  there  is  nevertheless  '  a  wink  some- 
where '. 

The  passage  supplements  previous  arguments  of  Guido'  s  ;  see 
especially  557  seqq.,  798  seqq. 

1963.  Master  Pietro],  the  licentious  Pietro  Aretino  ;  see  note 
on  X.  654. 

1966.]  Guido'  s  advocate  Arcangeli  is  represented  as  asking 
'  who  hath  barred  thee  primitive  revenge  ?  ',  and  as  suggesting  that 
'  to  bar  revenge  '  is  a  heresy  of  the  Molinists  (VIII.  697,  718  seqq.). 

1972-4.]  The  words  depend  on  '  propitiating  ',  and  develop 
the  question  '  whom  ?  '.  '  Himself  .  .  .  made  '  is  a  relative  clause 
to  which  '  sins  '  is  the  antecedent. 

1976.  Revealed  to  strike  Pan  dead.]  The  reference  is  to  a  story 
told  by  Plutarch  (De  Oraculorum  Defectu,  17)  ;  certain  voyagers 
from  Greece  to  Italy  during  the  principate  of  Tiberius  (it  was  after- 
wards said,  on  the  very  day  of  the  Crucifixion)  heard  a  voice  from 
the  Greek  shore,  bidding  them  to  report  that  Pan  was  dead.  The 
story,  to  which  allusion  seems  to  be  made  in  the  Hymn  of  Milton's 
Nativity  Ode  (stanza  xx.),  gave  birth  to  Mrs.  Browning's  The  Dead 
Pan.  Cf.  Theophile  Gautier's  lines  : 


BOOK  XI.—OUIDO  253 

.Mais  I'l  Mympi-  <•»'•.!<•  an  (  '.iK.iiiv, 

.lupiter  an   X  a /.a  !•('•(•  n. 

Une  voix  dit  '  Pan  o.-l  in.. it  \  etc. 

M.  C16mcnceau,  who  had  lately  visited  Greece,  made  much  use 
of  the  story  in  his  Le  Grand  Pan,  which  he  published  in  I  SIM;. 

1977.  live  good  days.}  Cf.  IX.  413,  'to  live  and  see  good  days  '  ; 
Psalm  xxxiv.  12,  1  Peter  iii.  10. 

1991.]  Cf.  James  i.  27  ;  '  his  flesh '  is  of  course  the  antecedent 
to  this  relative  clause. 

2006-7.]     Matthew  xxvi.  52. 

2011-44.]  Guido  argues  that  the  Pope  would  have  pardoned 
him  if  he  had  urged  that  his  crime  had  a  religious  motive. 

2029.]    Acts  xvii.  23. 

2033-4.  here  at  Rome  Romano  vivitur  more.]  The  proverbial 
'  one  does  at  Rome  as  Rome  does '  had  its  origin  in  a  conversation 
between  two  famous  men  in  the  fourth  century.  St.  Augustin  of 
Hippo  asked  St.  Ambrose  of  Milan  what  he  should  do  about  fasting 
on  Saturdays,  which  had  become  fashionable  at  Rome,  and  St. 
Ambrose  answered  :  Quando  hie  sum,  nan  ieiuno  Sabato :  quando 
Romce  sum,  ieiuno  Sabato. — Browning  probably  took  his  Romano 
vivitur  more  from  the  lines  quoted  in  the  following  passage  by 
Jeremy  Taylor  (Of  Conscience,  c.  I.,  Rule  5) : 

He  that  fasted  upon  a  Saturday  in  Ionia  or  Smyrna  was  a  s<hi>niat  i<  : 
and  so  was  he  who  did  not  fast  at  Milan  or  Rome  upon  the  same  day. 
both  upon  the  same  reason  : 

Cum  fueris  Romae.,  Romano  vivito  more  ; 
Cum  fueris  alibi,  vivito  sicut  ibi. 

2050-53.]  The  stories  of  Byblis  and  Lycaon  are  told  at  length 
by  Ovid.  The  feeble  Byblis  was  in  love  with  her  own  brother, 
whom  she  pursued  until  '  consumed  by  her  own  tears  she  was 
changed  into  a  fountain '  (vertitur  in  font  em,  Met.  9.  662-3).  The 
cruel  and  murderous  Lycaon  was  turned  into  a  wolf  ( Met.  1.  237-9) : 

Kit   lupus,  et  veteris  -i-r\a1    vr-tL'ia  form®. 
Canities  eadem  est ;  eadem  violentia  vultu  ; 
Idem  oculi  lucent ;  eadem  feritatis  imago  est. 

2086.  your  abnegation  of  revenge.}  O.Y.B.  Ivii.,  Iviii.,  E.L. 
57-8,  59. 

2100.  "  who  did  not  innkr-  myself".]  Sec  note  on  941  above, 
2118-220]  Guido  docs  not  care  for  the  pure  design  of  the  other- 
worldly Fra  Angelico,  the  Dominican  *  Monk '  of  San  Marco  at 
Florence,  but  for  'the  mighty  spirit  of  Venetian  colour,  consum- 
mated in  Titian'. — He  could,  indeed,  have  endured  the  pale, 
timid,  '  holy  '  1'ompilia,  had  she  come  to  him  with  a  'selvage  cloth 
of  gold'  round  her  whiteness,  i.e.  had  she  brought  him  wealth 
(2125-81);  but  gold,  though  it  'will  do  \  is  after  all  but  'sordid 


254  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

muck  '  (2182) ;  what  he  wanted  in  a  wife  was  '  colour  ',  unscrupulous 
passion  ;  ho  wanted,  not  a  Pompilia,  but  a  Lucrezia  Borgia  (2183- 
2220). 

2122.]  Guide's  hatred  for  the  whiteness  of  Pompilia  recalls 
that  of  Cenci  for  his  son  Bernardo  in  Shelley's  tragedy — 

Thy  milky  meek  face  makes  me  sick  with  hate — 

(The  Cenci,  Act  n.  Scene  1). 

2128-9.]  Is  the  illustration  taken  from  some  ecclesiastical 
vestment  ? 

2161-6.]  Cf.  the  description  of  the  arms  of  the  Franceschini 
in  XII.  822-4  : 

Shield,  Azure,  on  a  Triple  Mountain,  Or, 

A  Palm-tree,  Proper,  whereunto  is  tied 

A  Greyhound,  Rampant,  striving  in  the  slips. 

The  description  follows  closely  the  water-colour  drawing  of  which 
I  have  spoken  on  p.  xxi. 

2165-7.]  It  occurs  to  Guido  that  the  Franceschini  arms,  which 
symbolize  the  greed  of  the  family  (2163),  also  symbolize  its  ill- 
fortune. 

2184.  those  Olimpias  bold,  those  Biancas  brave.]    Unscrupulous 
and  passionate  heroines  of  Italian  romance.     The  author  of  the 
B.  and  H.  Notes  says  that  the  Olimpia  here  meant  is  the  wife  of 
Bireno  in  Ariosto's  Orlando  Furioso,  and  that  the  Bianca  is  the 
wife  of  Fazio  as  presented  in  Dean  Milman's  Fazio.     The  latter 
identification  will  hardly  commend  itself  to  readers  of  Milman's 
play. 

2185.  worth  Or  muz1  wealth.]     Ormuz,  on  an  island  at  the  mouth 
of  the   Persian  gulf,  a  mart  for  diamonds  and  pearls.     Cf.  Milton, 
Paradise  Lost,  2.  2,  '  the  wealth  of  Ormus  and  of  Ind  '  ;    Marvell, 
Song  of  the  Emigrants  in  Bermuda,  20,   '  Jewels  more  rich  than 
Ormus  shows '. 

2202.  Delilah.]     Judges  xvi. 

2204.  call-bird],  i.e.  decoy-bird. 

2212.  Straight  from  the  sun.]  Circe,  the  sorceress  of  the  Odyssey, 
who  with  her  wand  turned  the  companions  of  Odysseus  into  swine, 
was  the  daughter  of  Helios  (the  sun). 

2214.  O  thou  Lucrezia,  etc.]  Lucrezia  Borgia,  daughter  of  Pope 
Alexander  VI.  and  sister  of  Caesar  Borgia,  who,  according  to  scandal 
and  to  Guide's  suggestion  here,  was  also  her  lover  ;  she  was  univer- 
sally believed  to  be  just  such  an  infamously  passionate  woman  as 
Guido  would  have  wished  his  wife  to  be.  She  has,  however,  been 
whitewashed  by  the  researches  of  modern  historians  ;  Dr.  Garnett 
calls  her  '  kindly  .  .  .  and  somewhat  apathetic ',  and  declares 
that  '  nothing  could  be  less  like  the  real  Lucrezia  than  the  Lucrezia 
of  the  dramatists  and  romancers '  (Cambridge  Modern  History,  i. 


HOOK  XI.—GU1IH)  285 


|».  'I'M  i  cf.  Symonds.  Tin  Age  of  the  /Ji.>-/Wx.  pp.  328-32).—  '  The 
figure  of  the  rope's  daughter  between  her  terrible  father  and 
I.  rot  her.  in  part  their  terrible  victim  and  an  object  of  pity,  in  part 
•luetive  -iren.  and  lastly  a  penitent  Magdalen,  exercises  a  charm 
on  the  imagination  by  the  mystery  which  surrounds  her,  and  in 
the  obscurity  of  which  guilt  and  innocence  struggle  for  supremacy  ' 
(Gregorovius). 

2235.  IH/.s1  /A/.v  strict  inquisition,  etc.]  Guido  hints  here  and  in 
'2:\\\  .«v/»/.  that  the  Cardinal  had  his  '  affianced  bride'  put  out  of 
tlu-  way.  The  idea  was  perhaps  suggested  to  Browning  by  a  pa- 
in his  friend  Story's  Graffiti  <r  Italia,  p.  128,  where  the  servant  of 
an  aspiring  ecclesiastic  has  a  like  suspicion  about  a  *  tall,  majestic. 
lieivr-eyed  girl  ' 

who  disappeared 
Some  ten  years  back,  and  God  knows  how  or  why. 

2254.  kill  you  /],  i.e.  and  by  killing  me  destroy  your  chance  of 
becoming  Pope  ;  see  note  on  2265-7  below. 

2258.  must  die  next  year.}  Cf.  XII.  38.  Innocent,  however, 
lived  for  two  years  and  a  half  more  —  till  September  27,  1700. 

2259-64.]  Cf.  2339  below,  where  Guido  makes  a  correct  fore- 
cast of  the  result  of  the  next  papal  election.  With  his  account  of 
'  how  the  chances  are  supposed'  compare  XII.  42-8  (see  note  on 
the  passage),  where  Browning's  Venetian  of  rank  makes  a  wager 
which  he  will  lose.  -Seventh'  (2264)  should  be  '  Might  h  '. 

2265-7.]  Guido  catches  at  any  argument,  good  or  bad,  which 
lie  thinks  may  conceivably  influence  his  visitors  to  attempt  to  save 
his  life,  but  he  cannot  deliberately  suppose  that  the  Cardinal  will 
be  moved  by  his  suggestion  that  he  will  be  able,  if  spared,  to  'give 
hi-  friend  a  lift'  with  the  Curia  when  a  new  pope  is  to  be  elected. 
He  kno\vs  and  admits  quite  freely  that  he  is  of  no  account  at  Rome, 
ha-  been  an  utter  failure  as  a  hanger-on  to  the  skirts  of  the  Church 
e.g.  V.  367  AT^/.  ). 

'2'2~\).  irltiw  ilfnth  ///A-////*  tin'  fcinperor.}  It  appears  from  Un- 
it tier  in  O.Y.B.  cexxxvi..  :'>.">*  (/•,'./,.  L'lIT)  that  •recommendations 
of  great  consequence  '  had  been  made  to  the  1'ope  to  spare  (luido; 
the  Ambassador  of  the  Kmperor  .-poke  specially  on  the  point  on 
Tin-day.  February  IS.  'M  lie  told  me  '.  >ays  the  writer,  'the  day 
before  yesterday  '  (i.e.  on  Thursday,  February  20).  Browning 
make-  a  delightful  use  of  this  letter  in  XII.  (.M  '.).  where  his 
Venetian  \\ritesto  a  friend  that  '  Martini-/,  the  Osarian  Minister', 

used  his  best   endeavour-  to  -pare  blood, 
And  strongly  pleaded  for  the  life  '  of  one  '. 
Urged  he,  '  I  may  have  dined  at  table  with  !  '— 
Hi    \\ill  not  soon  forget  the  Pope's  rebuff, 

Feels  the  Slight  sen.-ibly.    I    promise  you  : 

2280.  outrages  the  Louis  you  so  love.]     For  the  *  love  '  of  Innocent 


256  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

for  Louis  XIV.  see  Appendix  VII.  If  French  influence  was  exerted 
at  all  in  Guido's  affair,  it  was  probably  exerted  against  that  of  the. 
Emperor's  ambassador ;  the  Venetian  of  rank  is  made  to  declare 
that  it  was  so  exerted  (XII.  110-12). 

2281-3.  enemies  .  .  .  coercive.]  See  note  on  2265-7,  and  observe 
the  incongruity  of  the  words  with  what  immediately  follows. 

2290.]  He  continues  after  waiting  for  an  answer  which  has 
not  come. 

2301-2.]  It  has  often  been  remarked  that  ignoble  characters 
in  Browning  sometimes  express  noble  thoughts  (e.g.  in  Bishop 
Blougram's  Apology,  Mr.  Sludge  the  Medium,  Prince  Hohenstiel- 
Schwangau,  Fifine  at  the  Fair;  cf.  2375-86,  below).  As  Mr. 
Chesterton  says  (Browning,  p.  192) :  '  There  is  nothing  that  deserves 
more  emphatically  to  be  called  a  speciality  of  Browning.  ...  In 
his  poetry  praise  and  wisdom  were  perfected  not  only  out  of  the 
mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings,  but  out  of  the  mouths  of  swindlers 
and  snobs '. 

2315-17.]  It  would  be  a  consolation  to  Guido  at  the  moment  of 
death  to  have  crunched  up  his  adversaries — in  argument. 

2329.  kind  work  o'  the  wine  and  myrrh.]  Mark  xv.  23,  '  they 
gave  him  to  drink  wine  mingled  with  myrrh  :  but  he  received  it 
not '  ;  upon  which  Professor  Swete  remarks  :  '  Wine  drugged  with 
myrrh  was  usually  offered  to  condemned  malefactors,  through  the 
charity,  it  is  said,  of  the  women  of  Jerusalem,  the  intention  being 
to  deaden  the  sense  of  pain '  (St.  Mark,  p.  379).  Guido's  wine  and 
myrrh  may  be  metaphorical,  but  the  fortifying  sip  of  Velletri  in 
V.  4-6  suggests  that  they  may  be  literal. 

2333.  Tozzi],  the  successor  of  Malpighi  (VII.  423)  as  physician 
to  the  Pope  ;  see  IX.  1268,  XII.  40. 

2338.  of  seventy  near.]  In  1586  Sixtus  V.  fixed  the  number  of 
cardinals  at  seventy,  but  there  are  usually  some  vacancies. 

2339.]     See  above,  2259-64,  and  note. 

2341-5.]     See  note  on  2235. 

2346.  Martinez],  '  the  Caesarian  Minister  '  (XII.  94). 

2347.  Stops  that  with  veto.]    The  claim  of  the  Emperor  to  an 
absolute  veto  on  papal  elections  was  granted  to  Otto  the  Great 
by  the  citizens  of  Rome  in  the  year  963.     Such  '  a  right  of  exclusion  ' 
(ius  exclusivce)  has  often  been  exercised  by  the  Emperor  and  other 
secular  potentates  with  the   acquiescence    of    the    conclave ;    its 
exercise  was  denounced  by  Pius  X.  in  1904,  who  declared  that  id 
si  aliquoties  accidit,  apostolicce  tamen  sedi  probatum  est  nunquam. 
See  Mirbt,  Quellen,  p.  404. 

2375-86]     See  note  on  2301-2. 

2376.]  Cf.  George  Eliot's  The  Legend  of  Jubal,  where  the  con- 
sciousness of  death  is  represented  as  the  stimulating  motive  of  the 
arts. 

2391-2.]     I  recognized  on  earth  the  fallibility  of  the  Pope,  I 


BOOK  XI.—OUIDO 


257 


shall  not  in  'another  world  '  impute  that  fallibility  to  God,  but  shall 
recogni/.r  an  authority  to  which  I  must  bow. 

-Hi),  (he  Allienian  who  died  so.]  Themistocles.  A  rumour 
that  he  poisoned  himself  is  noted  by  Thucydides  (I.  138) ;  the 
legend  that  he  died  by  drinking  bull's  blood  is  first  mentioned  by 
Aristophanes  (Knights,  83-4). 

:MU.  Who  are  these,  etc.]  The  'Company  of  Death';  see 
note  on  I.  1311.  'Descend  my  stair'  is  a  slip;  we  read  in  the 
Secondary  Source  (O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  265)  that  when  taken  off  to 
execution  '  the  condemned  were  made  to  go  downstairs ',  and  Sir 
P.  Troves  was  assured,  on  a  visit  to  the  New  Prisons,  that  there 
were  no  underground  cells  there  (Treves,  p.  137).  Cf.  XII.  132, 
'  the  Count  was  led  down,  hoisted  up  on  car '. 

2425.]  Guido  hesitates  between  claiming  that  he  is  a  subject 
of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  and  admitting  the  Pope's  jurisdiction. 

2427.  Pompilia.]    On  this  famous  invocation  see  Appendix  X. 


BOOK  XII.— THE  BOOK  AND  THE  RING 

INTRODUCTION 

IT  has  been  suggested,  with  a  confident  '  surely ' 1,  that 
the  poet  should  have  ended  his  whole  poem  with  the 
startling  invocation  with  which  he  ends  his  eleventh 
Book,  but  a  measured  and  controlled  ending  is  required 
by  acknowledged"  canons  o±  tlie  poetic  art  and  recom- 
mended by  the  practice  of  its  greatest  exponents.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  the  suggestion  of  many  critics  that  Book 
XII.  might  well  have  been  dispensed  with  is  altogether 
unacceptable.  For  this  brilliant  epilogue  contains  some 
of  Browning's  deepest  thonglit  and  hJiest  verse  ;  much 
of  it  is  alive  with  l»ia  uMjjjuUjmTartrir  ;  It  displays  through- 
out his  invention  in  its  fullest  activity.  He  tells  us  in 
its  second  paragraph  that  . 

Of  all  reports  that  were  or  may  have  been  \    . 

Concerning  those  the  day2  killed  or  let  live 

he  counts  four  only,  and  he  proceeds  to  give  us  them  ; 
but  fortunately  he  lays  more  stress  on  reports  '  that  may 
have  been  '  (and  were  not)  than  on  reports  '  that  were  '. 

The  reports  that  were,  of  which  alone  he  might  have 
counted  four,  are  as  follows  :  (1)  a  letter  from  Arcangeli 
at  Rome  to  a  lawyer  at  Florence  who,  it  appears,  was  pro- 
fessionally interested  in  Guide's  concerns — the  Francesco 
Cencini  who  collected  documents  relating  to  the  murder- 
trial,  supplied  them  with  a  title-page  and  a  table  of  contents, 
and  bound  them  up  into  the  Yellow  Book ;  (2)  a  second 

1  Sharp,  Life  of  Robert  Browning,  p.  126. 
a  The  day,  of  course,  of  the  executions,  "February  22,  1698. 

258 


BOOK  XIL—THE  BOOK  AND  THE  RING    259 

letter,  t'n  m  another  Roman  lawyer,  Gaspare  del  Torto, 
to  this  same  Cencini  ;  (3)  a  third  letter,  also  to  Cencini, 
from  \i  1  another  lawyer,  Carlo  Antonio  Ugolinucci.  All 
these  are  business-letters,  written,  on  the  evening  of  the 
fateful  February  22,  to  inform  Cencini  that  the  attempt 
to  save  Guido  on  the  ground  of  his  '  clericate  '  has  failed, 
that  he  and  his  rustic  confederates  have  indeed  been 
executed.  (4)  The  fourth  report  is  the  valuable  Italian 
pamphlet,  written  probably  after  the  death  of  Innocent 
XII.  in  1700,  which  I  have  followed  Professor  Hodell  in 
calling  the  Secondary  Source ;  it  carries  on  the  story  to 
its  end  upon  the  scaffold. 

Of  the  four  reports,  real  or  imagined,  which  Browning 
counts  and  gives  the  first  (a)  is  a  letter  alleged  to  have 
been  written,  immediately  after  the  executions,  to  a 
correspondent  at  Venice  byjt  lively  Venetian  visitor,,  at 
Rome  ;  it  is  based  partly  upon  the  real  reports  but  is 
Inainly  of  the  poet's  invention.  The  writer  is  represented 
as  interested  in  various  matters,  personal,  social  and 
political ;  he  speaks  of  the  entries  in  his  betting  book, 
of  the  '  prodigious  gaiety  '  of  Carnival,  of  the  Pope's  ill- 
^health,  of  the  prospects  of  the  succession,  of  the  probable 
condemnation  of  Fenelon,  of  the  rivalry  of  the  French 
and  Austrian  ambassadors  ;  but  what  interests  him  most 
keenly  is  the  cause  celebre  of  the  day  and  its  denoument. 
The  second  report  (6)  is  a  letter  from  Arcangeli  to  Cencini 
— the  real  business -letter  to  the  lawyer  with  a  fictitious 
and  delightfully  intimate  postscript  to  the  personal  friend  ; 
in  the  former  Arcangeli  announces  what  '  The  Holiness 
of  our  Lord  the  Pope  '  has  '  judged  inexpedient',  in  the 
latter,  dismissing  correctitude,  he  stigmatizes  the  '  spite  ' 
which  has  prompted  the  workings  of  '  Somebody's  thick 
headpiece',  and  proceeds  to  develop  some  of  the  most 
familiar  motifs  of  Book  VIII. — the  writer's  antipathy  to 
his  more  successful  rival,  his  complacent  pride  in  the 
precocity  of  his  over-indulged  son.  In  the  third  report 
(c),  a__whpUy_  fictitious  letter  of  Bottini's,  alleged  to  have 
•i  \\ritt'-n  to  '  no  matter  who'  on  February  24,  we  have 
in  the  same  way  some  final  touches  added  to  Browning's 
portrait  of  that  ambitious  and  not  too  scrupulous  person; 
with  this  letter  the  writer  is  represented  as  enclo 


260  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

what  I  take  to  be  Browning's  fourth  report  (d),  some  para- 
graphs, '  smoking  from  the  press ',  of  a  sermon  said  to 
have  been  preached  at  San  Lorenzo  church,  on  Sunday, 
February  23,  by  Fra  Celestino  the  Au^u^tinian^  Pompilia's 
confessor.  The  sermon  cfoes  noc  meet  the  reader's 
legitimate  expectation  by  adding  to  his  knowledge  '  con- 
cerning those  the  day  killed  or  let  live',  but  it  adds  a 
needful  note  of  solemnity  to  this  Book  XII.  It  would 
not  be  fitting  that  wit  and  humour  should  be  altogether 
dominant  at  the  end  of  '  the  tragic  piece  '  ;  their  domin- 
ance is  checked  by  this  '  magnificent  passage,  in  which 
the  fine  dignity  of  the  verse  fitly  matches  the  deep  truth 
of  the  preacher's  monitions  ' 1. 

As  he  neared  the  end  of  his  labours  Browning  put  his 
noblestjDowers  to  play  in  this  impressive  sermon  ;  what 
isTtTrdeepTruth  '  ?  Professor  Henry  Jones,  ill  ail  iiiterest- 
ing  chapter  upon  '  Browning's  Optimism ',  maintains  that 
'  the  poet's  purpose,  constant  throughout  the  whole  poem ' 2, 
is,  if  I  understand  the  Professor  rightly,  to  draw  from 
the  story  the  comforting  moral  that  even  in  this  world 
truth  and  goodi&5S~may  be  trusted  to  triumph.  TEaTTs 
riot  the~mbral  drawn  from  it  by  Fra  Celestilio,  who.  ^like 
the  Pope  in  Book  X.,  '  confronts  the  long  perplexity  and 
entanglement  of  circumstances  with  the '  facile — Lord 
Morley  called  it  '  fatuous  ' — *  optimism  which  insists  that 
somehow  justice  and  virtue  do  rule  in  the  world '.  If,  as 
seems  certain,  the  Pope  and  the  Augustinian  speak  for 
Browning,  '  the  whole  poem  ',  whateveriTTfia^rbe  besides, 
'  is ',  in  Lord  Morley 's  words,  '  a  Tjaxable  of  the  feeble  and 
half-hopeless  struggle  which  truth  has  to  make  ag^ainsT 
,±Tie  ways  of  t|ie  world.  That  in  tms  particular  case  truth 
and  justice  did  win  some  pale  sort  of  victory  does  not 
weaken  the  force  of  the  lesson7*3.  If  the  fact  tfiat  Guido 
met  in  the  end  with  his  deserts  makes  the  cause  of  right 
a  decisively  victrix  causa  in  the  story  of  The  Ring  and  the 

1  Quoted  from  an  article  by  the  Editor  in  the  Fortnightly  Review,  March  1, 
1869,  p.  339.  The  high  praise  which  Lord  Morley  gave,  a  month  after  the  first 
appearance  of  Book  XII. ,  to  the  diction  of  the  sermon  is  ovr  L  more  fully  due  to 
it  as  revised  for  later  editions  ;  see  Appendix  XI. 

-  Browning  as  a  Philosophical  and  Religious  Teacher,  p.  90.  See  the  Introduc- 
tion to  Book  VII. 

3  Fortnightly  Review,  loc.  cit.  Lord  Morley  says  in  his  Recollections  (i.  p.  133 
that  his  interpretation  of  the  poem  '  gave  some  pleasure  to  Browning  himself. 


BOOK  XII.— THE  BOOK  AND  THE  RING    261 

Book,  »\r  ^should  U-  Justiiicd  m  pronouncing  Hamlet 
optimistic  because  among  the  corpses  which  strew  the 
stage  at  the  end  of  itsjast  scene  that  of  Claudius  is  one. 
—Browning's  temperament  was  undoubtedly  optimistic, 
and  expressions  of  confident  optimism  are  very  frequent  y 
in  liis  poetry.  But  critics  who  write  of  him  as  a  teacher 
with  a  message  and  a  mission  seem  sometimes  to  forget 
that  men  of  genius  '  see  things  in  different  aspects  and 
many  lights  ',  and  that '  inconsistencies  '  may  be  '  the  marks 
of  their  greatness  ' 1. 

Speaking  of  the  second  part — the  postscript — of  his 
second  report  (6)  Browning  declares  that  it  is  '  extant 
just  as  plainly  '  as  the  first  part 

you  know  where, 

Whence  came  the  other  stuff,  went,  you  know  how, 
To  make  the  Ring  that's  all  but  round  and  done  '. 

He  might  have  said  the  same  of  most  of  (a)  and  of  all  (c) 
and  (d) ;  they  come,  as  we  have  seen,  from  the  poet's 
fancy,  they  are  part  of  the  alloy  of  which  he  speaks  at  the 
beginning  of  the  poem. — He  ends  by  reminding  us  once 
more  of  thn  rinfi  nf  frjn  nietnipfrrrrT^nnd  of  the  '  posy  ' s 
which  he  engraved  upon  it ;  gracefully  acknowiedgin 
Tommaseo's  tribute  to  his  '  lyric  Love ',  whose  '  rare  gol 
ring  of  verse '  linked  '  our  England  to  his  Italy '. 


NOTES 

(N.B. — The  numbering  of  the  lines  in  the  notes  to  this  Book,  after 
line  i!0(j,  is  that  of  the  second  and  all  subsequent  editions,  but  not  that 
of  the  first  edition.  See  '  Lines  Added '  in  Appendix  XI. ) 

2.  roared  and  soared.]    See  note  on  IX.  1039-40. 

11.  composite] = composed ;     the   only   instance    quoted   in   the 
N.E.D.  for  this  '  rare '  use  of  the  word  is  from  Mrs.  Browning's 
The  Greek  Christian  Poets :    '  a  dithyrambic  ode  .  .  .  composite 
of  fantastic  epithets '. 

12.  the  Wormwood  Star.]   Revelations  viii.  10, 11  (R.V.) :  *  And  the 
third  angel  sounded,  and  there  fell  from  heaven  a  great  star,  burning 


1  The  words  quoted  occur  in  a  newspaper  report  of  a  speech  made  in  February 
1919  by  Lord  Uryce  on  the  occasion  of  the  Ruskin  centenary. 
-   XII.  230-8.  I.   1390. 


262  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

as  a  torch,  and  it  fell  upon  the  third  part  of  the  rivers,  and  upon  the 
fountains  of  the  waters  ;  and  the  name  of  the  star  is  called  Worm- 
wood (6  "Ai/Wos) :  and  the  third  part  of  the  waters  became  worm- 
wood ;  and  many  men  died  of  the  waters,  because  they  were  made 
bitter '.  In  827-9  the  Guido-rocket,  so  finely  described  here,  is 
identified  with  the  Wormwood  Star. — Mrs.  Browning  makes  use 
of  this  star  in  the  famous  passage  which  describes  Savonarola's 
appeal  to  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  (Gasa  Guidi  Windows,  Part  I.) ; 
cf.  Aurora  Leigh,  Book  V.  (p.  214). 

20.  the  main  streaks],  described  in  the  letters  and  the  sermon- 
extract  which  follow  ;  cf.  210  below. 

26.  the  first  that  comes.]  It  is  one  of  those  '  that  may  have  been  ', 
not  of  those  '  that  were  '  ;  see  (a)  in  the  Introduction  to  Book  XII. 

29.  busy  idleness],  the  strenua  inertia  of  Horace  (Epp.  1. 11.  28) ; 
Wordsworth  speaks  of  '  worldlings  revelling  in  the  fields  Of  strenuous 
idleness  '  (Poems  of  Sentiment  and  Reflection,  xxx.  ;  cf .  The  Prelude, 
4.  378). 

31.  at  our  end  of  Carnival.]  Inaccurate  ;  see  note  on  VIII. 
283-6. 

34-8.]  The  strangers  were  too  previous ;  Innocent  XII.  lived 
till  September  27,  1700.  Cf.  XI.  2258. 

39-40.]  For  Malpichi  (or  Malpighi)  see  VII.  423;  for  Tozzi 
see  IX.  1268,  XL  2333. 

42-8.]  It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  Venetian's  with  Guide's 
account  of  '  how  the  chances  are  supposed '  for  the  succession 
(cf.  XI.  2260-63,  2338-9,  2346-7);  the  Venetian,  unlike  Guido, 
puts  his  money  on  the  wrong  horse.  Of  the  names  of  other  possible 
starters  mentioned  in  these  accounts  only  that  of  Colloredo 
appears  in  the  valuable  Eelazione  in  which  the  envoy  Erizzo  (see 
Appendix  VII.)  described  the  proceedings  of  the  conclave.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  both  Browning's  prophets  speak  in 
expectation  of  an  immediate  vacancy ;  when  Innocent  died  two 
and  a  half  years  later  the  situation  was  changed.  Colloredo  was 
then  passed  over  as  too  austere,  others  as  too  violent,  others  as 
too  mild,  others  again  as  having  too  many  nephews ;  the  Austrian 
candidate,  who  started  as  the  favourite,  was  excluded  by  French 
influence.  On  the  death  of  Charles  II.  of  Spain  (November  3,  1700 
— a  month  after  the  death  of  Innocent)  the  Cardinals,  '  manifestly 
touched ',  says  Erizzo,  '  by  the  hand  of  God ',  cast  their  eyes  on 
Cardinal  Albani,  who  openly  approved  the  determination  of  Louis 
XIV.  to  accept  the  Spanish  succession  for  the  house  of  Bourbon 
(Ranke,  History  of  the  Popes,  ii.  p.  428).  Albani  was  elected  on 
November  16,  the  conclave  having  deliberated  for  less  than  two 
months  :  it  had  taken  five  to  elect  Innocent  in  1691. 

42-3.]  That  Cardinal  Spada  was  '  actual  Minister  '  should  have 
cautioned  the  Venetian  against  '  wagering  on  his  head  ',  for,  as  a 
contemporary  writer  observed,  son  emploi  de  premier  ministre 


BOOK  X1I.—THE  BOOK  AND  THE  RING    263 

porle,  tlii-i>n.  inn  espece  d'exclusion  pour  le  pontifical.  Bien  des 
gens  ne  veulent  pas  dans  cette  place  un  cardinal  Imp  accoutumd  a 
gouvemer  hs  affaires  par  lui-meme  (Melanges  historiques,  iv.  p.  711). 

52.  That  Custom-liouse  he  built  upon  the.  bank.}    Cf.  89  below, 
'  that  l)ogana-by-the-Bank  he  built '.     Innocent  built  a  Dogana 
di  Terra  in  the  Piazza  di  Pietra,  far  away  from  the  Tiber ;    it  is 
now  the  Exchange,  but  it  retains  its  old  name.     I  know  nothing 
of  his  maritime  Custom-house. 

53.  Naples  born.]    Cf.  IX.  372-3. 
54-5.]    See  X.  284-6. 

57.  lies  in  stupor,  etc.]    Cf.  299  below,  X.  1246-7,  VIII.  1458-60 : 

They  say.  tin-  I  'ope  has  one  half-hour,  in  twelve. 

Of  something  like  a  moderate  return 

Of  the  intellectuals, — never  much  to  lose  ! 

62.  twice  in  one  reign.]  I  cannot  discover  what  reason  the 
Pope  would  have  had  for  proclaiming  a  Jubilee  in  December  1698. 
His  Jubilee  in  1694  commemorated,  according  to  the  poem  (II. 
539-40),  his  eightieth  birthday  ;  but  he  was  born  in  March  1615. 

— .    ope  the  Holy  Doors.]    See  note  on  III.  567. 

63-8.]  For  the  King's  '  fresh  orders ',  the  condemnation  of 
Fenelon  (which  the  Venetian  expects  too  confidently),  and  the 
'wry  face'  of  Cardinal  Bouillon  (cf.  line  112)  see  Appendix  VII. 
ad  Jin. 

74.  gold  zecchines.]     See  note  on  XI.  1420. 

78.  the  conviction  of  all  Rome.]    See  note  on  XI.  33-8. 

81.  that  old  enmity  to  Austria,  etc.]  As  a  partisan  of  France 
Innocent  was  of  course  unfriendly  to  Austria  (see  Appendix  VII.) ; 
Martinez,  the  Austrian  ambassador,  had  been  exerting  himself  to 
save  Guido  (see  note  on  XI.  2279  and  94  seqq.  below). 

90.]  Cf.  X.  244  seqq.  and  Appendix  VII.  With  ' the  crowd  he 
suffers  question '  cf.  X.  794,  '  he  suffered  cling ',  XI.  1272,  *  did 
not  suffer  them  subside  '. 

104.  palchetto.J    See  note  on  115  below. 

106-9.]     See 'note  on  I.  350-60. 

114.  at  the  edge  of  the  Three  Streets],  i.e.  of  the  long  streets  \\hieh 
radiate  southwards  from  the  Piazza :  the  Via  del  Babuino,  the 
Corso,  the  Via  di  Ripetta. 

115.]  From  the  Secondary  Source,  O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  265: 
'Many  stands  Ipalchelti]  were  constructed  for  the  accommodation 
of  those  curious  to  see  such  a  terrible  execution,  and  so  great  was 
the  concourse  of  people  that  some  windows  fetched  as  much  as 
six  dollars  each '.  For  the  erection  of  these  wooden  stands  in  tin 
Pia/./a  del  Popolo  on  other  occasions  see  Story,  Roba  di  Roma, 
p.  453.  A  chapter  in  Dumas's  Monte-Cristo  (ii.  c.  xiv.)  gives  a 
lively  pieture  of  the  incidents  of  a  nineteen!  h-eeni  my  execution 
in  the  Pia/./a.  \\ith  mannaia,  the  highly-rented  \\indows,  the 


264  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Confraternity  of  Death,  the  jostling  crowd,  and  all  the  rest  of  it. 
Dumas  says  that  the  scaffold  was  erected  at  the  point  where  the 
views  from  the  three  radiating  streets  meet. 

117.  our  Envoy  Contarini.]     See  Appendix  VII. 

119.  'tis  four -and-twenty  hours  ago],  i.e.  late  in  the  evening  of 
February  21. 

124.  ere  cock-crow.]  According  to  the  Secondary  Source  '  at 
the  eighth  hour ',  i.e.  about  2  A.M.  on  February  22. 

125-8.]  From  the  Secondary  Source,  O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  265: 
*  They  [Guido  and  his  accomplices]  were  assisted  by  Abate 
Panciatichi  and  Cardinal  Acciajoli,  nor  did  they  delay  in  preparing 
themselves  to  die  well '.  See  Introduction  to  Book  XI.  ad  fin. 

129.  the  Company  of  Death.]    See  note  on  I.  1311. 

130-31.]  One  of  Ceiicini's  correspondents  writes  that  the  execu- 
tions took  place  'after  dinner'  (doppo  il  pranzo)  (O.Y.B.  ccxxxix., 
E.L.  238)  ;  Browning  gives  '  after  dinner '  as  the  time  of  the  arrival 
of  the  Company  of  Death  at  the  prison.  He  proceeds  to  make  a 
very  careless  slip  by  saying  that  the  Company  arrived  '  at  sunset ', 
having  already  said  that  they  arrived  '  at  twenty  hours  '  (i.e.  about 
2  P.M.),  following  in  this  latter  statement  the  author  of  the  Secondary 
Source  (O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  265).  (For  '  the  way  they  reckon  here ' 
see  note  on  IV.  1371.) 

If  the  Company  of  Death  had  arrived  at  the  prison  '  at  sunset ', 
it  would  have  been  dark  before  the  executions  took  place,  after  the 
long  procession  through-  the  densely  packed  streets  to  the  Piazza 
del  Popolo  (see  note  on  line  139). 

132.  was  led  down.]     See  note  on  XI.  2414. 

133.  heinousest.]     See  note  on  I.  205. 

135.  His  intrepidity,  nay  nonchalance.]  From  the  Secondary 
Source,  which  speaks  of  Guide's  intrepidezza  and  sangue  freddo 
on  the  way  to  execution  as  having  been  '  the  wonder  of  all '  (0.  Y.B. 
213,  E.L.  265). 

139.  the  New  Prisons.]  See  note  on  V.  324-5. — The  procession 
did  not  go  by  the  shortest  route  (viz.  along  the  river-side  and  by 
the  Via  di  Ripetta)  to  the  place  of  execution ;  it  went  '  by  the 
longest  way '  (I.  1325),  '  by  the  most  densely  populated  streets  ' 
(0.  Y.B.  224,  E.L.  280),  for  greater  effect  on  the  people  of  Rome. — 
Browning  took  his  details  from  the  Secondary  Source  (O.Y.B.  213, 
E.L.  265-6);  the  route  of  the  procession  at  starting  has  been 
somewhat  obscured  by  the  construction  of  the  Corso  Vittorio 
Emanuele,  but  can  be  followed  with  a  little  guesswork. 

141.  Where  was  stuck  up,  etc.]  What  Bacon  called  '  pasquils 
or  satires,  to  make  sport' — they  are  usually  and  more  correctly 
called  pasquinades — owe  their  name  to  a  certain  Pasquino,  a  Roman 
tailor  of  the  15th  century,  '  skilful  in  his  trade  and  still  more  skilful 
in  his  epigrams '.  A  broken  statue,  at  the  corner  of  the  Palazzo 
Braschi,  by  the  Piazza  Navona,  was  opposite  his  shop,  and  to  this 


BOOK  XIL—TIJE  BOOK  AND  THE  RINQ    265 

statue  his  name  \va.>  tiaii>ferred  after  his  death;  for  it  became 
the  custom  to  fix  upon  its  pedestal  witty  criticisms  after  his  manner 
upon  current  affairs.  From  these  pasquinades  it  has  been  said 
that  a  history  of  Rome  might  be  composed.  Good  selections  from 
such  of  them  as  survive  are  given  by  Story  (Roba  di  Roma,  c.  xi.) 
and  by  Haiv  (Walks  in  Rome,  ii.  pp.  126-8). 

Browning  promises  us  a  pasquinade  of  his  own  manufacture, 
but  the  promise,  unfortunately,  is  not  kept  (see  lines  208-9). 

158.  Twelve  were  Tern  Quatern.}  See  the  interesting  account 
of  the  Papal  state-lotteries  in  Story,  Roba  di  Roma,  pp.  129-40. 
Stakes  were  made  on  the  drawing  of  particular  numbers  from  one 
to  ninety ;  a  ticket-holder  could  stake  on  one,  two,  three,  four,  or 
five  numbers,  and  five  numbers  were  drawn  ;  a  sum  staked  on  three 
numbers  was  a  terno,  on  four  a  quaterno.  Story  gives  further 
details,  but  they  do  not  fully  explain  the  present  passage  ;  1  it- 
notices  superstitions  about  numbers  attending  this  kind  of  gambling 
and  tells  us  of  women  praying  at  Christmas-tide  to  the  Santo 
Bambino  to  this  effect :  '  cure  our  diseases ;  lower  the  water  of 
the  Tiber ;  heal  Lisa's  leg ;  send  us  a  good  carnival ;  give  us  a 
winning  terno  in  the  lottery '  (op.  cit.  p.  81).  Cf.  Aurora  Leigh, 
Book  VII.  (p.  319),  where  a  crone  prays  the  Madonna  that  she  may 
'  win  a  tern  in  Thursday's  lottery '. 

The  lotteries  were  a  valuable  instrument  of  papal  finance. 
Innocent  XII.,  as  Browning  says,  forbade  them,  and  his  example 
was  followed  by  Benedict  XIII.  (1724-30)  and  Clement  Xll.  (1730- 
1740),  but  they  were  revived  soon  afterwards.  A  writer  during 
Innocent's  reign  denounced  them  as  '  an  invention  of  bitter  malice 
to  suck  the  blood  of  imprudent  gamesters '. 

173-204.]  Taken  or  developed  (except  182-6)  from  the  Secondary 
Source  (O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  266). 

182.  at  Saint  Mary's  opposite.]  Three  churches  of  St.  Mary 
face  the  Piazza  del  Popolo ;  the  speaker  refers  to  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  three,  S.  Maria  del  Popolo  at  the  north  end  of  the 
Piazza,  not  to  either  of  '  the  two  Twins,  resembling  one  another 
as  well  as  placed  near  one  another '  (Burnet,  Some  Letters,  p.  237) 
at  its  south  end. 

184.  Umbilicus],  '  navel ' ;  see  745-6  below. 

194.J  Though  the  Secondary  Source,  which  is  here  quoted, 
says  that  Guido  was  fifty  when  executed,  we  know  that  he  was 
in  fact  only  just  forty ;  see  note  on  I.  782-4. 

210.]    See  line  20  above,  with  the  note. 

215-19.]    See  Introduction  to  Book  Xll. 

222-4.]  For  the  game  of  Tarocs  see  note  on  VI.  349.— In  a 
letter  written  in  September  1868  (shortly  U -foiv  tin-  j>ul»iirati<m 
of  the  first  instalment  of  TJie  Ring  and  the  Book)  Barone  Kirkup 
told  W.  M.  Rossetti  that  he  had  lately  sent  Browning  *  some 
excellent  stories  of  gamesters  '  from  a  dialogue  on  cards  by  l'i 


266  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Aretino;  'Browning',  he  added,  'is  writing  a  poem  relating  to 
Arezzo  in  which  gambling  will  make  a  great  figure  '  (W.  M,  Rossetti, 
Rossetti  Papers,  pp.  367-8).  Gambling  does  not  '  make  a  great 
figure  '  in  The  Ring  and  the  Book,  but  Browning  had  clearly  been 
inquisitive  about  Italian  card-games  in  connection  with  his  poem, 
and  his  inquisitiveness  on  a  subject  which  would  play  a  very  small 
part  therein  is  a  good  instance  of  his  immense  care  about  the  smallest 
details  of  his  local  colouring. 

227.  my  four-years' -intimate.]  For  the  importance  of  these 
words  see  Appendix  I. 

229.  the  "  whole  position  of  the  case".]     See  I.  121-31. 

236-8.     See  I.  461-3  and  introduction  to  Book  XII. 

239-88.]  These  fifty  lines  are  partly  a  literal  translation,  partly 
a  somewhat  amplified  paraphrase,  of  Arcangeli's  real  letter  (see 
Introduction).  A  facsimile  of  the  MS.  of  the  letter  will  be  found 
in  the  illustrated  edition  of  the  poem. 

245.  on  Tuesday  last.}  An  addition  of  Browning's,  taken  from 
the  letter  of  del  Torto  (0.  Y.B.  ccxxxvii.,  E.L.  237). 

258.  by  his  particular  cheirograph.]    See  note  on  I.  346. 

259.  To  derogate.]    Arcangeli's  phrase  is  derogare  ad  ogni  Privi- 
legio  Clericale ;  the  verb  he  uses  might  be  read  as  denegare,  but  the 
action  of  the  Pope  is  described  as  a  derogatio  (  =  annulment)  by 
another  of  Cencini's  correspondents. 

264.  to  do  Pasquini  good.]     See  note  on  X.  964. 

268-9.  Decollate  by  mere  due  of  privilege,  etc.]  Cf.  I.  125-6,  'put 
to -death  By  heading  or  hanging  as  befitted  ranks  '.  '  By  mere  due 
of  privilege  '  is  an  addition  of  Browning's  to  Arcangeli's  real  letter  ; 
the  author  of  the  post-Browning  pamphlet  says  that  death  by 
mannaia  ('  heading  ')  was  conceded  to  Guido  '  rather  out  of  respect 
for  his  being  in  clerical  orders  than  for  any  other  reason '  (0.  Y.B. 
223,  E.L.  278). — 'Decollate'  represents  the  colla  Decollazione  of 
the  original ;  the  '  Decollation '  of  John  the  Baptist  was  a  holiday 
at  Eton  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

271.  exemplarity.]  The  Italian  esemplarita :  this  is  not  in  the 
original,  but  del  Torto  says  that  Guido  died  con  coraggio  e  esem- 
plarita. 

273.  nor  its  blue  banner  blush  to  red]     Cf.  822  below. 

277.  Quantum  est  hominum  venustiorum.]  Though  this  quota- 
tion from  Catullus  (3.  2)  is  correctly  paraphrased  in  the  next  line 
('The  nice  and  cultivated  everywhere')  Dr.  Berdoe  felt  so  sure 
of  his  Latin  that  he  made  nonsense  of  the  passage  by  translating, 
*  how  much  happier  were  the  men  !  '  In  some  Corrigenda  circulated 
afterwards  he  substituted  '  as  far  as  such  persons  could  express 
such  feelings '  !  The  Browning  Society  should  have  checked  the 
vagaries  of  its  most  active  member,  who  could  write  such  a  note 
as  '  "  Quid  multa  ?  "  what  penalty  ?  '  (Browning  Cyclopaedia, 
p.  325). 


BOOK  XII.— THE  BOOK  AND  THE  RING    267 

286-7.]    Contrast  this  with  '  too  poor  to  fee  a  better '  in  I.  179. 

288.  /  confirm  myself.]    Mi  raffermo,  I  declare  myself  again. 

291-390.]  This  delightful  postscript  is  Browning's  own ;  in 
lines  325-6  he  takes  a  hint  from  one  of  the  other  letters. 

291.  Hactenus  senioribus !]  Probably  from  Cicero.  Arcangeli 
seems  to  mean  '  So  far  for  the  grave  Signori  our  clients '. 

294-5.  what  folks  call  Pisan  assistance.}  Soccorso  di  Pisa  is 
proverbial  for  '  aid  that  comes  too  late '.  During  the  siege  of 
Jerusalem  in  the  First  Crusade  the  Genoese,  who  managed  the 
besieging  machines,  wanted  help  from  the  Pisans  ;  but  the  Pisan 
fleet  was  delayed  by  contrary  winds  and  they  did  not  apj>ear  till 
after  the  victory  had  been  won  (July  1099).  Compare  Browning's  use 
(in  Aristophanes'  Apology,  p.  125)  of  '  Plataian  help '  as  proverbial 
for  help  that  comes  in  time — an  allusion  to  the  thousand  whom 
the  Plataeans,  while  others  loitered,  sent  to  help  the  Athenians  at 
Marathon. 

299.  Somebody's  thick  headpiece.]    Cf.  57  above. 

301.]    Cf.  XI.  430  : 

age  never  slips 
The  chance  of  shoving  youth  to  face  death  fust. 

311.  the  indecent  change.]    See  note  on  I.  350-60. 

316.]    Cf.  X.  2053. 

319.]     Song  of  Solomon  ii.  15. 

325-6.]  The  '  Matrimonial  Cause  and  the  Case  of  Gomez ',  to 
which  Browning  makes  both  Arcangeli  and  Bottini  (657  below) 
refer,  had  nothing  to  do  with  either  of  them.  They  are  mentioned 
by  the  lawyer  Ugolinucci  as  a  matter  concerning  himself  and  Cencini 
(O.Y.B.  ccxxxix.-xl.,  E.L.  238). 

327.  Reliqua  differamus  in  crastinum],  sc.  diem  ;    from  Cicero, 
Rep.  2.  44.  4 :    sed  in  hunc  diem  hactenus :    reliqua,  differamus  in 
crastinum  ('  but  enough  of  all  this  for  to-day ;    let's  put  off  the 
rest  till  to-morrow '). 

328.  estafette.]    Italian  staff etta,  courier. 

331.  fat-chaps  Hyac.inth],  our  old  acquaintance  of  Book  VIII. 
/  promised  him,  etc.\     See  note  on  VIII.  HJr.i'. 
hoc  malim.]     More  polite  than  'That   1  prefer'  (hoc  malo)t 
ArcaiiLr<  li  i>  proud  of  his  ei^ht -year-old's  idiomatic  use  of  the  sub- 
junctive mood  ;    cf.  VIII.  7,  '  Quies  me  cum  sitbjtinctiro  (I  could 
cry) '. 

341.  the  peacock-fans.]  These  fans  ( It.  Jlabelli)  were  borne  OH  each 
side  of  the  Pope  during  certain  great  functions,  e.g.  on  Christmas 
Day,  when  he  sat  in  the  loggia  of  St.  Peter's  to  give  his  Messing 
urbi  et  orbi.  Mrs.  Browning  makes  a  humorous  use  of  the  fans 
in  her  Christmas  Gifts,  where  the  Italian  tricolour  is  n '(.resented 
as  being  brought  to  the  Pop'',  as  he  'sits  in  St.  '  hair',  on 

the  Christmas  Day  following  the  \\ai  <»t  1S.~>9: — 


268  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

0  mystic  tricolor  bright ! 

The  Pope's  heart  quailed  like  a  man's ; 
The  Cardinals  froze  at  the  sight, 
Bowing  their  tonsures  hoary  : 
And  the  eyes  in  the  peacock-fans 

Winked  at  the  alien  glory. 

The  Abbe  Martigny,  in  his  Dictionnaire  des  Antiquites  chretiennes 
(s.v.  flabellum),  says  that  the  peacock  symbolizes  the  saint,  un- 
corrupted  by  vice,  because  according  to  the  opinion  of  antiquity 
the  flesh  of  the  peacock  is  incorruptible ;  the  saint  shines  with  the 
varied  brilliancy  of  his  virtues  as  the  peacock  with  that  of  its  feathers. 
With  respect  to  the  Pope  the  Abbe  adds :  on  conqoit  que  Vfiglise 
ait  voulu  que,  comme  le  JJieu  qu'il  represente  sur  la  terre,  il  apparaisse 
aux  yeux  des  populations  respectueuses  entoure  de  ces  plumes  de 
paon  qiii  sont  la  vive  image  des  seraphins  d'lsaie  (VI.  2). 

357-8.  He's  long  since  out  of  Ccesar,  etc.]  The  young  Hyacinth 
'  verges  on  Virgil ',  and  '  shall  attack  me  Terence  '  (VIII.  78,  137). 

361.  A  Bartolus-cum-Baldo.]     See  I.  224,  note. 

367-8.  Adverti  supplico  humiliter  Quod.]  From  Arcangeli's 
first  pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  xii.,  E.L.  13) ;  it  means  '  I  humbly  beg  it 
may  be  noted  that  .  .  . ',  not  of  course  (as  Dr.  Berdoe  mistrans- 
lates) '  I  have  observed,  I  humbly  beg  that  .  .  . ',  whatever  this 
may  mean. 

376.  old  Somebody.]    Cf.  299  above. 

391-750.]  Both  the  letter  (406-58,  647-750)  and  the  sermon- 
extracts  sent  with  it  (459-646)  were  invented  by  the  poet. 

392.]     Cf.  I.  1197  seqq. 

394.  on  the  Monday.]    February  24. 

410-12.]    Bottini  employs  the  same  metaphor  in  IX.  1419-20. 

414- 16.  J     Compare  what  Arcangeli  says  in  VIII.  404  seqq. 

436-40.]     See  note  on  VIII.  276. 

437.  dandiprat]  =  (l)  a  small  coin,  worth  about  3d. ;  (2)  a  dwarf  or 
pigmy;  (3)  an  urchin  (as  in  Scott,  Kenilworth, c.  xxvi.).  So  N.E.D., 
adding  :  '  etymology  unknown  and  sense-development  uncertain  '. 

439.  save-all.]  '  A  contrivance  to  hold  a  candle-end  in  a  candle- 
stick while  burning,  so  that  it  may  burn  to  the  end '  (N.E.D.). 
Arcangeli  throws  no  light  upon  the  case  and  thus  gives  his  pert 
junior  the  chance  of  exhibiting  his  light. 

445.  a  stone.]  The  first  edition  has  '  a  man ',  the  second  '  a 
stoic  '  ;  see  Appendix  XI. 

451.  which  proved  a  treasure.]    See  II.  14-15. 

453-4.]    Romans  iii.  4. 

461-2.  doling  praise  To  innocency.]  The  Court  did  not  dole 
praise  to  innocency,  as  Bottini  notes  below  (694-6) : — 

the  Court 

Found  Guido  guilty, — but  pronounced  no  word 
About  the  innocency  of  his  wife. 


BOOK  XII.— THE  BOOK  AND  THE  RING    269 

466.  who  add],  i.e.  to  some  such  words  as  '  God  sleeps '. 

469.  to  fools.1]     '  To  '  should  surely  be  *  from  '. 

472-3.]  See  Introduction  to  Book  XII.  on  this  optimistic  '  con- 
clusion '. 

479.]  The  '  culver '  is  here  distinguished  from  '  Noah's  dove  ', 
but  the  latter  is  often  called  '  the  culver ',  as  e.g.  in  Maundevile's 
Travels :  *  the  storye  of  Noe  .  .  .  when  that  the  culver  broughte 
the  Braunche  of  Olyve  '. 

496  seqq.~\  There  was  much  less  secrecy  and  mystery  about  the 
catacombs  in  early  times  than  the  preacher  supposed.  Their 
approaches  were  at  first  open  and  unconcealed,  but  '  in  consequence 
of  imperial  edicts  of  persecution  at  certain  periods  during  the  third 
century  it  became  necessary  to  withdraw  them  as  much  as  possible 
from  the  public  eye,  and  for  this  purpose  new  and  difficult  entrances 
were  effected '.  See  Northcote  and  Brownlow,  Roma  sotterranea, 
i.  pp.  14,  15  and  elsewhere  ;  Boissier,  Promenades  archtologiques, 
Home  et  Pompei,  c.  iii.,  especially  p.  184. 

504.  their  idol-god,  an  Ass  f]  Tertullian  devotes  a  chapter  to 
proving  'that  the  Christians  do  not  adore  the  head  of  an  ass,  as 
is  cast  in  their  teeth ',  and  explains  the  origin  of  the  reproach  by 
a  reference  to  Tacitus  (Hist.  5.  3,  4),  who  asserts  that  the  Jews 
consecrated  an  effigy  of  an  ass  in  their  sanctuary,  because  on  their 
expulsion  from  Egypt  a  herd  of  wild  asses  had  guided  them,  when 
distressed  by  want  of  water  in  the  desert,  to  an  oasis  with  abundant 
springs.  The  story,  Tertullian  supposes,  was  told  of  the  Christians 

•  because  we  are  near  akin  to  the  Jewish  religion '. — A  famous 
graffito,  discovered  in  1856  in  what  was  probably  a  guard-room 
in  the  palace  of  the  Caesars  on  the  Palatine,  represents  a  crucified 
ass,  worshipped  by  a  man  who  is  presumably  a  Christian  ;   it  bears 
the  inscription  AAEHAMENOC  CEBETE  (i.e.  fftfrnu)  0EOISI, 

*  Alexamenus  worships  his  God  '.     See  the  interesting  note,  with 
a  reproduction  of  the  graffito,  in  Roma  sotterranea,  ii.  pp.  345-52. 

520.]  Many  terra-cotta  lamps  have  been  found  in  the  catacombs  ; 
some  of  them  bear  the  monogram  JP,  i.e.  XP,  the  first  two  letters 
of  the  Greek  Xpurry,  'for  Christ'.  See  Roma  sotterranea,  i.  pp. 
290-93.  There  is  a  collection  of  these  and  other  treasures  from 
the  catacombs  in  the  Christian  Museum  of  the  Lateran. 

521.]  Vessels  of  glass  and  terra-cotta  containing  blood  have 
often  been  found  in  the  catacombs.  See  Roma  sotterranea,  ii. 
pp.  330-43,  where  illustrations  of  some  of  these  vessels  are  given. 

522.  palm-branch.]  Palm-branches  (Revelations  vii.  9-14)  were 
often  scrawled  in  the  catacombs. 

525.]    Hebrews  xi.  38. 

526-30.]    Just  as  Noah's  dove,  says  the  preacher,  was  the  one 
survivor  of  many  'dove-like  things  as  dear',  just  as  the  crevice 
revealed  that  the  catacombs  contained  one  martyr  while  coun1 
others  remained  unrevealed,  so  it  may  be  that  while  Pompilia's 


270  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

purity  has  been  vindicated,  many  other  '  chaste  and  noble  fames 
lie  strangled '. 

531-53.]    I  have  shown,  he  continues,  that  human  report  often  .? 
vilifies  the  good  (439-530) ;    it  as  often  glorifies  the  bad.     In  the| 
burnished  statues  of  the  human  deities,  on  which  you  gaze  with 
awe,  there  may  lurk  scorpions  and  centipedes  ;  for  all  their  brilliancy 
these  so-called  deities  are  demons  and  devils.     It  is  only  now  and 
then  that  on  a  sudden,  as  it  were  by  an  earthquake,  God  showsjj 
good  and  bad  in  their  true  light.  v, 

538.  lurks  a  centipede.]  An  obvious  improvement  on  the  reading 
of  the  earlier  editions,  '  lo,  a  cockatrice  ! ' 

539-40.]  Fra  Celestino  speaks  of  the  old  Greek  and  Roman  gods 
in  the  language  of  the  primitive  church. 

551-2.]  '  Despairing  shriek '  is  the  object  of  '  made ',  *  triumphant 
hate  '  of  '  evidenced  '  ;  see  note  on  VI.  319-20. 

554-609.]  The  paragraph  develops  the  thoughts  of  the  previous 
paragraph,  and  gives  a  fresh  turn  to  the  preacher's  conclusion. — 
Observe  that  the  56  lines  form  a  single  sentence,  which  needs  careful 
reading  but  leads  up  most  effectively  to  the  conclusion  of  the  argu- 
ment (see  note  on  V.  1957-82).  The  dependent  clauses,  beginning 
respectively  with  '  as  ye  become  spectators'  (554-61),  '  as  ye  behold ' 
(562-5),  '  [as  ye]  mark '  (565-73),  '  as  ye  watch '  (573-9), '  [as  ye] 
hear '  (580-84),  '  when  ye  find '  (585-97),  are  summed  up  by  '  all 
this  well  pondered  '  (598),  and  the  inference  to  be  drawn  from  all 
the  pondering  follows  (598-609).  In  the  clause  introduced  by 
'  [as  ye]  mark '  the  '  how '  of  the  sub-clause  is  resumed  by  a  second 
'  how  '  in  569. 

557-61.]  A  sinner,  says  the  preacher,  can  protect  himself  against 
the  attacks  of  other  sinners  ;  not  so  the  saint  who  lacks  '  the  first 
apprenticeship  to  sin  '.  Is  that  sound  doctrine  ? 

560.  truliest  ./be] = foe  in  the  truest  sense.  Browning  treats 
'  truly  '  as  an  adjective  ;  cf.  IX.  418,  '  truliest  victor  '. 

581-4.  Submit,  for  best  defence,  etc.]  Bottini  did  not  in  fact 
'  submit '  anything  of  the  kind,  but  he  admitted  much  (and  Browning 
represents  him  as  admitting  still  more)  against  Pompilia.  See 
Introduction  to  Book  IX. 

595-7.]    Deuteronomy  xxxiv.  7. 

604.  Man's  speech  being  false,  etc.]  See  note  on  X.  349  seqq., 
and  376-7  ;  cf.  835-40  below. 

610-46.]  Bottini  would  not  have  enclosed  this  extract  from 
the  sermon  ;  however  interesting  to  us,  it  is  irrelevant  to  his  purpose 
and  would  have  had  no  interest  for  his  correspondent. 

619.]     I  do  not  understand  '  still '  here. 

623.  Christ's  assurance.]     See  X.  1806,  note. 

631-2.]  '  He  has  lost,  perhaps,  the  means  of  bringing  goodness 
from  its  ideal  conception  into  the  actual  life  of  man  '  (Mrs.  Orr). 

639.  Fame— that  bubble.]     Cf.  III.  1353-4. 


BOOK  X  II.—  THE  BOOK  AND  THE  RING    271 

647.  ampollfMiii/.  \     Coined  by  Browning  from  Italian  ampollosita. 
The  word  is  suitable  in  connection  with  'bubble',  for  the  Latin 


ri  (derived  from  ampulla,  a  big-bellied  flask)  means  'to 
use  inflated  language  '. 

648.  the.  monk'  8  own  bubble.]    Cf.  639  above. 

657-60.]  See  note  on  325-6;  the  alleged  'first  pleasant  con- 
sequence '  is  a  pleasantry  of  Browning's. 

662.  of  both],  i.e.  of  earth's  liars  and  of  the  world. 

672-80.]     All  this  is  a  mistake  ;  see  note  on  II.  1198. 

674.  convertite]  as  an  English  equivalent  for  a  '  penitent  '  is 
found  in  Shakespeare  :  As  you  like  it,  5.  4.  190,  King  John,  5.  1.  19. 

686.]  The  legal  instruments  in  the  O.Y.B.  show  that  Tighetti 
was  Pompilia's  '  heir-beneficiary  '  (hares  beneficiatus),  and  make 
no  mention  of  Gaetano  as  being  her  real  heir  (O.Y.B.  cclix.-xii., 
E.L.  252-6),  but  from  one  of  Arcangeli's  pleadings  (O.Y.B.  cxiii., 
E.L.  121)  it  appears  that  Tighetti  was  trustee  for  Gaetano  ; 
Arcangeli's  Latin,  however,  is  perplexing. 

690-92.]    See  note  on  461-2  above,  and  see  752-67  below. 

712.]     Hebrews  iv.  12. 

715.  Astrsea  redux.]     Cf.  II.  1476. 

719-21.]    O.Y.B.  v.-viii.,  E.L.  5-7. 

727.  the  other  sooty  scout.]     Genesis  viii.  7. 

735.]    Lamentations  iv.  1. 

744.  the,  famous  relic],  viz.  the  umbilicus  of  our  Lord  (see  184  above). 

745-6.  Martial's  phrase,  etc.]    Martial,  Epp.  4.  89.  1-2  :— 

Ohe,  iam  satis  est,  ohe,  libclle, 

Iain  pci  -venimus  usque  ad  umbilicos. 

The  umbilici  of  a  book  were  two  knobs  at  either  end  of  the  roller 
to  which  the  parchment  when  filled  with  writing  was  attached. 
'  We  have  come  to  the  umbilici  '  therefore  means  that  the  book  is 
finished.  Arcangeli  plays  on  the  two  meanings  of  the  Latin  word 
(see  184). 

752.  The  Instrument.]    O.Y.B.  cclix.-xii.,  E.L.  252-6. 

755.  September]  should  be  August,  precisely  'six  months  after- 
ward '  ;  the  definitive  sentence  was  given  on  August  19,  the 
September  proceedings  were  a  mere  formality. 

756.]  It  does  not  appear  from  the  records  that  the  Pope  caused 
the  delay. 

769-70.]  On  Venturini  see  note  on  TV.  1308-16.  In  the  Instru- 
mentum  Sententice  Definitives  he  is  described  as  giving  sentence 
iirbi*  Gubernatoris  in  Criminalibus  Locumtenens  sedans.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  records  to  justify  Browning's  '  a  Venturini  too  \  ' 

TTJ.  /.'//  some  account.]  It  is  a  mistaken  account.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  limner?  ion  -d;»y  was  July  12,  1691,  and 

that  he  died  on  Srj>teml>rr  1*7,  1700. 

775,      SM  \.  1851  seqq. 


272  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

776-8.  what  birth  His  reign  may  boast  of,  etc.]  Voltaire  was  born 
in  1694.  For  Browning  on  Voltaire  see  La  Saisiaz,  ad  fin.  and 
The  Two  Poets  of  Croisic,  where  this  '  terrible  Pope '  displays  his 
fallibility  in  most  humiliating  fashion. 

785.  Porzia,  sister  of  our  Guido.]    See  note  on  IV.  381  seqq. 

786-7.  The  Priors  of  Arezzo  and  their  head  Its  Gonfalonier.']  Under 
the  Grand  Dukes  of  Tuscany  the  Gonfalonier  and  Priors  of  Arezzo 
were  probably  no  more  than  a  Mayor  and  Corporation.  In  the 
later  days  of  the  republics  the  Gonfalonier  ('  Standard  Bearer '  of 
Justice)  had  become  the  supreme  head  of  the  State,  and  the  Priors, 
chosen  from  the  Greater  Guilds,  formed  the  Signoria. — Browning 
must  have  found  the  'record'  here  mentioned  at  Arezzo  on  his 
way  to  or  from  Koine  on  his  last  visit  there  in  the  winter  of  1860-61  ; 
I  assume  that  the  *  I  find '  of  line  782  is  to  be  taken  literally.  See 
the  second  paragraph  of  Appendix  I. 

811.  Petrarch]  was  born  at  Arezzo  in  1304,  his  father,  who  had 
been  keeper  of  the  archives  at  Florence,  having  been  exiled  with 
Dante  in  1302.     He  left  Arezzo  in  his  infancy  and  seems  to  have 
had  no  further  connection  with  it. 

— .  Buonarroti  at  a  pinch.]  At  a  pinch  ;  for  Michael  Angelo  was 
not  even  born  at  Arezzo,  but  (in  1475)  at  Caprese,  of  which  place 
his  Florentine  father  was  Podesta.  Caprese,  though  in  the  diocese 
of  Arezzo,  is  many  miles  away  from  the  city.  Michael  Angelo's 
boyhood  was  passed  at  Settignano  near  Florence,  and  no  one  has 
ever  called  him  an  Aretine. 

The  Aretine  George  Vasari  quotes  Michael  Angelo  as  saying  to 
him  (politely) :  '  Giorgio,  if  I  have  anything  good  in  me,  that 
comes  from  my  birth  in  the  pure  air  of  your  country  of  Arezzo, 
and  perhaps  also '  from  a  fact  of  much  greater  importance  (Lives 
of  the  Painters,  v.  p.  229). 

812.  vexillifer]  =  ' flag-bearer'  (805). 

813.  the    Patavinian.]    Livy    of    Padua    (Patavium) ;     ancient 
critics  detected  a  provincialism  in  his  style,  which  Quintilian  called 
'  a  certain  Patavinity '. 

I  cannot  discover  that  Livy  says  anywhere  that  Arezzo  was 
founded  by  '  Janus  ef  the  Double  Face '  (Janus  bifrons).  He 
notes  a  certain  double-facedness  in  the  conduct  of  the  Aretines 
during  the  Second  Punic  War  (27,  24). 

817.  Gaetano,  born  of  love  and  hate.]  To  Pompilia  on  her  death- 
bed the  child  seemed  '  Only  his  mother's,  born  of  love  not  hate ' 
(VII.  1764). 

821.  the  blazon,  shall  make  bright  my  page.]  Cf.  XI.  2161-6, 
and  see  above,  pp.  xx-xxi. 

828.  the  Star  Wormwood.]    See  12  above,  and  note. 

832-3.]    Cf.  I.  735-8. 

835.]  British  Public,  who  may  like  me  yet.]  See  note  on  L 
410,  '  British  Public,  ye  who  like  me  not '. 


BOOK  XIL—THE  nonK  AND  THE  RING     273 

838.  mir  I' ni, inn  *i>eech  is  naught.}  See  604  above,  and  note  on 
\.  :',l!i  M-f/v. 

sj'.t.  t mil.}     See  note  on  V.  f>'.M. 

falsehood  would  have  done  the  work  of  truth.]  Would  it  ? 
From  the  proposition,  *  truth  when  transmitted  becomes  falsehood  ', 
it  does  not  follow  that  *  falsehood  when  transmitted  becomes  truth  '. 

862.  twice]  to  the  eye  of  the  gazer  and  to  his  soul. 

864-5.]  Compare  the  fine  passage  in  Fifine  at  the  Fair,  LXI., 
If  LM lining  with 

Ah,  Music,  wouldst  thou  help  !     Words  struggle  with  the  weight 
So  feebly  of  the  False,  thick  element  between 

Our  *.MI|.  th<-  Trui-,  and  Truth  ! 

868.  If  this  intent  save  mine],  i.e.  if  by  my  intent  to  save  the 
reader's  soul  I  save  my  own.  Summing  up  the  purport  of  a  letter 
from  Browning  to  his  future  wife,  Professor  Dowden  wrote  (Browning, 
p.  88) :  'To  sit  by  her  for  an  hour  a  day,  to  write  out  what  is 
in  him  for  the  world,  and  so  to  save  his  soul,  would  be  to  attain 
his  ideal  in  life  '. 

871.  succeed  in  guardianship.}     The   ring   preserves   the   truth 
hidden  away  in  *  the  rough  ore  ',  but  it  also  performs  another  office 
of  a  ring,  that  of  a  *  guard-ring '  or  '  keeper '  outside  a  wedding- 
ring.     Browning  would  have  his  '  Ring  '  lie  outside  his  wife's  '  gold 
ring  of  verse '. 

872.  Lyric  Love.}    I.  1391. 

873-4.]  The  allusion  is  to  the  inscription,  written  by  the  poet 
Tommaseo,  which  the  municipality  of  Florence  placed  on  the  front 
of  Casa  Guidi  after  Mrs.  Browning's  death  : 

QUI    SCRISSE    E   MORI 
KUSABETTA    BARRET1    BROWNING 
(UK    IN    CUORE    DI    DONNA   CONCILIAVA 
SCIENZA    DI    DOTTO    E   SPIRITO    DI    TO  ETA 
i()    VERSO    AUREO    ANELLO 
FRA    ITALIA     I!    IMillll.TKRRA 
PONE    QUESTA    MEMORTA 
FIRENZE    t'.RATA 
1861. 3 

1  sic 

2  As 'printed  in  /ampini-Salazar.  IM  Vita  e  le  Opere.  p.  371,  the  Inscription 
is  phrased  <>th«TwN-  in  several  places.     I.VI-IDK  is  given  for  MEMOKIA  in  Mrs. 
Browning's  Letters. 


APPENDIX  I 
CHRONOLOGY   OF  THE  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  POEM 

IN  XII.  227-8,  lines  written,  presumably,  very  shortly  before  the 
publication  of  the  poem  in  the  winter  of  1868-9,  Browning  apostro- 
phizes his  Yellow  Book  with  the  question, 

How  will  it  be,  my  four-years' -intimate, 
\\  lu-n  thou  and  I  part  company  anon  ? 

He  says  elsewhere  l  that  he  discovered  the  book  hi  the  month  of 
June  ;  and  many  writers,  assuming  that  intimacy,  in  the  sense 
that  the  poet  intended,  followed  hard  upon  first  acquaintance, 
have  asserted  that  the  date  of  the  discovery  was  June  1865  2 ;  they 
might  have  said  June  1864. 

Neither  of  those  dates,  however,  can  be  accepted.  Browning 
tells  us  that  having  picked  up  the  book  on  a  stall  in  Florence  he 
took  it  home  with  him  to  Casa  Guidi  and  '  read  and  read  it '  there 
the  same  evening 3.  Now  Mrs.  Browning  died  at  Casa  Guidi  on 
June  29,  1861,  and  her  husband  left  Florence  a  few  weeks  afterwards  ; 
he  was  never  at  Casa  Guidi  or  in  Florence  again.  From  this  it 
follows  that  the  find  was  not  made  later  than  the  June  of  1861 4, 
and  the  poet's  friend  and  biographer,  who  says  that  it  happened 
(luring  '  his  last  days  at  Casa  Guidi '  6,  assigned  it  to  that  year ; 
but  it  is  certain  that  it  was  made  in  an  earlier  June.  For  (1) 
Browning  says  that  he  took  the  book  with  him  to  Jiomr  with  a 
view  to  pressing  inquiries  which  it  suggests  ',  and  his  last  visit  to 
Koine  was  in  the  winter  of  1860-61 ;  (2)  he  speaks  of  finding,  at 
Arezzo  surely,  '  a  record  in  the  annals '  of  that  town  relating  to 
persons  whose  existence  the  book  had  revealed  to  him  7,  and  he  was 
never  at  Arezzo  after  the  spring  of  1861 ;  and  (3)  we  have  a  positive 

i  I.  92,  487. 

/  »trn<ltiction  to  Browning,  p.  133  ;  Sharp,  Life  of  Brmcning,  pp.  1  ifi, 
119  ;  F.  M.  Wilson,  A  Primer  on  Brottminy,  p.  10  ;  Gardner,  The  Story  of  Florence, 
p.  288.  !'.»,  469-77. 

'  In  Mr.  Him-ITs  two-volume  rilitinn  of  I'.rcwninR  the  book  is  said  to  have 
lift-n  picket!  up  in  -luii'  iteo  Zampini-Saksar,  /-"  Vita  e  le  Overt,  v.  44. 

a  Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  p.  u;>i.  \  1 1.  fsS-4, 

275 


276  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

statement  from  Professor  Hall  Griffin,  on  the  authority  of  one  of 
the  two  persons  concerned,  that  during  his  last  visit  to  Rome  the 
poet  invited  a  friend  to  write  an  account  of  the  book's  contents  1. 
These  facts  prove  that  the  book  was  discovered  not  later  than  the 
June  of  1860,  and  from  the  third  we  may  infer  that  it  was  not  dis- 
covered earlier  2 ;  nothing  in  the  poem  itself  precludes  an  earlier 
date,  but  there  is  neither  internal  nor  external  evidence  to  suggest 
one.  I  shall  therefore  accept  as  correct  the  authoritative  state- 
ment of  Sir  Frederic  Kenyon3,  supported,  though  not  quite  posi- 
tively, by  the  poet's  son  4,  that  June  1860  was  the  date  of  the 
find. 

In  a  letter  written  in  1858  Browning  told  his  friend  Mr.  Fox  that 
'  the  stuff  out  of  which  books  grow  lies  about  one's  feet  indeed ' 
at  Florence  5,  and  when  two  years  later  he  found  the  Yellow  Book 
lying  on  the  Florence  bookstall  he  saw  at  a  glance  that  the  stuff  it 
provided  for  bookmaking  was  exceptionally  valuable.  It  riveted  his 
attention  on  the  instant  and  impressed  his  very  soul,  and  we  might 
have  expected  that,  knowing  that  his  '  find  was  gold  ',  he  would 
'  attempt  smithcraft '  very  soon.  He  did  nothing  of  the  kind.  The 
following  winter,  as  we  have  seen,  was  spent  by  the  Brownings 
in  Rome,  and  in  the  course  of  it  Mrs.  Browning  had  much  to  tell 
her  correspondents  about  her  husband's  interests  and  occupations. 
Strange  to  say — strange,  when  we  remember  what  a  find  he  thought 
it — she  does  not  mention  his  new  treasure.  She  confesses  to  being 
more  than  a  little  vexed  at  his  having,  apparently,  forgotten  that 
poetry  is  his  vocation ;  '  he  has  taken ',  she  says,  '  to  modelling  under 
Mr.  Story,  and  is  making  extraordinary  progress  '  ;  the  work  makes 
his  back  ache,  but  '  nothing  ever  made  him  so  happy  before'.  She 
'  grudges  a  little  the  time  for  his  particular  art '  and  she  expostulates 
— ineffectually ;  he  talks  of  material  for  a  volume  which  he  will 
work  at  in  the  summer  6,  but  at  present  he  will  not  write  at  all 7. 
Still  more  surprising  are  some  proposals  which  Browning  made  when 
the  Yellow  Book  was  still  a  recent  acquisition.  I  have  just  noticed 
his  suggestion  that  a  friend  whom  he  met  in  Rome  that  winter 
should  write  an  account  of  its  contents  ;  he  said  that  he  would 
give  him  the  book  for  that  purpose 8.  He  also,  at  a  date  not  pre- 
cisely recorded,  offered  the  story  as  a  subject  for  a  novel  to  another 

1  See  below. 

2  It  would  be  unreasonable  to  interpose  a  long  interval  between  the  discovery 
and  the  invitation  above  mentioned. 

a  It  is  made  in  a  note  on  p.  251  of  his  revised  edition  of  Mrs.  Orr's  Life. 

4  '  The  "  yellow  book  "  was  probably  picked  up  in  June  of  1860 '  (Letter  of 
Mr.  R.  Barrett  Browning  to  Professor  Hodell,  O.T.B.  337,  note  536). 

5  Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  p.  215. 

6  Dramatis  Personce,  probably  ;  see  the  next  paragraph. 
r    7  Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  pp.  230,  232-3. 

8  Hall  Griffin,  Life,  p.  229.  The  Professor  says  that  the  friend  in  question, 
Mr.  W.  C.  Cartwright,  '  is  the  [oral  ?]  authority  for  the  incidents  with  which  his 
name  is  connected  '  (p.  231,  note  1 ). 


APP.  /.— COMPOSITION  OF  THE  POEM    277 

frit-lid,  Mi>s  <>glr,  th<-  authoress  of  A  Lost  Love1 ;  and  Mrs.  Orr  was 
'  almost  certain  '  that  he  offered  it  '  for  poetic  use  to  one  of  his  lead- 
ing contemporaries ' a.  At  the  time  when  these  things  happened 
there  must  have  been,  as  Professor  Hall  Griffin  said,  '  a  reaction ' 
since  that  nu moialik  June  day;  the  book  had  not  yet  become 
l'.io\\  nine's  '  intimate '  in  the  sense  in  which  he  used  that  word. 

We  have  seen  that  the  poet  left  Florence,  never  to  return,  in  the 
late  summer  of  1861 ;  he  settled  down  in  London  in  the  autumn, 
and  busied  himself  inter  alia  in  preparing  his  wife's  Last  Poems  for 
tin-  press  and  (probably)  in  writing  a  part  of  his  own  Dramatis 
Personce. 3.  Nothing  further  is  heard  of  the .  Yellow  Book  till 
September  1862,  when  he  writes  from  Biarritz  to  Miss  Blagden  that, 
besides  '  having  a  great  read  at  Euripides  4 — the  only  book  I  brought 
with  me — ',  he  is  '  attending  to  my  own  matters,  my  new  poem  that 
is  about  to  be,  and  of  which  the  whole  is  pretty  well  in  my  head, — 
the  Roman  murder  story  you  know '  5.  The  new  poem  was  still 
'  about  to  be  '  ;  two  years  more  were  to  pass  before  it  began  to  come 
into  being.  In  1864  his  hands  were  freed  by  the  publication  of 
Dramatis  1'ersonce,  and  it  was  in  that  year,  probably,  that  a  stimulus 
was  given  to  his  interest  in  the  murder-story  by  a  second  most 
important  find — that  of  '  the  Secondary  Source '  6,  which  adds  a 
mass  of  interesting  detail  to  the  story  of  the  Yellow  Book.  In  a 
letter  dated  October  17,  1864  he  wrote  to  Frederic  Leighton,  then  at 
Rome,  begging  him  to  supply  him,  after  careful  study,  with  par- 
ticulars about  the  church  of  San  Lorenzo  in  Lucina  ;  they  would,  he 
said,  be  of  great  use  to  him  7.  Now  that  church  is  barely  mentioned 
in  the  Yellow  Book,  but  in  the  Secondary  Source  it  is  the  scene 
of  important  incidents,  the  marriage  of  Guido  and  Pompilia,  the 
exposure  of  the  bodies  of  the  Comparini.  The  discovery  of  the 
scene  of  these  incidents,  of  which  the  poet  was  to  make  such  brilliant 
use,  must  have  aroused  his  curiosity  at  once,  and  may  have  started 
him  upon  the  actual  composition  of  his  poem.  Be  that  as  it  may — 
whether  the  discovery  was  or  was  not  the  cause — ,  we  have  conclusive 
evidence  that  its  composition  was  in  fact  begun  in  the  month  of 
the  Leighton  letter.  Immediately  after  a  visit  from  Browning,  in 
.March  1868,  Mr.  \V.  M.  Rossetti  noted  in  his  diary  that  tin-  poet  had 
told  him  that  he  '  began  The  Ring  and  the  Booh  in  October  164  '; 
that  4  he  was  staying  at  Bayonne '  at  the  time,  and  there  '  laid  out 

1  Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  p.  251  ;  Hall  Griffin,  Life,  loc.  cit. ;  O.Y.B.  237.    Many  years 
later  the  poet  remarked  to  Professor  Corson :   '  When  she  said  she  made  nothing 
out  of  it  I  wrote  The  Ring  and  the  Book '.    Uall  Griffin  says  that  the  offer  to  Miss 
Ogle  was  made,  like  that  to  Mr.  Cartwright,  in  the  winter  of  1860-1,  but  Mrs. 
Orr,  who  seems  to  have  been  his  authority  for  the  incident,  does  not  date  it. — 
On  the  Yellow  Book  as  material  for  a  novel  see  Introduction  to  Book  VI. 

2  Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  p.  251. 

3  These  two  books  were  published  in  1862  and  1864  respectively. 

4  l.uripides  figures  conspicuously  in  The  Ring  and  the  Book  ;   see  note  on  X. 
1670-lTyn.  6  Mrs.  Orr,  p.  250. 

o  above,  p.  xix.  ?  Mrs.  Orr,  p.  273  ;  see  note  on  II.  6. 


278  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

the  full  plan  of  the  twelve  cantos,  accurately  carried  out  in  the 
execution '  ;  'he  has  written ',  B/ossetti  added,  '  his  forthcoming 
work  all  continuously,  not  some  of  the  later  parts  before  the  earlier  ' 1. 
The  Secondary  Source  is  used  freely  in  Book  I.2,  and  the  information 
which  Leighton  was  to  supply  was  wanted  for,  and  is  used  freely  in, 
Book  II. — It  was,  then,  in  October  1864 3,  rather  more  than  four 
years  after  the  first  find,  and  (probably)  immediately  after  the 
second,  that  Browning  began  to  write  his  poem,  and  that  the 
Yellow  Book  began  to  be  his  rather  more  than  four  years'  intimate  ; 
the  intimacy  grew  rapidly  and  he  writes  cheerfully  ten  months  later 
(August  1865) :  '  Good  luck  to  my  great  venture,  the  murder-poem, 
which  I  do  hope  will  strike  you  and  all  good  lovers  of  mine '  4. 

The  poem  was  finished  in  1868  and  published,  in  four  parts  of 
three  books  each,  in  the  November  of  that  year  and  the  three 
following  months.  Why  was  it  published  in  that  way  ?  '  Poetry ', 
said  Bagehot,  '  should  be  memorable,  emphatic,  intense,  and  soon 
over '.  The,  Ring  and  the  Book  has  the  first  three  of  these  qualities, 
but  it  certainly  has  not  the  last ;  when  Calve  rley  hinted  that  it 
might  run  to  '  eighty  thousand  lines '  5  he  multiplied  by  less  than 
four.  Mr.  Stopford  Brooke  supposed  that  it  appeared  by  instalments 
because  Browning  suspected  that  it  might  prove  wearisome  if 
published  all  at  once,  that  he  was  merciful  '  to  a  public  which  does 
not  care  for  a  work  of  longue  haleine  '  6.  The  poet,  however,  usually 
credited  his  readers  with  unlimited  staying  power  ;  it  is  more  likely, 
perhaps,  that  the  mode  of  publication  was  dictated  or  suggested  by 
his  publisher 7. 

1  Rossetti  Papers,  p.  302.    Mr.  Rudolf  Lehmann  (An  Artist's  Reminiscences, 
p.  224)  writes  that  Browning  spoke  to  him — he  does  not  say  at  what  date — as 
follows  :   '  When  I  first  read  the  book,  my  plan  was  at  once  settled.     I  went  for 
a  walk,  gathered  twelve  pebbles  from  the  road,  and  put  them  at  equal  distances 
on  the  parapet  that  bordered  it.     These  represented  the  twelve  chapters  into 
which  the  poem  is  divided  and  I  adhered  to  that  arrangement  to  the  last '.     The 
first  of  these  statements  is  inconsistent  with  Rossetti's  report,  made  immediately 
after  it  occurred,  of  his  conversation  with  the  poet.    Perhaps  Mr.  Lehmann's 
memory — his  book  was  not  published  till  1894 — may  have  played  him  false  on 
the  point. 

2  In  lines  350  seqq.,  405,  781-4,  873  seqq.,  1292,  1307  seqq.,  1325. 

3  Mr.  Sharp's  '  early  in  1866 '  (Life  of  Browning,  p.  116)  is  certainly  a  mistake. 

4  To  Miss  Blagden  ;  Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  p.  260. 

5  The  Cock  and  the  Bull. 

6  Browning,  p.  392. 

7  Since  writing  as  above  I  find  that  my  guess  was  not  altogether  wide  of  the 
mark.     It  is  true  that  Browning  was  so  far  merciful  to  the  public  as  to  propose 
that  the  poem  should  appear  in  two  monthly  volumes  ;    but  his  publisher,  Mr. 
G.  M.  Smith,  believed  that  it  would  '  bear  printing  ' — so  he  P9litely  phrased  it — 
in  four  ;  '  and  this  accordingly  was  done '.     See  Hall  Griffin,  Life,  p.  239. 


APPENDIX  II 

THE  HOME  OR  HOMES  OF  THE  COMPARINI:  WHERE 
DID  THE  MURDERERS  ATTACK  THEM  ?  WHERE  DID 
POMPILIA  DIE  ? 

ACCORDING  to  the  poem  the  Comparini  had  at  least  two  homes  in  or 
about  Rome  :  one  in  the  Via  Vittoria,  '  the  aspectable  street  where 
they  lived  mainly  ',  and  another,  a  villa  '  of  less  pretension,  meant 
for  jaunts  and  jollity  ',  in  what  is  described  as  the  '  Pauline  district  ' 
(II.  202-7). 

The  Via  Vittoria  is  a  well-known  street,  aspectable  and  respectable, 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  city  ;  it  runs  from  the  Corso  to  the  Via 
del  Babuino,  which  it  joins  near  the  Piazza  di  Spagna.  It  is  in  this 
street  that  Browning  puts  all  the  incidents  of  the  home-life  of  the 
Comparini  before  they  left  Rome  for  Arezzo,  and  it  was  to  this  street 
that  they  returned  later  on. 

The  villa  in  the  Pauline  district  is  described  by  the  poet  in  several 
places.  He  says  that  it  '  lurks  by  the  gate  at  Via  Paulina  '  (II.  1365- 
1366),  that  it  is  '  solitary  ',  4  in  a  lone  garden-  quarter  '  (I.  604-5,  III. 
1596,  IV.  1369),  that  it  is  '  smothered  up  in  vines  ',  that  it  is  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  mill  and  grange  and  cottage  and  shed  (IV.  1394), 
that  it  is  '  out  of  eye-reach,  out  of  ear-shot  ',  '  at  the  town's  edge  by 
the  gate  i'  the  Pauline  way  '  (V.  1335-7).  He  seems  to  have  placed  it 
close  to  the  Porta  S.  Paolo  and  just  inside  that  gate  lt  near  the 
famous  Pyramid  of  Cestius.  According  to  the  poem  it  was  to  this 
villa,  at  the  extreme  south  of  the  city,  that  Pompilia  was  taken  in 
October  1697  when  she  left  the  Scalette  ;  it  was  to  this  villa  that 
Guido  and  his  companions  '  felt  their  way  across  the  town  bv  blind 
cuts  and  black  turns  '  (III.  1594-5)  from  the  Abate's  villa  beyond 
the  northern  gate,  and  it  was  here  that  they  hacked  their  victims. 

A  passage  in  Book  VII.  (233-8)  suggests  that  the  Comparini  had 
yet  another  home.  Pietro  is  there  represented  as  contemplating, 

That  he  placed  it  wwide  the  gate  appears  from  VII.  233-8,  where  Pietro  is 
er  villa'  (see  below)  because  it  is  'outside  the 


represented  M  puiming  'the  other  villa'  ( 
eity  gate*. 

279 


280  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

after  Pompilia's  confinement,  a  move  to  '  the  other  villa,  we  know 
where,  still  farther  off '  ;  such  a  move,  he  thought,  would  be  good 
for  the  infant  Gaetano,  who  would  '  grow  fast  in  the  good  air ',  and 
it  would  have  another  advantage — '  wood  is  cheap  and  wine  sincere 
outside  the  city  gate '  (see  note  on  VII.  238). 

Let  us,  however,  ignore  this  second  villa  and  possibly  third  home  ; 
even  a  second  home  is  something  of  a  puzzle.  We  are  told  of  the 
villa  in  Via  Paulina  that  Pietro  had  '  bought  it  betimes ',  and  that  he 
was  in  occupation  both  of  it  and  of  the  house  in  Via  Vittoria  before 
the  family  went,  in  1693,  with  Guido  to  Arezzo  (II.  201-7,  475-6). 
Can  this  have  been  so  ?  Though  his  will,  made  in  1695  (0.  Y.B. 
clxxxvi.,  E.L.  191),  shows  that  in  that  year  he  still  had  property  to 
bequeath  (0.  Y.B.  clvi.-vii.,  E.L.  161),  he  had,  according  to  one  of  our 
authorities,  been  reduced  to  such  straits  in  1693  that  he  was  then  a 
povero  vergognoso  receiving  a  monthly  pittance  from  the  Apostolic 
Palace  (0.  Y.B.  cxli.,  E.L.  145)  \  In  1697,  after  some  of  his  property 
had  fallen  into  Guide's  hands,  he  found  himself  engaged  in  three 
protracted  lawsuits,  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  this  '  easy  careless 
man ',  who  followed  no  profession  or  trade,  can  have  kept  up  a  villa 
as  well  as  a  town-house.  The  shrewd  and  masterful  Violante  would 
surely  have  insisted  on  his  selling  or  letting  one  or  the  other. 

The  records  say  very  little  about  the  Comparini's  home  or  homes. 
The  only  evidence  to  be  found  there  for  the  house  in  Via  Vittoria  is 
the  address  of  a  letter  written,  or  alleged  to  have  been  written,  by 
Pompilia  on  May  3  [1697],  from  the  prison  at  Castelnuovo  ;  Al  Sig. 
Pietro  Comparini  mio  Padre  alia  strada  Vittoria.  Roma  (O.Y.B.  clvi., 
E.L.  160).  The  only  evidence  for  a  house  in  '  the  Pauline  district ' 
is  the  Obligatio  of  Pompilia,  when  released  from  the  Scalette  in  the 
following  October,  to  keep  to  Pietro's  house  as  a  prison  ;  his  house 
is  there  stated  to  be  sita  in  via  Paulina  (O.Y.B.  civ.,  E.L.  159). 

Now  there  was  at  least  one  Via  (or  Strada)  Paolina  in  the  heart  of 
Rome,  and  Browning  might  have  identified  the  Via  Paulina  of  the 
Obligatio  with  it.  His  reason  for  placing  it  in  a  solitary  suburban 
quarter  was  probably  because  a  lonely  villa  commended  itself  to  him 
as  a  more  suitable  scene  for  the  murders  2.  The  records  nowhere 
suggest  that  they  were  committed  in  such  a  villa ;  the  smothering 
vines,  the  neighbouring  mills  and  granges  and  sheds  were  the  poet's 
*  fancy  added  to  the  fact ',  or  rather,  as  we  shall  see,  substituted 
for  it. 

The  truth  about  the  Via  Paulina  home  has  been  discovered,  with  a 
close  approach  to  certainty,  by  Sir  Frederick  Treves.  Maps  and 

1  See,  however,  the  note  on  IV.  111. 

2  See  the  expostulation  which  Pompilia  dreams  that  her  son  might  in  times 
to  come  address  to  her  (VII.  216-18) : 

Poor  imprudent  child  1 

Why  did  you  venture  out  of  the  safe  street  ? 
Why  go  so  far  from  help  to  that  lone  house  ? 


APP.  11.— HOMES  OF  THE  COMPARINI    281 

plans  <»f  the  period  show  that  the  Via  del  Baltiiino,  into  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  tin-  Via  Vittoria  runs  from  the  Corso,  was  then  officially 
styled  Strada  Paolina.  .Winning  that  the  Via  del  Babuino  is  the 
Via  Paulina  of  1'ompilia's  bond1,  Sir  Frederick  concludes  that  the 
Via  Paulina  house  and  the  Via  Vittoria  house  were  one  and  the  same, 
a  house  at  the  corner  where  the  two  streets  meet  and  therefore 
describable  as  in  either  of  them  2.  Given  their  identity  the  only 
possible  alternatives  to  this  conclusion  are,  either  that  the  Comparini 
occupied  at  the  same  time  two  houses  in  adjacent  streets,  or  that 
between  May  and  October  1697  they  migrated  from  a  house  in  one  of 
these  streets  to  a  house  in  the  other.  The  first  of  these  alternatives 
is  absurd,  and  the  second  (like  the  first)  finds  no  support  in  the  Old 
Yellow  Book. 

The  validity  of  the  Treves  theory  is  confirmed  when  we  examine 
the  evidence  for  the  scene  of  the  murders.  The  exposure  of  the 
bodies  of  the  Comparini  in  the  church  of  San  Lorenzo  in  Lucina 
(0.  Y.B.  213,  E.L.  265)  makes  it  probable  that  they  were  murdered  in 
or  near  that  parish.  Now  entries  in  the  church's  Register  of  Deaths 
record,  under  date  January  3,  1698,  that  the  victims  '  died  of  certain 
wounds  in  the  house  where  they  lived  in  the  Strada  Paolina ',  and 
the  only  Strada  Paolina  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  church  was  the 
Via  del  Babuino. 

Of  the  scene  of  Pompilia's  death  Browning  gives  two  different 
accounts.  According  to  his  '  Other  Half- Rome '  she  died  '  in  the 
long  white  lazar-house  .  .  .  Saint  Anna's '  (III.  35-7) ;  according 
to  his  Pope  (X.  1504-6)  and  his  Bottini  (XII.  676),  in  the  Monastery 
(of  St.  Mary  Magdalene)  of  the  Convertites.  The  '  lazar-house  '  was 
suggested  to  the  poet  by  the  fact  that  Fra  Celestino  Angelo,  to  whom 
Pompilia  made  confession  on  her  death-bed,  described  himself  as 
1  of  S.  Anna  '  ?  ;  the  Monastery  of  the  Convertites  by  his  belief  that 
the  claim  of  that  institution  to  Pompilia's  property  was  based  on  the 
ground  that  she  was  a  loose  woman  who  had  died  within  its  walls 
(XII.  678-80). 

The  first  identification  was  the  merest  guess,  and  if  Sir  Frederick 
Treves  is  right  in  saying  that  *  no  such  house  [as  a  hospital  of  Saint 
Anna]  had  any  existence '  (Treves,  p.  76)  it  was  not  a  happy  one. 
As  to  the  Convertites,  Browning  seems  to  have  been  mistaken  about 
their  i-laim.  It  was  based  apparently  on  a  general  right  of  the 
Monastery  to  inherit  the  property  of  loose  women  who  died  within 
the  city  ;  our  records  do  not  suggest  that  this  right  was  limited  as  the 
poet  represents  (O.Y.B.  cxxx.,  cclix.  seqq.,  E.L.  137,  252seqq.). — The 

1  There  is  a  Via  Paulina  to-day  near  S.  Maria  Maggiore  ;  I  do  not  know  whether 

Hi  1-3,  and  Illustration  106. 

<>.}'. II.  hiii..  /../..  58-0.  I  ra  <  .-l—tiiio  is  also  described  (O.Y.B.  lix.)  as  of 
Gies'i  mi'!  Maria.  The  iii<>th.-r-hc>u>r  of  tin-  At/<t*tini<i>ii  >v,;/-i  (I. are- footed 
Aii-ii-tiiiians)  to  which  community  Cekctino  belonged  is  at  the  church  of  that 
name  in  the  Corso,  near  tin-  Via  Vittoria. 


282  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

real  scene  of  Pompilia's  death  is  fixed  by  the  San  Lorenzo  Register  : 
mori  nella  casa  dove  abitava  alia  strada  paolina  (0.  Y.B.  322  ;  Treves, 
p.  300). — In  VII.  27  Browning  represents  her  as  expressing  a  hope  that 
she  would  be  buried  at  '  the  proper  church  ',  her  own  San  Lorenzo  ; 
the  Register  shows  that  if  she  had  such  a  hope  it  was  fulfilled  : 
fu  septa  [seppellita  or  sepolta]  in  qa  na  [questa  nostra]  Chiesa. 


APPENDIX  III 

WHEN  WERE  THE  COMPARINI  AT  AREZZO  ? 
i 

IT  is  stated  repeatedly  in  the  poem  that  the  Comparing  Pietro  and 
Violante,  were  at  Arezzo  for  four  months  (II.  504,  III.  522,  V.  617, 
XI.  1195)  L ;  these  statements  are  based  on  the  deposition  of 
Pompilia  (O.Y.B.  Ixxxiii.,  E.L.  91),  and  are  consistent  with  the 
'  a  few  months  '  of  the  Second  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (0.  Y.B.  ccxi., 
E.L.  213)  and  of  Bottini  (O.Y.B.  Ixix.,  E.L.  76).  As  we  read  the 
story  we  nnd  that,  if  we  are  to  follow  it  intelligently,  we  must  answer 
the  question,  When  did  the  four  months  begin  and  end  ? 

There  is  evidence  that  they  ended  early  in  April  1694.  Two 
letters  written  to  Pietro  by  residents  in  Arezzo  2  imply  that  he  and 
Violante  left  the  town  very  shortly  before  the  Palin  Sunday  of  that 
year  (0.  Y.B.  liv.,  E.L.  54-5).  Palm  Sunday  in  1694  was  April  11,  so 
that,  if  what  the  letters  imply  was  the  fact,  the  four  months  must 
have  begun  early  in  December  1693. 

This  conclusion,  however,  cannot  be  reconciled  with  other  state- 
ments in  the  records.  The  Secondary  Source,  it  is  true,  says  that, 
the  marriage  having  taken  place  '  during  December  ',  the  Comparini 
went  off  to  Arezzo  with  the  newly  married  pair  '  in  the  same 
December'  (O.Y.B.  209,  E.L.  259-60),  but  Pompilia  deposed  that 
it  was  not  till  two  months  after  the  marriage  that  she  and  the  others 
left  Rome  (0.  Y.B.  Ixxxii. :  doppo  essere  stata  sposata 3  al  medemo  [i.e. 
to  Guido],  si  trattenne  in  Roma  per  lo  spatio  di  due  mesi  senza  con- 
sumare  il  matritnonio,  e  passato  d.  tempo,  fui  condotla  assieme  colli 
sodetti  [i.e.  the  Comparini]  dal  sodetto  mio  marito  in  Arezzo).  If 
Pompilia  was  married  in  December  and  stayed  at  Rome  for  tw~o 
months  afterwards,  we  must  conclude  that  the  party  went  to  Arezzo 
in  February  1694,  and  that  the  Comparini  did  not  return  to  Rome  till 
the  following  June. 


1  In  one  place  (IV.  568)  it  is  suggested  that  their  stay  was  very  slightly  longer. 

2  The  letters  are  undated,  but  they  were  clearly  written  soon  after  Pietro's 
departure. 

•••Hsur  Hodell  translates  sposata  by  'engaged  ',  which  is  of  course  a  mistake 
(see  E.L.  91) ;  note  the  words  in  the  O.Y.B.  which  precede  those  quoted. 

283 


284  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Which  (if  either)  of  these  conflicting  conclusions  are  we  to  accept  ? 
As  they  both  follow  from  statements  in  the  records  it  is  obvious  that 
one  (or  more)  of  those  statements  must  be  inaccurate.  Fortunately 
it  is  possible  to  say  where  the  inaccuracy  lies. 

When  Sir  Frederick  Treves  was  collecting  materials  for  his  most 
valuable  work  on  The  Country  of  '  The  Ring  and  the  Book ',  he 
examined  the  marriage -register  of  the  church  of  San  Lorenzo.  He 
found  there  evidence  of  much  importance  to  the  story  in  more  than 
one  way  1,  and  he  found  inter  alia  that  Pompilia  was  married,  not,  as 
the  Secondary  Source  says,  in  December  1693,  but  three  months 
earlier,  on  September  6 2.  With  the  discovery  of  this  fact  all 
difficulty  disappears,  the  chronology  becomes  clear  3 : 

September  6,  1693.     The  Marriage. 

Early  in  December,  1693.     The  Departure  to  Arezzo. 

Early  in  April,  1694.     The  Return  of  the  Comparini  to  Rome. 

Browning  took  as  his  starting-point  the  mistaken  statement 
about  the  date  of  the  marriage  which  he  found  in  the  Secondary 
Source,  but  he  aggravated  the  chronological  difficulty  which  that 
statement  involves  by  putting  it  late  in  December  (on  '  December's 
deadest  day '  4,  VII.  426).  He  took  account  of  Pompilia' s  assertion 
that  there  was  an  interval  between  the  marriage  and  the  move ;  he 
makes  three  weeks  pass  after  the  former  event  before  Pietro  is  even 
informed  of  it  (VII.  479).  He  can  hardly,  therefore,  have  dated 
the  move  much  earlier — having  married  Pompilia  on  December  21 
he  should,  in  view  of  what  she  says  about  the  spatio  di  due  mesi,  have 
dated  it  some  weeks  later — than  the  end  of  January.  But  the 
records  told  him  that  he  must  give  the  Comparini  a  full  four  months 
in  Arezzo,  and  he  must  have  known  that  he  had  to  get  them  back  to 
Rome  early  in  April.  Placed  in  this  quandary  he  prudently  allowed 
his  time-indications  to  become  extremely  vague. 

1  See  note  on  II.  70. 

2  The  Secondary  Source  was  probably  written,  as  its  concluding  sentence 
suggests,  some  years  after  the  events  which  it  narrates  ;    Mrs.  Orr's  statement 
(Handbook,  p.  83)  that  it  was  '  published  immediately  after  the  Count's  execution  ' 
has  no  warrant. 

3  I  assume  that  Pompilia's  due  mesi  should  have  been  ire. 

4  Professor  Hall  Griffin  (Life,  p.  312)  says  that  Browning  put  the  marriage  in 
December  '  for  artistic  reasons  ' — "  one  dim  end  of  a  December  day  "  (III.  449) 
— on  account  of  the  gloom  associated  with  it'.     He  should  have  said  '  late  in 
December '  ;   in  putting  it  in  December  Browning  simply  followed  his  Secondary 
Source. 


APPENDIX  IV 
COULD  POMPILIA  WRITE  ? 

THE  poet  always  maintained  that,  while  breathing  his  own  breath 
into  the  lifeless  facts  which  he  found  in  the  Yellow  Book,  he  accepted 
them  as  facts  ;  he  declared  for  instance  that  his  Pompilia  was  both  in 
speech  and  act  the  Pompilia  of  the  Book  l.  Now  that  the  Book  is 
in  our  hands  the  statement  challenges  examination  ;  we  can  hardly 
help  asking,  Is  the  Pompilia  here  depicted  as  noble  and  as  spotless 
as  the  poet's  heroine  ?  and  more  particularly,  Is  she  so  transparently 
truthful  ? 

In  this  Appendix  I  propose  to  test  her  veracity  in  a  matter  of  great 
importance  to  the  story.  She  declared  on  oath  in  May  1697  that 
she  could  not  write.  If  we  can  find  good  reason  for  believing  that 
declaration,  she  is  cleared  at  once  from  the  damaging  charges  based 
on  the  letteis  sent  to  the  Abate  Paolo  in  the  summer  of  1694  and  on 
the  love-letters  composed  in  the  spring  of  1697  2 ;  but,  if  we  are 
driven  to  disbelieve  it,  it  becomes,  not  certain  indeed  nor  even  in  my 
judgment  at  all  probable  8,  but  at  any  rate  not  impossible  that  she 

1  See  Appendix  V. 

2  The  Paolo-letters  are  printed  in  O.Y.B.  lv.,  Ixxxvi.,  E.L.  56-7,  95,  the  love- 
letters  in  O.y.Il.  xcii.-xcix.,  E'.L.  99-106.    The  comments  made  upon  them  by 
the  lawyers  and  the  pamphleteers  are  repeated  and  expanded  in  the  poem  ;    for 
the    Paolo-letters   see  II.  684-725,    III.   738-71,  1315-16,  IV.  767-86,    V.  834-67, 
VIII.  157-98,  IX.  807-38;    for   the   love-letters  see   II.    1068-7«.  11:26-47.   IV. 
1032-59,    V.   1133-62,    VI.    510-19,  557-74,    1650-73,    VII.    175-79,    IX.    538-47, 
\.  (.47-56.     Some  of  these  passages  might  have  been  excised  or  abridged  with 
advantage. 

3  The  two  Paolo-letters  were  probably  faked  ;    their  contents  are  such  that 
Pompilia  can  hardly  have  written  tin-in.     They  are  inconsistent  with  her  actions  ; 
her  explanation  of  the  mode  of  their  production  (by  Ghrido)  is  quite  credible; 
the  more  important  letter  was  put  in.  durinu  the  murder-trial,  l»>i  the  prosecution, 
obvion.slv  as  ilamaL'inir,  not  to  Pompilia.  but  to  (iuido  :    (Juido  had  an  obvious 
motive  for  composing  them  in  Pompilia's  name,  for  rumours  of  his  ill-treatment 
of  her  had  aroused  in  Paolo's  mind  a  disquiet  which  he  would  desire  to  remove 
(see  O.Y.B.  ccxlviii.,    /  >n<l.  linally,  we  are  told  by  Bottini.  and  his 
assertion  is  nowhere  eontradicted.  that  at  least  one  of  them  ha  :  'irned 
by  the  judges'  ts/,r,t<i  ,i  Dl>.  hi, lie ilmx)  in  the  previous  trial  (O.Y.li.  elxxii..  /•:./.. 

The  authenticity  of  the  love-letters  is  also  very  doubtful.  Those  which 
were  attributed  to  I'oiiipilia-  the  majority — prove  that  the  writer  was.  what  she 
can  hardly  have  been,  \\ell  versed  in  classical  literature;  all  knowledge  of  them 


286  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

wrote  those  letters,  and  (what  is  more  important)  all  her  evidence, 
except  when  corroborated,  becomes  suspect.  What  answer,  then,  to 
our  question,  Could  Pompilia  write  ?  does  the  Yellow  Book  suggest  ? 

I.  Pompilia' s  statements  on  the  subject  are  as  follows : — 

(a)  In  her  first  examination  in  the  Process  of  Flight,  on  May  13, 
1697,  she  deposed :    '  About  a  month  ago  (vn  mese  fa  in  circa l) 
I  went  for  confession  [at  Arezzo]  to  an  Augustinian  Father  whom 
they  called  the  Roman,  and  told  him  of  all  my  sorrows,  praying  him 
to  write  to  my  father  in  my  name  because  I  cannot  write  (non  so 
scriuere),  and  to  represent  to  him  that  I  was  in  despair  .  .  .  '  (0.  Y.B. 
Ivi.,  Ixxxiv.,  E.L.  92). 

(b)  In  further  examination,  on  May2  21,  1697  :  'While  I  was  at 
Arezzo  I  wrote  at  my  husband's  instance  [in  June  1694]  to  the  Abate 
Franceschini,  my  brother-in-law  here  at  Rome  ;    and  because  I 
could  not  write  (non  sapeuo  scriuere)  my  husband  wrote  the  letter 
with  a  pencil  and  made  me  trace  it  over  with  a  pen.  .  .  .  This 
happened  two  or  three  times '  (0.  Y.B.  liv.,  Ixxxvi.,  E.L.  55,  94). 

(c)  In  the  same  further  examination :    '  The  said  Caponsacchi 
before  the  affair  in  question  (prima  delfatto,  i.e.,  apparently,  before 
the  flight)  did  not  send  me  any  letter,  because  I  cannot  read  manu- 
script and  cannot  write.     Nor  did  I  ever  before  the  said  affair  send 
a  letter  of  any  kind  to  the  said  Caponsacchi'  (0. Y.B.  lxxxv.-vi., 
E.L.  94). 

(d)  In  a  letter  dated  May  3,  [1697],  purporting  to  have  been 
written  from  the  prison  at  Castelnuovo  to  the  Comparini  at  Rome,  and 
produced  in  the  course  of  the  murder-trial :    ' .  .  .  I  sent  you  news 
of  these  things  on  purpose,  but  you  did  not  believe  that  those  letters 
which  I  sent  you  were  written  by  me.     But  I  tell  you  that  I  finished 
learning  to  write  at  Arezzo.  .  .  .  The  bearer  of  this  letter  was 
moved  by  compassion  and  gave  me  the  paper  and  what  else  was 
necessary.     So  come  here  to  Castelnuovo  as  soon  as  you  have  read 
this  letter  of  mine  '  (O.Y.B.  clvi.,  E.L.  160). 

II.  Caponsacchi,  who  denied  on  oath  that  he  either  received  or 
wrote  any  Zove-letters,  admitted  that  he  received  letters,  which  he 
supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Pompilia,  about  the  proposed 

was  denied  by  Caponsacchi,  who  declared  that  the  handwriting  of  one  assigned 
to  him  bore  no  resemblance  to  his  own  ;  and  Guido's  account  of  their  discovery 
does  not,  to  say  the  least,  carry  conviction. — It  would  therefore  be  impossible 
to  argue  that  the  existence  of  either  of  these  sets  of  letters  proves  that  Pompilia 
could  write. 

1  Professor  Hodell  translates  the  words  by  '  about  a  month  later '  (later,  he 
seems  to  understand,  than  '  the  beginning  of  these  troubles  ')•  They  surely  mean 
'  about  a  month  ago ',  and  fix  Pompilia's  assertion  non  so  scriuere  to  the  time  of 
the  approaching  end  of  these  troubles,  i.e.  to  April  1697. — The  Professor  makes  a 
serious  slip  when  he  translates  (E.L.  92)  the  marginal  comment  peierat  ('  she 
perjures  herself  ')  asserens  nescire  scribere  by  '  she  died  asserting  that  she  did  not 
know  how  to  write '  ;  perhaps  he  mis-read  peierat  as  perierat.  There  is,  by  the 
way,  no  evidence  that  Pompilia  said  anything  on  her  death-bed  about  her  ability 
or  inability  to  write. 

»  The  Martii  of  the  document  is  clearly  a  slip  for  Mali. 


A  PP.  IV.—  COULD  POM  PI  LI  A  WRITE?     287 

flight.  The  first  of  these,  lie  said,  was  brought  him  by  the  servant 
Maria,  the  others  were  thrown  down  by  Pompilia  from  her  window  ; 
his  earlier  answers  were  given  to  the  servant,  those  to  Pompilia'  s  last 
two  appeals  were  respectively  (1)  drawn  up  by  Pompilia  to  her 
window  by  a  string,  and  (2)  given  by  word  of  mouth  as  he  was 
walking  in  the  street  and  she  was  standing  at  that  window  (0.  Y.B. 
lxxxviii.-ix.,  E.L.  96). 

III.  Guide's  advocates  do  not  (I  think)  mention  the  Castelnuovo 
letter  (I.  (d)  above)  but  they  maintain  the  authenticity  of  the  other 
letters  attributed  to  Pompilia  and  stigmatize  her  non  so  scriuere  as  a  lie 
and  a  perjury  (see  e.g.  O.  Y.B.  Ixxxiv.,  Ixxxvi.,  E.L.  92,  94).  To  justify 
this  harsh  judgment  Arcangeli  cites  the  fact  (if  it  is  a  fact)  that  she 
recognized  her  signature  at  the  command  of  the  Court  (O.  Y.B.  civ., 
E.L.  112);    it  was,  he  says,  appended  to  her  marriage-agreement, 
'  about  the  truth  of  which  it  is  monstrous  to  dispute,  because,  for 
one  reason,  the  signature  of  one  of  the  cardinals  is  also  thereto 
appended  '.     This  latter  point  is  also  made  in  the  pro-Guido  First 
Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.  Y.B.  cxlvi.,  E.L.  150). 

IV.  The  anti-Guido  lawyers,  who,  we  should  remember,  were  not 
n  i  •<•<  \ssarily  advocates  for  Pompilia,  do  not  seriously  argue  that  she 
could  not  write,     (a)  When  he  deals  with  the  Arezzo  love-  and 
flight-letters,  Bottini's  case  is,  firstly,  that  they  have  not  been 
proved  to  be  in  her  handwriting  ;    secondly,  that  she  repudiated 
them  ;  thirdly,  that  even  if  she  wrote  them  they  are  consistent  with 
her   innocence   (O.Y.B.   Ixxiii.,    clxxv.,   E.L.    80,    182).     (6)  With 
respect  to  the  principal  letter  to  Paolo,  he  argues  that  its  tenor 
shows  it  to  be  a  forgery,  or  alternatively  that  Pompilia  wrote  it 
under  compulsion  (O.Y.B.  Ixxi..  <  •Ixxii.-iii.,  E.L.  77,  179-80).     (c) 
He  dcfcs  not  dispute  the  genuineness  of  the  Castelnuovo  letter  ; 
indeed   he  uses  it  in  support  of  the  opinion  that  she  may  have 
written  the  flight-letters  (O.Y.B.  clxxiii.-iv.,  E.L.  180). 

V.  Lamparelli,  who,   unlike   Bottini,  was  solely  concerned    to 
restore  Pompilia's  '  good  name  and  fame  ',  (a)  argues  as  he  does  about 
the  love-  and  flight-letters  (O.Y.B.  ccl.,  E.L.  247).     (6)  He  notes 
that  she  asserted  that  she  could  not  write  at  the  time  when  the 
principal  Paolo-letter  was  written  ;  but  his  denial  of  its  authenticity 
is  based,  like  Bottini's,  on  other  grounds  (O.Y.B.  ccxlvii.,  E.L.  244). 
(c)  To  the  Castelnuovo  letter  he  does  not  allude. 


Such  is  the  evidence  of  the  Yellow  Book  ;  what  conclusion  must 
we  draw  from  it  ? 

In  attempting  an  answer  I  need  not  linger  over  II.  and  III. 
Caponsacchi's  statements  (II.)  are  not  always  n  •<  -<>in  -ilal)l<-  with 
Pompilia's  under  I.  (c),  but  for  our  present  purpose  they  are  of 
secondary  importance  l.  The  suggestion  that  Pompilia  could  not 


1  I  speak  of  the  discrepancies  and  of  their  significance  in  Appendix  V. 


288  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

write  surprised  him,  but  he  had,  he  said,  no  certain  knowledge  on  that 
matter  (0.  Y.B.  xc.,  E.L.  97).  The  statements  of  Guide's  advocates 
(III.)  concern  us  even  less.  They  were  bound  to  maintain  that  the 
Arezzo  letters  were  genuine,  and  the  only  proof  they  offer  of  their 
authenticity  is  that  Pompilia  could  sign  her  name,  but  you  cannot 
necessarily  write  letters  because  you  can  do  that. 

The  evidence  of  IV.  and  V.  is  of  more  significance  ;  it  is  strange 
that  Bottini,  and  still  more  strange  that  Lamparelli,  did  not  firmly 
maintain  that  Pompilia  was  illiterate  ;  they  would  hardly,  perhaps, 
have  withdrawn  from  so  important  a  position  if  it  had  really  been 
tenable  against  attack.  It  is,  however,  on  Pompilia's  own  evidence 
(I.)  that  we  must  chiefly  depend  for  an  answer  to  our  question.  Of 
this  I.  we  must  lay  no  stress  on  what  is  stated  under  (b) ;  the  fact 
(if  fact  it  is)  that  she  could  not  write  in  1694  does  not  establish  her 
alleged  inability  in  1697.  Confining  our  attention,  therefore,  to 
(a)  (c)  and  (d)  we  note  that  on  May  13  and  May  21,  1697,  Pompilia, 
when  under  examination  upon  her  oath,  gave  '  I  cannot  write  '  as 
her  reason  for  having  enlisted  an  amanuensis  to  write  a  letter  for 
her  in  the  previous  month,  and  as  a  proof  of  the  impossibility  of  her 
having  corresponded  with  Caponsacchi.  Yet  a  few  months  later, 
in  January  or  February  1698  (after  Pompilia's  death),  a  letter 
signed  with  her  name  was  produced  in  Court,  and  the  date  it  bears — 
May  3,  [1697] — was  several  days  earlier  than  the  dates  of  her  re- 
iterated asseverations  of  illiteracy.  The  letter,  which  is  of  some 
length  and  not  that  of  a  tiro,  states  that  the  writer  had  previously 
written  in  her  own  hand  to  the  same  correspondent ;  it  explains 
that  she  had  finished  learning  to  write  before  she  left  Arezzo  x. 
If  this  letter  of  May  3  was  really  written  by  Pompilia,  we  are  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  she  gave  false  evidence  ;  we  must  agree  with 
the  marginal  commentator,  peierat  asserens  nescire  scribere. 

Is  its  genuineness  doubtful  ?  When  it  was  put  in  the  Court  was 
told  that  it  had  been  found,  after  Pompilia's  death,  inter  domesticas 
scripturas  2,  i.e.,  I  suppose,  among  papers  found  in  the  Comparini's 
house.  Guido's  craft  and  wickedness  may  have  known  no  bounds, 
but  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  he  forged  it.  He  cannot  have  done 
so  before  Pompilia's  imprisonment  at  Castelnuovo,  for  the  letter 
assumes  that  circumstance  and  it  could  not  have  been  foreseen  ; 
and  he  can  hardly  have  had  an  opportunity  afterwards  of  inserting 
anything  among  the  domesticae  scripturae.  Nor  would  he  in  any 
case  have  forged  such  a  letter  as  this,  for  its  contents  show  that  the 
question  cui  profuerit  ?  3  ('  who  stood  to  gam  by  it  ?  ')  could  not  have 
been  answered  by  Guidoni  ;  it  gives  a  plausible  and  an  innocent 
explanation  of  the  flight.  The  letter  was  put  in  by  the  Fisc,  i.e.  by 
the  anti-Guido  lawyers,  and  its  authenticity  was  disputed  by  no  one, 


1  Pompilia  left  Arezzo  on  the  night  of  April  29-30,  1697. 
2  O.T.B,  clxxvi.,  E.L.  180.  »  See  note  on  IV.  1054. 


APP.  IV.— COULD  POM  PI  LI  A  WRITE?      289 

not  even  by  Lamparelli,  the  champion  of  1'ompilia's  good  name. 
It  may  be  objected  that  Pompilia  herself  had  no  opportunity  of 
repudiating  it,  for  (as  I  have  said)  it  was  not  produced 'till  after  her 
death  ;  but  this  fact  hardly  detracts  from  the  cogency  of  the  proof 
t  hat  it  was  hers. 

The  letter  of  May  3  u-  not,  I  think,  adroitly  handled  in  the  poem. 
It  was  Browning's  concern,  even  more  than  Lamparelli's,  to  '  saint 
I'ompilia  ' l ;  he  should  either  have  ignored  the  letter  or  explained 
it  away.  The  former  alternative  would  have  been  inconsistent  with 
his  practice,  for  he  rarely  ignored  what  he  found  in  his  Yellow  Book  ; 
and  he  does  not  adopt  it.  It  is  true  that  his  Pompilia,  who  (unlike 
the  real  Pompilia)  professes  illiteracy  on  her  death-bed  '-,  makes  no 
mention  of  this  letter  ;  but  Browning  brings  it  to  our  notice  in  Book 
IX.3.  Having  done  so  he  should  surely  have  offered  some  suggestion 
which  would  have  enabled  his  readers,  the  letter  notwithstanding, 
to  share  his  belief  in  his  heroine's  absolute  veracity  ;  but  he  offers 
none.  No  doubt  in  Book  IX.  his  mind  is  fully  occupied,  not  by  the 
task  of  clearing  Pompilia,  but  by  that  of  caricaturing  Bottini.  The 
real  Bottini,  in  a  somewhat  hazy  paragraph  4,  admitted  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  letter  without  question,  and  was  therefore  inclined  to 
admit  also  the  genuineness  of  the  later  Arezzo  letters  ;  he  suggested 
that  Pompilia  learnt  to  write  during  her  last  days  there,  '  despair 
sharpening  her  wits  '  (desperatione  ingenium  acuente).  Fixing  on  this 
last  phrase  Browning  proceeded  to  provide  his  readers  with  some 
delightful  entertainment ;  he  made  the  advocate  illustrate  Pompilia's 
sudden  acquirement,  under  the  pressure  of  necessity,  of  an  un- 
familiar art  by  the  lines  in  which  Persius  speaks  of  parrots  and 
magpies  learning  to  speak,  and  poetasters  to  poetize,  under  the 
stimulus  of  hunger  6.  He  represented  him  as  going  on,  more  suo,  to 
deny  pro  forma  the  authenticity  of  the  Castelnuovo  letter,  which,  he 
explains,  was  forged  by  Guido  ;  but  the  denial  and  the  explanation 
are  hardly  intended  to  be  convincing,  and  they  do  not  convince.* 
The  poet  should  have  come  to  Pompilia's  rescue  ;  he  should  have 
made  a  serious  attempt,  elsewhere  if  not  in  Book  IX.,  to  clear  his 
heroine  from  the  stain  which  the  letter,  introduced  but  unexplained, 
casts  upon  her  voracity,  just  as  he  attempts,  most  ingeniously,  to 
show  that  her  incorrect  statement  about  the  time  of  her  arrival  at 
the  Castelnuovo  inn  was  no  falsehood,  but  an  innocent  and  natural 
mistake  7. 

i  XII.  710. 

1287,  1490;  of.  VII.  691,  1124,  VI.  726. 

I  •*  O.Y.B.  clxxiii.-iv.,  E.L.  180. 

I  \.   l  ts-68.  «  See  the  last  paragraph. 

note  mi  vir.  1580-84.    Fora  reason  given  at  the  end  of  Appendix  V.  I 
do  nut  think  that  liN  attempt  is  successful.. 


APPENDIX  V 

THE  MONOLOGUES  AND  THE  DEPOSITIONS  l  OF 
CAPONSACCHI  AND  POMPILIA 

IN  the  monologues  of  Books  VI.  and  VII.  Caponsacchi  and  Pompilia 
when  dealing  with  the  same  group  of  facts  often  lay  stress  on  different 
incidents ;  indeed  one  of  them  may  sometimes  "entirely  ignore  an 
incident  of  which  the  other  gives  a  full  description.  Which  is  as 
it  should  be  ;  such  differences  are  natural  in  themselves,  are  often 
characteristic  of  the  speakers,  add  variety  to  the  poem.  Meanwhile 
the  two  monologues,  so  far  as  they  cover  the  same  ground,  tell  us 
a  substantially  identical  tale ;  they  are  not  only  self-consistent 
separately,  they  are  consistent  with  one  another. 

When,  however,  we  compare  them  with  the  two  depositions  on 
which  they  profess  to  be  based,  or  the  two  depositions  with  one 
another,  we  find  no  such  consistency.  I  propose  in  this  Appendix 
to  notice  (I.)  discrepancies  between  the  depositions ;  (II.)  discrepancies 
between  Caponsacchi's,  and  (III.)  between  Pompilia's,  deposition  and 
monologue  ;  and  to  offer  (IV. )  some  observations  on  the  significance 
of  all  these  discrepancies. 

I.  Discrepancies  between  the  depositions,  (a)  According  to 
Pompilia  she  had  at  least  tliree  conversations  with  Canpnsacchi 
about  the  proposed  flight  before  the  last  day  which  they  spent  at 
Arezzo  ;  according  to  Caponsacchi  there  were  no  conversations  between 
them  on  any  subject  whatever  before  that  day.  (6)  Caponsacchi 
speaks  of  Pompilia  standing  at  her  window,  throwing  down  letters 
to  him  and  drawing  up  letters  from  him  ;  Pompilia  denies  that  any 
such  letters  passed  ;  none,  she  says,  were  written,  because  she  could 
not  read  manuscript  and  could  not  write,  (c)  According  to  Capon- 
sacchi the  final  arrangements  for  the  flight  were  made  by  conversa- 
tion, according  to  Pompilia  by  a  signal,  (d)  Pompilia  says  that  on 
April  29  she  came  downstairs  at  dawn,  met  Caponsacchi,  and  went 
with  him  on  foot  from  the  house  to  the  San  Spirito  gate,  where  a 

1  For  these  depositions  see  O.Y.B.  Ivi.-lvii.,  lxxxii.-vi.,  Ixxxviii.-xci. ;  E.L.  57, 
90-98? 

290 


APP.  V.—CAPONSAGCHI  AND  POMP1LIA       291 

carriage  awaited  them  ;  CapODBaoohi  says  that  1'nmpilia  came  alone 
at  1  A.M.  to  tin-  San  Clemente  gate,  where  he  was  waiting  with  1  he 
carriage.  ('•)  Pompilia  affirms  and  re-affirms  that  she  and  her 
companion  reached  the  Castelnuovo  inn  at  dawn;  Caponsacchi 
deposes  that  they  arrived  there  'in  the  evening'.  (/)  About  the 
time  spent  at  the  inn  the  two  depositions  contradict  one  another 
flatly.  Says  Caponsacchi:  'Because  the  said  Francesca  [  = 
Pompilia]  said  that  she  felt  some  pains  and  had  not  the  spirit  to 
continue  the  journey  without  rest,  she  threw  herself,  dressed  as  she 
\\  as,  on  the  bed  in  a  camera,  and  I,  in  my  clothes  likewise,  lay  down 
on  another  bed  which  there  was  in  the  same  camera,  telling  the  inn- 
keeper to  call  us  after  three  or  four  hours.  .  .  .  But  he  did  not  call 
us,  and  the  said  Francesca's  husband  arrived  on  the  scene  in  the 
mean-time'.  Says  Pompilia:  'We  stopped1  at  the  inn  for  the 
space  of  more  than  an  hour,  and  during  this  time  we  stayed  in  a  sala 
upstairs.  ...  I  did  not  go  to  sleep  nor  lie  down  to  rest  ,  .  .  during 
the  time  I  stopped  there '.  And  when  it  is  suggested  to  her  that 
Caponsacchi's  story  is  the  true  one  she  sticks  to  her  own. 

II.  Discrepancies    between    Caponsacchi' 's    monologue    and    his 
deposition,     (a)  The  deposition  denies,  the  monologue  asserts  ?,  that 
love-letters,  purporting  to  come  from  Pompilia,  were  brought  to 
Caponsacchi  by  the  servant  Maria.     (6)  The  deposition  speaks  of 
a  long  series  of  letters  relating  to  the  flight ;  according  to  the  mono- 
logue there  were  no  such  letters  3.    (c)  The  deposition  denies  by  im- 
plication the  statement  of  the  monologue  4  that  Caponsacchi  was 
for  a  time  inclined  to  go  back  from  his  promise  that  he  would  take 
Pompilia  to  Rome,     (d)  According  to  the  monologue  6  Caponsacchi 
'  paced  the  passage,  kept  watch  all  night  long ',  at  Castelnuovo, 
and  was  in  the  courtyard  of  the  inn  when  Guido  arrived  ;  according 
to  the  deposition,  as  we  have  seen  (I.  (/))  he  slept  (and  over-slept)  in 
the  camera  in  which  Pompilia  slept  also,  and  Guido  arrived  while  he 
was  still  there. 

III.  Discrepancies  between  Pompilia's  monologue  and  her  deposi- 
tion,    (a)  In  her  monologue  8  Pompilia  says  most  emphatically  that 
'  the  first  words  I  heard  ever  from  his  [Caponsacchi's]  lips  '  WOK   a 
promise  to  deliver  her,  made  two  days  before  the  flight.     In  her 
deposition  she  speaks  of  a  much  earlier  conversation  with  him  ;   it 
occurred  soon  after  the  theatre-incident  and  resulted  in  his  promising 
not  to  excite  Guide's  suspicions  further  by  passing  along  the  street 
into  which  her  window  looked.     (6)  In  her  monologue  7  she  says 
that  love-letters,   purporting   to  come   from    Caponsacchi,    were 

1  AToi  cifemuusimo  does  not  mean  '  we  shut  ourselves  in  '  as  Hodell  translates. 

2  VI.  506  seqq.    Browning's  ingenious  treatment  of  the  earlier  history  of  the 
love-letters  is  based  on  nothing  in  the  Yellow  Hook. 

I  IK-  liight  was  proposed,  agn-rd  to,  and  arranged,  according  to  the  monologue, 
at  two  interviews  (VI.  701-895,  1063-86). 
*  VI.  974-1062.  *  VI.  1418.  • 

«  VII.  1444.  1  VII.  1118-25,  1149-57. 


292  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

brought  and  read  to  her  by  Maria  ;  in  her  deposition,  as  we  have 
seen  (I.  (&)),  she  says  that  no  such  letters  came,  (c)  In  her  deposition 
(I.  (/))  she  gives  a  detailed  account  of  what  happened  between  her 
arrival  at  dawn  and  her  husband's  arrival  soon  after  at  Castelnuovo  ; 
in  her  monologue  1  she  declares  that  her  mind  is  a  blank  about 
everything  between  the  '  tragical  red  eve  '  of  her  arrival  and  her 
husband's  sudden  appearance  ;  '  the  head  swam  round  ',  she  says  ; 
'  the  bewildered  flesh  sucked  down  all  sense  '. 

IV.  The  significance  of  these  discrepancies.  The  results  of  source- 
study  are  not  always  commensurate  with  the  labour  which  it  in- 
volves, but  an  examination  of  the  sources  of  The  Ring  and  the  Book 
yields  a  rich  return.  The  discrepancies  which  it  reveals  raise  an 
intriguing  problem  by  the  way.  In  conversation  2  and  in  the  poem 
Browning  declared  emphatically  that  though  his  fancy  might  play 
upon  the  facts  of  the  Yellow  Book  he  accepted  them  as  he  found 
them  ;  it  is  a  question  of  great  interest  how  in  the  face  of  such 
discrepancies  as  have  been  noted  under  II.  and  III.  he  could  so 
greatly  exaggerate  his  fidelity  to  his  source.  Their  real  significance, 
however,  lies  elsewhere.  It  might  be  supposed  that  the  revelation 
of  inconsistencies,  either  between  the  depositions  of  Caponsacchi 
and  Pompilia  or  between  Browning  and  those  depositions,  could 
not  increase  our  enjoyment  of  the  poem ;  for  forty  years  3,  it  might 
be  argued,  Books  VI.  and  VII.  stirred  the  minds  and  thrilled  the 
hearts  of  readers  who  were  not  aware  of  the  inconsistencies,  and 
they  will  affect  readers  who  are  aware  of  them  in  precisely  the  same 
way.  They  will,  I  believe,  affect  them  differently  and  more  power- 
fully ;  an  examination  of  the  conflicting  depositions  can  hardly  fail, 
when  they  compare  them  with  these  two  Books,  to  add  immensely 
to  their  admiration  of  Browning's  genius.  It  will  show  them  that 
he  picked  and  chose  and  altered  with  consummate  skill ;  that  for 
everything  that  is  brilliant  or  sublime  in  the  monologues  the  records 
gave  him  but  the  barest  hints  ;  that  the  charm  and  the  nobility  of 
the  finely  contrasted  characters  of  the  hero  and  the  heroine  were 
entirely  his  creation4. 

It  remains  to  enquire  how  far  the  depositions,  together  with  other 
parts  of  the  Yellow  Book,  support  certain  general  conclusions  at 

1  VII.  1571-86.     On  the  statement  of  Pompilia  about  the  time  of  her  arrival 
at  Castelnuovo,  and  on  Browning's  explanation  of  that  statement,  see  the  note 
on  VII.  1580-84  and  the  end  of  this  Appendix. 

2  '  I  asked  him  if  it  did  not  make  him  very  happy  to  have  created  such  a  woman 
as  Pompilia  ;  and  he  said,  "  I  assure  you  I  found  her  in  the  book  just  as  she  speaks 
and  acts  in  my  poem  "  '  (the  Rev.  John  W.  Chadwick  in  The  Christian  Register, 
January  19,  1888  ;  quoted  in  O.Y.B.  282).     See  also  Dr.  Pope's  edition  of  A  Death 
in  the  Desert,  p.  54. 

»  Books  VI.  and  VII.  were  published  in  December  1868  and  January  1869 
respectively.  Professor  Hodell's  reproduction  of  the  Yellow  Book  was  first 
published  in  1908. 

»  '  One  can  hardly  come  from  a  close  study  of  Book  and  Ring,  side  by  side, 
without  an  ever-deepening  sense  of  the  might  of  Browning  as  a  creative  artist ' 
(Hodell,  O.Y.B.  291). 


APP.  V.—CAPONSACCHI  AND  POMPILIA    293 

* 

which  the  poet  arrived.  He  told  W.  M.  Rossetti  that  the  Book  sup- 
plied a  *  mass  of  almost  equally  balanced  evidence  '  *,  but  his  reflec- 
tions upon  that  evidence  led  him  to  an  assured  conviction  that  the 
charge  of  misconduct  brought  against  Caponsacchi  and  Pompilia  was 
a  false  charge,  based  on  evidence  which  was  for  the  most  part  a 
deliberately  false  concoction.  In  spite  of  the  contradictions  which 
I  have  noticed  most  readers  of  the  Book  will  share  that  conviction. 
They  will  not,  I  think,  discover  a  '  true  St.  George  '  and  an  absolutely 
blameless  heroine  in  the  Caponsacchi  and  Pompilia  who  appear 
there.  It  is  true  that  the  Caponsaccbi  of  the  Book  makes  a  favourable 
impression.  He  is  humane,  manly,  resolute,  adventurous ;  he 
speaks  the  truth,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  without  reserve,  and  does 
not  calculate  the  consequences  too  nicely.  We  do  not,  however, 
detect  in  him  any  spiritual  exaltation  and  enthusiasm  or  any  real 
qualifications  for  a  hero  of  romance  ;  for  such  a  role  he  seems  all 
too  matter-of-fact.  Since  the  occasion  serves — he  is  going  to  Rome 
in  any  case — he  will  escort  Pompilia,  as  he  would  escort  another,  to 
save  her  from  oppression  or  from  death  ;  it  is  a  plain  duty,  and  there 
the  matter  ends.  The  tender  age,  the  helpless  inexperience,  the 
undeserved  misfortunes,  the  saintly  end  of  the  real  Pompilia  excite 
our  sympathy  and  our  pity  so  keenly  that,  even  if  we  could  wholly 
dissociate  her  from  the  Pompilia  of  the  poem,  we  should  still  desire 
to  find  her  faultless ;  we  recognize  that  her  faults  were  but  the 
natural  result  of  the  three-years'  torture  at  Arezzo.  Long-suffering 
and  yet  not  too  submissive  during  all  that  terrible  time,  brave  and 
intrepid  at  its  close,  she  was  crushed  by  the  wretched  miscarriage 
of  the  flight ;  a  weakness  and  timidity  which  the  poet  veils  betrayed 
her  into  subterfuge  and  falsehood.  We  saw  in  Appendix  IV.  that 
the  gravest  suspicion  attaches  to  her  professions  of  illiteracy,  for 
which  fear  supplied  an  obvious  motive  ;  more  than  a  suspicion  of 
inveracity  is  aroused  by  several  other  parts  of  her  deposition  2. 
It  is  possible  that  on  one  or  two  points  on  which  her  evidence  is 
contradicted  by  Caponsacchi' s  she  spoke  the  truth,  or  at  least  that 
she  meant  to  speak  it ;  but  we  must  remember  that  only  a  fortnight 
passed  between  the  flight  and  her  examination  by  the  Court ;  that, 
though  the  painful  excitements,  and  perhaps  the  physical  suffering, 
through  which  she  had  passed  might  well  have  blurred  her  recollec- 
tions, her  statements  on  critical  points  were  positive  and  definite  ; 
that  when  she  and  Caponsacchi  differed  as  to  facts  his  version  is  often 
supported  by  other  evidence,  but  that  hers  is  not ;  that  if  her  state- 
ments were  false  there  was  a  motive  for  the  falsehoods. — Let  us 
glance  for  a  moment  at  one  of  the  most  glaring  discrepancies  between 
the  depositions,  that  concerning  the  time  of  the  arrival  at  the 
Castelnuovo  inn.  Chronological  and  geographical  considerations 
suggest,  what  other  witnesses  proved,  that  Pompilia's  assertion  on 

i  Rossetti  Papert,  p.  401.  «  See  above,  I.,  especially  (e)  and  (/). 


294  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

the  point  was  incorrect.  Browning  admits  the  incorrectness  and 
invents  an  explanation  by  which  he  thinks  that  he  acquits  her  of 
mendacity :  but  his  explanation  does  not  cover  enough  ground. 
For  Pompilia  did  not  only  assert  (and  re-assert)  that  she  reached 
the  inn  at  the  reddening  of  sunrise,  which  reddening,  in  her  fainting 
state,  she  mistook,  says  the  poet,  for  the  reddening  of  sunset ;  she 
gave  a  clear  account,  quite  inconsistent  with  the  alleged  unconscious- 
ness, and  equally  inconsistent  with  Caponsacchi's  story,  of  the  precise 
manner  in  which  the  time  at  the  inn  was  spent l. 

i  See  above,  I.  (e),  (/) ;  and  the  note  on  VII.  1580-84. 


APPENDIX  VI 
THE  INFLICTION  OF  TORTURE 

THE  Ring  and  the  Book  contains  (I.)  allusions  to  a  very  severe  kind 
of  torture  employed  by  the  ecclesiastical  courts  at  Rome  to  force 
confessions  of  guilt,  and  (II.)  allusions  to  the  infliction  of  this  or  a 
milder  torture  upon  Guido  and  his  confederates  in  the  murder-trial ; 
as  well  as  (III.)  some  general  remarks  on  the  use  of  torture  as  a 
judicial  process. 

I.  The  very  severe  kind  of  torture  was,  says  Browning, 

called  the  Cord, 
Or  Vigil-torture  more  facetiously 1. 

Its  effects  are  described  by  the  poet's  Arcangeli  in  a  translation  of  a 
passage  from  the  '  immortal  "  Questions  "  '  of  the  jurist  Farinacci  *  ; 
Browning  took  the  trouble,  as  Professor  Hodell  has  shown  8,  to  hunt 
up  a  reference  made  to  the  Quaestiones  by  the  Advocate  of  the  Poor 
in  O.  Y.B.  xxxv.,  and  he  put  a  part  of  what  he  found  into  Arcangeli's 
mouth.  The  great  jurist  also  describes  the  nature  of  the  Vigil, 
which  name,  in  view  of  what  the  torture  in  fact  was,  may  well  be 
called  '  facetious ',  but  this  latter  description,  which  inter  alia 
explains  the  terms  '  Vigil '  and  '  Cord  ',  is  not  reproduced  in  the 
poem ;  a  curious  reader  will  find  it  in  the  Professor's  translation 
from  the  Quaestiones  4. 

II.  In  IV.   1621-4  Browning's  '  man  of  quality '  says  that  he 
*  hears  the  court  intends  '  to  put  Guido  to  the  torture,  a  step  which 
he  regards  as  '  unduly  harsh ',  for  'he  is  noble,  and  he  may  be 
innocent '.     The  speaker  is  represented  as  discoursing  on  the  evening 
of  January  5,  the  third  day  after  the  murders  ;  on  the  same  or  the 
following  day  Guido  is  made  to  say  that  he  has  already  been  *  put 

1  I.  979-80. 

II.  :;::u- u  :  see  note  on  VIII.  148. 

:  o.  V.li.  :{:;:.  (not,-  r.^r,).— Professor  Hodell  says  that  Browning  '  learned  almost 
nil  his  l;i\v  from  the  Hook  '  ;   the  instance  of  further  research  above  noticed  is,  he 

.-i.l.U.  the    only   in-t:in«  i-  In-  h:i-  toiiinl   'of  the  Poet's  having  tnivrlril  Ix-ynml  the 
l',( MI k  for  Ifizal  Information  '  (<>  Y.I'-.  _.">-'.".     s.-«-  howcvrr  my  note  on  X.  -Join. 
•»  O .  ) 


296  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

to  the  rack '  in  spite  of  his  nobility  \  and  it  appears  from  I.  977-80 
as  well  as  from  V.  38  that  this  means  that  he  has  suffered,  not  mere 
ordinary  torture,  but  the  Vigil.  Again,  in  the  monologue  of  the 
poet's  Arcangeli,  which,  says  Browning,  was  '  the  first  speech  for 
Guido  '  2  and  was  the  first  of  all  the  pleadings,  the  advocate  plainly 
implies  that  both  Guido  and  his  confederates  have  undergone  the 
severer  ordeal 3. 

The  Yellow  Book,  however,  proves  that  all  this  is  incorrect.  It 
shows  quite  clearly,  as  Professor  Hodell  notes  4,  that  there  were  two 
stages  in  the  trial.  During  the  first  stage,  when  the  earlier  argu- 
ments were  written,  though  some  '  simple  '  torture  may  have  been 
inflicted  upon  Guide's  plebeian  associates 6,  the  Vigil  was  not 
inflicted  either  upon  them  or  upon  their  principal ;  the  prosecution 
applies  to  the  Court  to  decree  its  employment,  the  defence  maintains 
that  the  application  should  be  refused.  The  parties  seem  to  agree 
that,  though  the  Court  has  a  discretionary  power  in  the  matter  6,  the 
Vigil  can  only  in  strictness  be  decreed  (1)  if  the  crime  with  which  an 
accused  person  is  charged  is  'most  atrocious',  and  (2)  if  there  is  a 
semiplena  probatio,  i.e.  if  the  proofs  of  his  guilt  are  strong  ;  in  the 
absence  of  these  conditions,  he  is,  it  seems,  liable  to  '  simple  '  torture 
only  7.  A  '  most  atrocious  '  crime  is  defined  as  one  for  which  the 
penalty  is  death  8,  or,  as  Spreti  insists,  not  '  mere  death '  (mors 
simplex,  which  means,  I  suppose,  hanging  or  beheading)  but  some- 
thing more  awful,  such  as  dismembering,  burning,  and  the  like  9. 
Whether  the  crime  of  Guido  and  his  associates  was  '  most  atrocious  ' 
in  the  sense  that  it  deserved  capital  punishment,  simple  or  not 
simple,  was  of  course  the  point  at  issue  in  the  trial. — When  we  reach 
the  second  stage,  to  which  the  later  arguments  belong,  we  find  that 
the  infliction  of  the  Vigil  has  been  decreed  and  that  the  accused  have 
in  consequence  made,  no  longer  a  '  qualified  '  confession,  but  the 

i  V.  11-14.  2  I.  1161,  VIII.  68,  note. 

»  VIII.  311  seqq. 

4  O.Y.B.  245-6,  335  (note  524).— There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that,  as  Professor 
Hodell  says, the  pleading  of  Bottini  which  in  E.L.  is  called  Pamphlet  14  (O.Y.B. 
cxcv.-cciv.)  was  inserted  in  the  wrong  place  by  the  collector  of  the  documents ; 
it  belongs  to  the  first  stage  of  the  trial,  and  should  come  next  after  Pamphlet  7. 
(Note  e.g.  that  in  Pamphlet  13  (O.Y.B.  clxiii.,  E.L.  171)  Bottini  refers  to  a  para- 
graph of  Pamphlet  14,  beginning  with  Sed  quatenus  etiam — O.Y.B.  cxcviii.,  E.L. 
202 — ,as  belonging  to  his  'past  response'.) — The  second  stage  begins  with 
Pamphlet  8. 

&  Compare  O.Y.B.  xxii.  (E.L.  23)  with  O.Y.B.  xxxv.  (E.L.  34). 

6  See  e.g.  O.Y.B.  clxiii.,  E.L.  171.  Spreti  contends  that  the  Court's  discretion 
is  limited  to  dispensing  with  the  '  urgency  '  of  the  proofs  (O.Y.B.  xliv.,  E.L.  43). 

V  O.Y.B.  xxxv.,  xlvii.,  cxxv.,  cxcv.,  E.L.  34,  45,  133,  199. 

s  See  e.g.  O.Y.B.  cxxv.,  E.L.  133,  where  Spreti  gives  the  reason  for  the  first 
condition  above  mentioned  on  the  authority  of  Uaynaldus :  '  When  an  accused 
person  cannot  be  condemned  to  death  he  must  not,  for  the  purpose  of  getting  a 
confession  from  him,  be  exposed  to  a  torture  which  may  cause  death'. 

y  O.Y.B.  xxxv!.,  E.L.  34  :  Delictum  autem  atrocissimum  dicitur  dumtaxat  illud, 
pro  quo  pcena  gravior  quam  simpiicis  mortis  imponenda  venit,  veluti  scissionis  in 
frusta,  combustionis,  &  similium.  Professor  Hodell,  confusing  frusta  with 
frustra,  mistranslates  scissionis  in  frusta  by  '  useless  mutilation '. 


APP.  VI. —THE  INFLICTION  OF  TORTURE    297 

1  avowal  plump  and  plain  '  *  which  Browning's  Arcangeli  represents 
as  having  been  secured  at  the  very  outset.  It  is  not,  however, 
quite  clear  from  the  records  how  far  the  Vigil  was  actually  em- 
ployed. \Ve  are  told,  indeed,  by  Spreti  that  its  employment  almost 
caused  the  death  of  one  of  the  confederates,  Alessandro  Baldeschi, 
'/>//  per  duos  vices  in  eodem  Tormento  lethaliter  defecit 2,  but  he  speaks 
less  definite^  about  the  other  defendants  ;  the  confessions,  he  says, 
are  null  and  void,  because  made  in  fear  of  the  Vigil  3.  The  less 
authoritative  post-Browning  pamphleteer,  who  notes  that  '  far 
less  than  had  been  imagined  was  it  found  needful  to  apply  torture  to 
en-ure  the  confession  of  the  assassins  and  of  Guido,  who  more 
emphatically  than  the  others  persisted  in  denying  his  guilt ',  adds 
that  *  notwithstanding  this,  simply  at  the  sight  of  the  torture  his 
heart  failed  him  and  he  made  a  full  confession  '  4. 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  poem  a  person  of  '  the  superior  social 
section  '  based  his  opinion  that  Guido  should  not  be  tortured  on  the 
ground  of  his  nobility.  The  same  position  is  maintained  by  the 
poet's  Arcangeli,  who  disputes  '  validity  of  process  '  in  the  Court's 
decree — 

Inasmuch  as  a  noble  is  exempt 

From  torture  which  plebeians  undergo 

In  such  a  case  :  for  law  is  lenient,  lax, 

Remits  the  torture  to  a  nobleman 

Unless  suspicion  be  of  twice  the  strength 

Attaches  to  a  man  born  vulgarly  : 

We  don't  card  silk  with  comb  that  dresses  wool  6. 

And  Guido  is  represented  in  his  first  monologue,  not  indeed  as 
*  disputing  validity  ' — for  he  is  *  subdued  near  to  mock-mildness  '  • 
in  Book  V. — ,  but  as  telling  the  judges  that,  though  k  law  thinks  other- 
wise'.  (he  vulgar  at  least  thought  that  'noblemen  were  exempt 
from  racking  ' 7.  In  the  Yellow  Book  Spreti,  in  claiming  exemption 
for  Guido,  claims  it  on  the  same  ground,  but  his  claim  relates  to  the 

i  vm.  312. 

'•*  O.Y.B.  cxxv.,  E.L.  133  :  cf.  VIII.  346-54.  See  also  the  Secondary  Source, 
O.Y.B.  213,  E.L.  265:  'Baldeschi  made  denial,  even  though  "the  cord"  was 
administered  to  him  twice,  under  which  he  swooned.  Finally  he  confessed '. 

:<  Confessiones  D.  Q-uidonis  .  .  .  [el]  eius  sociorum  stint  nuUce,  proptereb  non 
attendendce ,  cum  scilicet  emanauerint  metu  rigorosi  Tormenti  VigHiae.  Bottini  in 
his  answer  says  that  confessions  '  supervened '  after  the  Vigil  was  decreed,  and 
of  their  having  been  made  in  fear  of  it  and  ratified  eo  (?  the  fear  or  the  torture) 
cessante ;  his  words  decretum  super  Tormento  D.  Ouidoni  A  sociis  inferendo 
Hoi  Ml  mistranslates  by  '  the  decree  which  inflicted  the  torture  of  the  Vigil '  etc. 
(O.P  /;.  •  •l.xiii.-iv  .  E.L.  171-2). 

4  O.Y.B.  223,  E.L.  278  ;  I  quote  from  the  translation  in  Hall  Griffin,  p.  323. 
In  XII.  414-16  Browning  makes  Bottini  say  of  Guido  :— 

much  sport  he  contrived  to  make, 
\Vln>  :it  first  twist,  preamble  of  the  o>nl, 
Turned  white,  told  all,  like  the  poltroon  he  was  1 

Cf.  VIM.   tni-7. 

\  III.  316-24.  ••  I.  ~  V.  1  •_'-!». 


298  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Vigil  only  ;  it  does  not  extend  to  '  simple  '  torture  x.  He  says  that, 
by  the  Constitutions  of  Paul  V.,  the  Vigil  can  only  be  inflicted  on 
criminals  who  are  liable  to  the  penalty  of  a  specially  ignominious  and 
infamous  death,  burning,  for  instance,  or  mutilation  ;  but,  he  argues, 
nobles  are  not  liable  to  ignominious  and  infamous  penalties  ;  there- 
fore, he  concludes,  since  Guido  is  noble,  the  Vigil  cannot  be  inflicted 
upon  him  2.  To  this  Bottini  answers  that  it  is  the  practice  of  the 
courts,  when  the  employment  of  the  Vigil  is  in  question,  to  consider 
only  the  nature  of  the  crime  and  not  the  '  quality '  of  the  person. 
For  '  otherwise  ',  he  says,  *  neither  nobles  nor  priests  and  religiosi, 
on  whom  an  infamous  penalty  is  not  inflicted,  could  ever  be  exposed 
to  that  torture '  ;  and,  he  adds,  citing  Farinacci,  that  '  nobility, 
especially  in  very  atrocious  crimes,  confers  no  privilege  as  to  the 
kind  of  torture '  3.  The  two  lawyers,  it  will  be  seen,  agreed  that 
nobility  did  confer  a  privilege  as  to  the  kind  of  penalty  ;  some  curious 
decisions  are  mentioned  elsewhere  in  the  Yellow  Book  which  illustrate 
the  fact.  Thus  a  case  is  cited  on  the  authority  of  Ulpian  in  which 
the  Emperor  Pius  (for  the  same  crime,  apparently)  sent  a  man  of 
humble  birth  into  perpetual  exile,  but  '  relegated  '  a  noble  for  a  time 
only  4 ;  and  the  Book  tells  us  of  another  in  which  some  young  nobles, 
having  killed  their  wives  under  circumstances  which  do  not  concern 
us,  were  absolved  by  the  Royal  Court  of  Naples  on  account  (partly) 
of  their  quality5.  The  'heading  or  hanging  as  befitted  ranks'6, 
inflicted  on  Guido  and  his  companions  respectively,  shows  that  in  the 
ecclesiastical  as  well  as  the  imperial  and  royal  courts  of  Italy  law 
respected  persons. 

III.  Some  general  remarks  upon  judicial  torture  are  made  twice 
in  the  poem.  In  Browning's  preliminary  outline  of  the  contents  of 
Book  V.,  after  noting  that  torture  was  formerly  *  here,  there  and 

1  The  poem  does  not  narrow  the  exemption-claim  to  the  Vigil,  but  Browning 
was  no  doubt  aware  that  the  wider  claim  was  inadmissible.     In  an  interesting 
passage  in  Book  VIII.  (406-19)  Arcangeli  is  made  to  say  that  some  sixty  years 
before  nobles  were  trained  to  brave  torture,  which,  presumably,  the  courts  might 
call  upon  them  to  endure  : — 

Guido  Franceschini,  nobleman, 
Bear  pain  no  better  !     Everybody  knows 
It  used  once,  when  my  father  was  a  boy, 
To  form  a  proper,  nay,  important  point 
I'  the  education  of  our  well-born  youth, 
That  they  took  torture  handsomely  at  need, 
Without  confessing  in  this  clownish  guise. 
Each  noble  had  his  rack  for  private  use, 
And  would,  for  the  diversion  of  a  guest, 
Bid  it  be  set  up  in  the  yard  of  arms, 
And  take  thereon  his  hour  of  exercise, — 
Command  the  varletry  stretch,  strain  their  best, 
While  friends  looked  on,  admired  my  lord  could  smile 
'Mid  tugging  which  had  caused  an  ox  to  roar. 

2  O.Y.B.  xxxvi.,  E.L.  34.  a  O.Y.B.  cciv.,  E.L.  207. 
4  O.Y.B.  xxv.,  E.L.  27.                                  5  O.Y.B.  xxviii.,  E.L.  29. 
«  I.  126  ;  cf.  e.g.  O.Y.B.  338,  E.L.  238. 


APP.  VI. —THE  INFLICTION  OF  TORTURE     299 

everywhere  '  employed  '  to  tease  the  truth  out  of  loth  witness  ',  he 
t  r;irrs  the  later  attitude  towards  it  of  '  Religion  '  and  '  Humanity  '  l 
with  some  scathing  comment  on  the  former.  At  the  end  of  Book 
IV.  (1621-31)  his  representative  of  cultured  lay  opinion  reduces  the 
use  of  torture  ad  absurdum  ;  '  abolish  it '  is  his  advice. — Secular 
law  in  this  as  in  other  matters  has  lagged  some  little  way  behind 
secular  opinion ;  ecclesiastical  law  and  opinion  alike  have  lagged 
in  Rome  a  long  way  behind  both. 

In  respect  of  the  former  of  these  two  propositions  England  has 
been  an  exception  to  the  rule  ;  for,  though  prerogative  has  some- 
times defied  law,  English  law  has  never  sanctioned  torture  as  a 
means  of  extracting  evidence  or  confession 2.  In  Scotland  opinion 
condemned  torture  before  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when 
the  future  James  II.  so  complacently  employed  and  witnessed  it ; 
but  law  did  not  catch  up  opinion  till  1708,  the  year  following  the 
Act  of  Union  3.  On  the  continent  the  public  opinion  of  civilized 
countries  had  decided  that  torture  was  '  a  vile  trick '  some  time 
before  law  discarded  it ;  it  was  formally  abrogated  in  Austria  in 
1776,  in  France  in  1789,  in  Holland  in  1798,  in  Prussia  (where 
however  Frederick  the  Great  had  '  practically '  abolished  its  use  in 
1740)  in  1805.  Even  in  the  secular  states  of  Italy,  excepting  the 
infamous  kingdom  of  Naples,  it  had  disappeared  before  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century  ;  in  Tuscany,  which  led  the  way  at  the 
prompting  of  the  humane  Beccaria,  it  became  illegal  in  1776. 

Meanwhile  in  the  papal  dominions  torture  was  permitted  by  the 
paternal  government  till  the  issue  of  a  Bull  by  Pius  VII.  in  1816. 
Browning  had  that  event,  presumably,  in  his  mind  when  he  wrote 
the  last  lines  of  the  passage  which,  as  he  said,  '  is  all  history  '  : 

Then  did  Religion  start  up,  stare  amain, 

Look  round  for  help  and  see  none,  smile  and  say 

"  What,  broken  is  the  rack  ?     Well  done  of  thee  4  ! 

"  Did  I  forget  to  abrogate  its  use  ? 

"  Be  the  mistake  in  common  with  us  both  ! 


1  See  note  on  I.  985. 

2  I  have  not  taken  account  here  of  the  peine  forte  et  dure,  the  infliction  of  which 
did  not  become  unlawful  in  England  till  1772.     It  was  not  a  means  of '  teasing  the 
truth  out  of  loth  witness  ',  but  of  compelling  a  prisoner  accused  of  felony  to  con- 
-•Mt.  to  be  tried;   for  he  could  not  be  tried  without  such  consent.      See  Dicey, 
I. a  ir  a nd  Opinion  in  England,  p.  79. 

3  A  few  years  before  Guide's  trial  the  Scottish  Claim  of  Right  (1689)  by  denying 
the  legality  of  torture  '  without  evidence  or  in  ordinary  cases '  admitted  it  '  by 
the  plainest  implication'  under  precisely  the  conditions  under  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  legality  of  the  rigorous  torment  of  the  Vigil  was  admitted  by  Guide's 
advocates.     See  Macaulay,  History  of  England  (4-vol.  edition),  iii.  p.  22,  and  a 
note  of  the  author's  in  c.  iv.  of  The  Bride  of  Lammermoor.  — For  the  admissions 
of  Guide's  advocates  see  e.g.  O.Y.B.  xx\\..   /•;./..   :u  :    sancitum  fuit  huiusmodi 
torment  nut  [that  <>f  the  Vigil]  inferri  non  posse,  ni*»  copulating  concurraid  illn  <ln<>, 
riili'lir.'t  ^mxl  ,1,'liftnm  nil  utrocissimum,  quodque  Iteus  sit  gravattu  indiciit  vrgen- 

tisxiniis. 

1  I.e.  of  what  the  poet  calls  '  Iliiinanit 


300  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

— One  more  fault  our  blind  age  shall  answer  for, 
"  Down  in  my  book  denounced  though  it  must  be 
"  Somewhere.     Henceforth  find  truth  by  milder  means  !  " 
Ah  but,  Religion,  did  we  wait  for  thee 
To  ope  the  book,  that  serves  to  sit  upon, 
And  pick  such  place  out,  we  should  wait  indeed  ! 1 

Pius  VII.'s  Bull  itself  served  to  sit  upon.  When  in  1849  the  offices 
of  the  Inquisition  at  Rome  were  thrown  open  by  the  triumvirs  who 
administered  the  short-lived  Roman  Republic  many  instruments 
of  torture  were  discovered,  '  all  in  good  preservation  and  carefully 
kept  as  if  for  future  use  '  2  ;  and  even  in  the  latest  days  of  the 
Temporal  Power  the  hateful  eguuleus  or  cavalletto  is  said  to  have 
been  revived  by  Cardinal  Antonelli,  with  some  support  from  a  section 
at  least  of  those  whom  he  misgoverned  3. 

1  I.  1002-12. 

2  It  has  been  maintained  by  clerical  partisans  that  these  instruments  '  had 
been  brought  to  the  offices  after  the  government  took  possession  of  them,  in  order 
to  excite  indignation '  (Bolton  King,  History  of  Italian  Unity,  ii.  pp.  390-92).     Mr. 
King  found  it  'difficult  to  balance  the  evidence  as  to  the  genuineness  of  the 
discoveries'. 

a  Story,  Roba  di  Roma,  pp.  553-4. 


APPENDIX  VII 
POPE  INNOCENT  XII. 

THE  poem  introduces  us  to  a  historical  personage  of  importance  in 
Antonio  Pignatelli  of  Naples,  Innocent  XII.  (1691-1700).  By  an 
unfortunate  slip  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica  identified  Browning's 
pope  with  Innocent  XI.  (1676-89),  and  the  slip  led  the  author  of  an 
American  Guide-Book  to  Browning,  who  knew  something  about  this 
Innocent  XL,  to  suggest  that  the  poet  either  confounded  the  two 
men  with  one  another  or  deliberately  gave  to  the  later  Innocent 
qualities  which  belonged  only  to  the  earlier.  These  suggestions  have 
been  supported  in  England  by  Dr.  Berdoe  *,  but  no  student  of 
Browning  should  have  put  forward  or  countenanced  the  first,  and 
the  second  is  equally  baseless.  There  are  points  in  which  Innocent 
XII.  was  like  his  namesake,  but  there  are  also  points  in  wlpch  he 
was  utterly  unlike  him,  and  both  appear  in  Browning's  portrait ; 
which,  subject  to  an  important  reservation  which  has  been  made  in 
the  Introduction  to  Book  X.  and  to  another  which  will  be  suggested 
presently,  is  altogether  faithful. 

Among  the  authorities  about  his  pope  which  the  poet,  probably 
or  certainly,  consulted  were  two  contemporary  Relazioni  of  Roman 
affairs,  sent  from  Rome  by  Venetian  envoys  to  their  government ; 
these  reports,  which  are  summarized  and  in  part  quoted  by  Ranke^ 
in  his  History  of  the  Popes,  are  therefore  valuable  to  students  of 
The  Ring  and  the  Book. 

Domenico  Contarini,  whom  Browning's  '  man  of  rank,  Venetian 
visitor  at  Rome '  mentions  as  *  our  Envoy '  2,  reported  on  July  5, 
1696,  that  Innocent  XII.  laboured  to  imitate  Innocent  XL,  by  whom 
he  had  been  promoted  to  the  Cardinalate  and  whose  name  he  had 
assumed,  making  him  his  model  in  the  practice  of  his  government 
but  eschewing  his  austerity  and  harshness  8  ;  that  he  abolished  the 
sale  of  appointment  s.  thereby  depriving  gold  of  its  power  and  enabling 
virtue  once  again  to  reach  the  highest  offices  ;  that  he  gave  audience 

i  Browning  Cyctopcedia,  pp.  453-4.  -  XII.  117. 

3  See  the  pasquinade  quoted  in  Appendix  VIII.  (ad.  fin.). 

301 


302  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

}  most  readily  and  owed  much  of  his  reputation  to  the  facility  of 
access  which  he  afforded  to  the  poor,  which  was  a  powerful  check 
upon  the  ministers  and  judges.  '  lie  has  nothing  in  his  thoughts  ', 
>  Contarini  continued,  '  but  God,  the  poor,  and  the  reform  of  abuses. 
He  lives  in  the  most  abstemious  retirement,  devoting  every  hour 
to  his  duties  without  consideration  for  his  health  l.  .  .  .  He  is  full 
of  love  to  the  poor,  and  is  endowed  with  all  the  great  qualities 
that  could  be  desired  for  a  head  of  the  church 2.  Could  he 
only  act  for  himself  on  all  occasions  he  would  be  one  of  the  first 
of  Popes '  .3 

Niccolo  Erizzo,  who  was  perhaps  Contarini' s  immediate  successor, 
noted  on  October  29,  1702,  that  Innocent  XII.  closed  the  abyss  of 
nepotism,  and  that,  though  he  did  much  for  the  poor,  lightened  the 
public  burdens,  erected  buildings  for  the  Court  and  completed  the 
construction  of  harbours,  he  nevertheless  left  a  considerable  sum  in 
the  treasury  4.  But,  Erizzo  added,  he  lived  too  long  for  the  college 
of  cardinals,  whom  he  on  his  side  did  not  esteem  very  highly ; 
the  cardinals  considered  that  he  sacrificed  the  interests  of  the 
/  Papal  See  by  too  conciliatory  a  deportment  towards  the  sovereign 
courts  5. 

It  is  precisely  the  characteristics  which  the  envoys  mentioned 
that  Browning  attributes  to  his  pope.  We  find  allusions  in  the  poem 
to  his  hatred  of  nepotism  6,  to  his  care  for  things  maritime  7,  to  his 
gentleness  8,  to  his  simple  and  abstemious  life  9,  to  his  love  of  the 

1  On  the  other  hand  Gilbert  Burnet,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  writing 
from  Rome  in  1685,  says  of  Innocent  XI. :  '  The  Pope  is  very  careful  of  his  Health, 
and  doth  never  expose  it ;   for,  upon  the  least  Disorder,  he  shuts  himself  up  in 
his  Chamber,  and  often  keepeth  his  Bed,  for  the  least  Indisposition,  many  Days  ' 
(Some  Letters,  p.  249). 

2  Immediately  after  Innocent  XII.'s  death  Saint-Simon  wrote  in  his  Memoires  : 
C'etaiit  un  grand  et  saint  pope,  vrai  pasteur  et  vrai  pere  commun,  tel  qu'U  ne  s'en  voit 
plus  que  bien  rarement  sur  la  chaire  de  Saint-Pierre. — Of  Innocent  XI.  Burnet 
(op.  cit.  p.  248)  says  that  all  the  Romans  had  a  general  contempt  for  his  pontificate. 

3  Ranke,  History  of  the  Popes,  iii.  pp.  462-3. 

4  Was  finance  a  strong  point  of  the  administration  of  Innocent  XI.  ?    Ranke 
says  that  he  found  a  deficit  which  threatened  public  bankruptcy,  but  succeeded 
in  raising  the  revenue  to  '  a  not  inconsiderable  sum  above  the  expenditure '  (op. 
cit.  ii.  p.  419).     Burnet  writes  in  a  different  tone  :   '  He  doth  not  ease  the  People 
of  their  Taxes.  ...  It  is  not  possible  for  the  People  to  live  and  pay  the  Taxes.  .  .  . 
His  Government  is  severe, and  his  Subjects  are  ruined'  (Some Letters,  pp.  196,  249). 

5  Ranke,  op.  cit.  iii.  p.  464. 

6  Hatred  of  nepotism  was  a  point  of  resemblance  between  the  two  popes. 
By  Innocent  XI.,  says  Ranke,  the  practice  was  at  length  altogether  abolished  ; 
Burnet  admits  that  '  he  that  reigns  now  doth  not  raise  his  family  avowedly '. 
Nepotism  revived  during  the  short  reign  of  Alexander  VIII.  (1689-91) ;   Innocent 
XII.  issued  a  bull  against  it  in  1692.     See  in  the  poem  I.  318,  323,  III.  1475. 

7  XII.  52-3  ;  cf.  IX.  372-3. 

8  I.  289,  XI.  56. 

9  1. 324, 1239.     Abstemiousness  and  simplicity  are  further  points  of  resemblance. 
Burnet  (pp.  248-9)  writes  of  Innocent  XI. :  '  His  Life  has  been  certainly  very  innocent, 
and  free  from  all  those  publick  Scandals  that  make  a  Noise  in  the  World :  And  there 
is,  at  present,  a  Regularity  in  Rome,  that  deserveth  great  Commendation  ;    for 
publick  Vices  are  not  to  be  seen  there.     His  personal  Sobriety  is  also  singular'. 
See  further  in  the  note  to  I.  324. 


APP.  VII.—  POPE  INNOCENT  XII.          303 

poor  l,  to  his  accessibility  2.     See  also,   more  generally,   I.    1222, 
Ml.  593-4. 

It  will  h  IM  In  •<  -11  observed  that  genijeness^and  accessibility  are 
points  of  contrast  between  Innocent  XII.  and  Innocent  XI.  Another 
was  foreign  policy.  When  Contarini  regretted  that  the  later  pope 

*  could  not  act  for  himself  on  all  occasions  ',  he  was  referring  to 
Innocent's  attitude  towards  foreign  courts,  which  Erizzo  noted  that 
the  cardinals  censured  as  '  too  conciliatory  '.     They  meant  that  he 
was,  as  Macaulay  represents,  him,  too  irresolute  s,  and  in  the  end  too 
subservient  to  Louis  XIV;     The  latter  charge  finds  an  echo  in  the 
language  of  two  of  Browning's  personce.     His  Guido  bases  an  appeal 
to  the  Pope  on  the  ground,  true  or  false,  that  His  death  would 

*  outrage  the  Louis  you  so  love  '  4  ;    his  Venetian  of  rank  declares 
that  proofs  of  Innocent's  '  passion  for  France  and  France's  pageant 
king  '    are    '  now   scandalously   rife    in    Europe's    mouth  '  6.     Did 
Innocent,  as  Guido  says,  love  Louis,  and  if  so,  why  ?     Were  the 
proofs  of  his  passion  for  that  pageant  king  as  conclusive  as,  according 
to  the  Venetian,  they  were  rife  ? 

When  Innocent  became  Pope  in  1691  the  French  and  Roman 
courts  had  long  been  at  variance  ;  their  quarrels  came  to  a  head  in 
1682,  when  an  assembly  of  French  clergy  at  St.  Germain  passed  the 
famous  four  resolutions  (drawn  up,  it  is  said,  by  Bossuet)  which  set 
limits  to  papal  authority  and  asserted  the  liberties  of  the  Uallican 
church.  The  resolutions,  confirmed  by  a  royal  edict,  were  promptly 
condemned  by  Innocent  XI.,  who  during  the  rest  of  his  reign  —  he 
died  in  1689  —  refused  institution  to  the  bishops  whom  the  king 
appointed  ;  his  successor  Alexander  VIII.  (it  is  said,  reluctantly) 
did  the  same,  jnnocent  XII.,  though  he  owed  his  election  largely 
to  French  backing,  at  first  continued  this  Gallophobe  policy  ;  he 
would  not,  for  instance,  give  any  support  to  our  James  II.,  regarding 
him  as  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  Louis.  In  1693r  however,  the  chief 
cause  of  quarrel  was  removed  ;  the  Erf  nch  r.lr.rgyL.withdrc  -w  their 
fpanliit.in|]^~llTft"Icrnpr  napnp>11f>^  hia  ndint,  •  and  the  Pope  was  im- 


patient for  a  complete  reconciliation.  For  a  while,  indeed,  a  regard 
for  his  i  nftmrtiiji:  obli^-d  him  to  maintain,  in  his  public  acts,  a  strict 
neutrality  between  Louis  and  his  enemies,  but  when  the  approaching 
death  of  the  childless  Charles  II.  of  Spain  gave  urgency  to  the 
question  of  the  Spanish  succession  he  is  said  to  have  gone  so  far, 
during  the  last  months  of  his  own  life  and  of  that  of  Charles  •,  as  to 
advise  him  to  name  the  French  candidate  as  his  successor.  '  It  was 
important  ',  says  Ranke,  *  for  the  See  of  Rome  that  the  mighty 
Prince  who  had  abandoned  that  position  of  antagonism  towards 
ecclesiastical  prerogatives  which  had  been  a  source  of  discord  with 

l  I.  319,  XI.  57,  XII.  93.  «  X.  243  seqq,,  XII.  90. 

•it  !••  .-mil  irresolute  ',  says  Macaulay  (History,  c.  xix.)  ;  '  mild  yet  resolute  '  , 
says  Brim-Mini:  (I.  1222;   cf.  X.  236).  »  XII. 

«  Innocent  XII.  died  on  September  27,  Charles  II.  on  November  3,  1700. 


304  THE  EING  AND  THE  BOOK 

the  Papacy  should  be  shaken  loose  from  the  maritime  powers,  and 
attached  exclusively  to  the  interests  of  Catholicism  ' 1. 

The  rapprochement  of  Innocent  and  Louis,  perhaps  the  sub- 
serviency of  the  former  to  tHe  Tatter,  was  shown  by  an  incident 
to  which  Browning's  Venetian  refers  ;  he  writes  that  '  somebody 
responsible  ' 

Assures  me  that  the  king  of  France  has  writ 
Fresh  orders  :  Fenelon  will  be  condemned  2.  ^ 

Innocent  was. a  tolerant  theologian,  but  Louis  was  not;  he  sided 
strongly  with  Bossuet  against  Fenelon.  whose  Explication  des 
Maximes  des  Saints  sur la  Vie  interieure  (January  1.0977"  advanced 
/Quietist  doctrines — doctrines  wliich  in  Bossuet' s  judgment  were 
Inconsistent  with  Christianity ;  they  aroused  the  King's  vif  ressenti- 
ment.  Determined  '  to  cut  the  roots  of  Quietism  '  Louis  promptly 
banished  the  Archbishop  from  Court,  and  brought  '  all  the  batteries 
of  French  influence  '  to  secure  his  condemnation  by  the  Vatican. 
He  pressed,  almost  '  ordered ',  Innocent  to  denounce  the  Maximes, 
assuring  him  that,  in  the  judgment  of  all  his  bishops,  the  book  was 
tres  mauvais  and  ires  dangereux,  and  he  bombarded  Cardinal 
Bouillon,  his  ambassador  at  Rome  (XII.  112),  with  constant  instruc- 
tions to  expedite  a  denunciation.  Innocent,  tardily  and  reluctantly, 
appointed  commissioners  to  examine  the  Maximes  in  August  1697, 
but,  though  he  lavished  compliments  upon  Louis  and  assured  him  of 
his  anxiety  to  second  his  intentions,  he  was  not  to  be  hustled  ;  in 
this  as  in  other  matters,  as  Bouillon  reported,  Rome  n'aime  pas  a 
se  commettre  par  des  decisions  precises,  and  as  late  as  September  1698 
another  cardinal  declared  que  ce  seroit  beaucoup,  si  cette  affaire  etoit 
finie  dans  quatre  ans.  He  under-estimated,  however,  as  Browning's 
Venetian  over-estimated,  the  pliability  of  Innocent ;  Fenelon  and 
his  doctrines  were  condemned  in  March  1699,  though  m~tne  '  very 
mo.derate __tfiims '  wlficE~-anreaSaer~orTBook  X.  would  expect  3.« 
Innocent  summed  up  the  controversy,  into  the  merits  of  which 
we  need  not  enter,  with  the  obiter  dictum  that  Fenelon  erred  by  loving 
God  too  much,  and  Bossuet  by  loving  his  neighbour  too  little. — 
Bouillon's  '  love  for  the  delinquent ',  of  which  the  Venetian  speaks 
in  XII.  67,  is  attested  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  one  of  Fenelon' s 
friends  in  1698  :  je  Vaime,  he  says,  pour  le  moins  autant  que  vous 
pourriez  P  aimer,  et  je  Vestime  plus  que  je  rCai  jamais  estime  personne 
dans  rfiglise  ;  and  the  difficulty  of  his  position  (XII.  66)  is  explained 
in  an  Apologie  which  he  wrote  later  :  J'etais  tout  a  la  fois  cardinal, 
ministre  du  roi,  et  Vami  de  Varcheveque.  Comme  cardinal  je  pouvais 

1  Ranke,  History  of  England,  v.  p.  236.     See  also  Ranke's  History  of  the  Popes, 
ii.  pp.  425-8  ;   Cambridge  Modern  History,  v.  p.  58  ;   Macaulay,  History,  e.  xix. 
*  XII.  63-5. 

A3  Michelet  says  of  Fdnelon  after  his  condemnation  :  '  II  gardait  avec  lui  Rome 
meme,  qui  n'avait  agi  que  sous  la  pression  de  la  France '  (Histoire  de  France,  xiv. 
p.  111). 


APP.  VII.— POPE  INNOCENT  XII. 


305 


elre  jnge,  el  je  //r/-///.s  ,'//•>    m-nlri-  ;    mnimr   miniatre,  je  devais  elre 
rot/ffnif'   I't   I'lin-ln  rt''/m  .   </u<:  I'luit   jnifili(/ncni^fil   ihnix   In   ili^jrnre.  du 
•n, a, in  (iini  '/i  <•'  /ir-'/nf,  je  devais  entrer  dans  tout  ce  qui  pouvait 
1-onti  \  justification  l. 

Sonic  further  evidence  of  Browning's  intimate  knowledge  and  of 
the  faithfulness  of  his  presentation  of  details  concerning  the  papal    / 
history  of  tlie  time  will  he  found  in  the  notes  to  X.  384-7,  1589- 
.  XII.  42-8. 


-fory  <.f  tin-  priM-ecdiuus  against  F£nelqn  is  told  very  fully  in  original 
M.i, •iiiiit-nfs  prmti'.l  in  MSItinyes  historique*  (tome  iv.),  from  which  I  have  quoted. 
It  i-.  I  think,  certain  that  Hrowning  read  these  documents. 


APPENDIX  VIII 
MOLINOS  AND  THE  MOLINISTS 

WE  find  distributed  through  the  poem  more  than  thirty  references, 
most  of  them  hostile,  to  the  sect  of  the  Molinists  and  to  its  founder  l. 
The  aged  Luca  Cini  couples  their  doctrines  with  the  murder  of  the 
Comparini  as  evidence  that 

Antichrist  surely  comes  and  domesday's  near  2 ; 
to  the  curato  of  San  Lorenzo  it  seems  that  such  crimes  as  Guide's 

crop  forth 

I*  the  course  of  nature  when  Molinos'  tares 
Are  sown  for  wheat  3  ; 

a  third  speaker  suggests  that  a  magistrate  must  expect  to  be  stig- 
matized as  churl  or  Molinist  if  he  will  not  manipulate  the  scales  of 
justice  in  the  interests  of  a  friend  4.  Guido,  posing  in  Book  V.  as 
orthodox,  professes  to  regret  that  a  duly  baptized  baby  may  grow 
up  to  be  a  Molinist 5,  and  to  opine  that  '  poison-torture  '  might 
properly  be  applied  to  the  next  refractory  member  of  the  sect  °. 
Caponsacchi,  found  straying  from  the  primrose  path  in  which  the 
Church  has^  placed  him,  is  facetiously  charged  with  Molinism  by 
his  bishop  7 ;  Pompilia,  convicted  of  what  another  bishop  assures 
her  is  heresy,  is  jestingly  suspected  of  dipping  into  the  Molinists' 
books  8.  These  heretics,  says  Arcangeli,  '  bar  revenge  ',  which  is 
'  the  natural  privilege  of  man '  9 ;  their  doctrines,  he  fears,  have 

1  It  is  only  in  Book  IV.  (Tertium  Quid)  that  the  Molinists  are  not  mentioned. 
The  omission  is  perhaps  accidental,  but  it  may  mean  that  the  superior  person 
who  spoke  that  monologue  scorned  to  echo  the  sentiments  of  the  vulgar,  or  that 
he  tactfully  avoided  allusions  to  a  heresy  which  had  compromised  people  who 
moved  in  the  selectest  circles. 

2  II.  126-7.  3  n.  174-6  ;  cf.  VI.  152. 
*  III.  989.                                                            5  V.  870. 

6  V.  1043  ;  for  other  allusions  in  Book  V.  see  Ikies  203,  223,  1238,  1838.     Con- 
trast Guido's  altered  tone  in  XI.  643;  2041  ;    when  he  throws  off  the  mask  of 
orthodoxy  he  jeers  at  anti-Molinism. 

7  VI.  473. 

8  VII.  769-70.  »  VIII.  697,  721-3. 


.  \  III,— MOLINOS  AND  THE  MOLINISTS    307 


eaten  -o  tar  into  tin-  IHUH-  '  as  to  persuade  people  to  pursue  secular 
luisine.-s  on  a  sa-nd  day1.  Bottini  declares  that  the  corpses  of 
Molinists  might  rightly  serve,  with  those  of  Jews  and  Turks,  to 
assist  the  anatomical  studies  of  draughtsmen  ;  thinks  you  must 
be  of  the  sect  if  you  are  sourly  censorious  about  matrons'  midnight 
assignations;  conjectures  that  the  '  suppression  of  some  Molinism 
i '  t  ho  bud  '  may  have  been  an  imperative  duty  of  our  Lord's  disciples ; 
hints  that  Molinists  may  go  so  far  as  to  raise  doubts  about  the 
all-sufficiency  of  a  death-bed  confession  2.  And  finally  the  Pope 
fttea  an  admonition  thatjf  he  refuses  to  save  Guido  he  will 
Luther.-,  and  Calvins  and  .Molinos  with  an  excellent  pretext 
for  the  Interest  attacks  upon  the  Church  3. 

The  tone  of  most  of  these  passages  will  have  suggested,  what  is 
indeed  the  fact,  that  Molinism  was  a  lost  cause  at  the  time  of  Guide's 
trial.  Its  founder,  as  we  shall  see,  hadJ??cn  condemn* •<!  more  than 
tenjrears  before,  and  was  nowjiead  ;  there  had  been  a  hue  and  cry 
after  his  followers,  \\ho  hadHfor  the  most  part  retracted — no  Italian, 
perhaps,  would  have  confessed  in  1698  that  he  was  one  of  them  4. 
The  high  ecclesiastics  to  whom  Arcangeli  and  Bottini  addressed 
their  pleadings  may  still  have  nursed  resentment  against  their 
fallen  adversaries,  and  in  that  case  Browning  might  fittingly  repre- 
sent the  advocates  as  trampling  upon  them  ad  captandam  benevo- 
lent iani  ;  but  in^hejileadings  of  thejTellow  Book  they  do  not  even 
mention  them.  The  populace  agamTTolIowmg  the  Church's  load, 
had  in  1687  been  hot  against  the  heretics;  as  Juvenal  said  and 
Mr.  Shorthouse  has  reminded  us,  '  the  mob  of  Remus  ' 

sequitur  fortunam,  ut  semper,  et  odit 
Damnatos  B, 

and  it  would  have  IK -en  delighted  to  see  Molinos  burn6.  But  the 
hatreds  of  mobs  are  usually  short-lived  and  there  is,  perhaps,  an 
an  i'  -In  01 1  is  m  in  the  representation  of  the  outcry  against  kin. 
'Mill  virulent  in  I(i08r  it  must  by  that  time  have  become,  what 
r.iouiiini:  hiniM-lf  calls  it,  a  'frowsy  tune'.  He  speaks  of  the 
.Molinists  as 

tlu:  sect  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour] 

I'  the  teeth  of  the  world,  which,  clown-like,  loves  to  ... 

Taste  some  vituperation  7  ; 

ten  years  and  more  are  a  long  quarter  of  an  hour. 

i  VIII.  1074-9.  2  IX.  33,  506-8,  1048,  1499-1500. 

\.  2062  teqq. 

i  Quietism  in  ;i  !«•-  exaggerated  form  \v;ia  advocated  by  Fenelon  in  France  in 
iM-n.iix  vii. 

78-4  ;  John  Ingli-xnni.  0.  \\xviii. 

"  In  .i  letter  written  at    Kmno  on  the  day  of  the  condemnation  of  Molinos  it 
is  said  tlcit  then-  \\cn-  «-rics  of  '  To  the  stake!   To  the  stake!'  (fuoco,  fuoco .').    The 
letter  i>  tran-ihtcd  in  r,iu'elo\\  •-  MoUnot  the  Quietist,  pp.  66-8  (see  note  below). 
7  I.  307-11. 


308  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

Whether,  however,  the  world  still  vituperated  Molinism  in  1698 
or  had  already  forgotten  it,  its  appearance  would  most  certainly 
have  made  a  deep  and  a  lasting  impression  upon  such  a  Pope 
as  is  portrayed  in  The  Ring  and  the  Book.  When  Browning  in  his 
Book  I.  makes  his  Innocent  say 

Leave  them  alone  ....  those  Molinists! 
Who  may  have  other  light  than  we  perceive  l 

the  words  may  or  may  not  be  appropriate  to  the  Innocent  of  history, 
but  they  are  entirely  consonant  with  the  mind  of  the  soliloquist  of 
Book  X.,  and  they  illustrate  and  confirm  what  I  have  said  in  the 
Introduction  to  that  Book.  The  speaker  is  so  far  influenced  by  the 
great  traditions  of  his  office  as  to  feel  that  the  Molinists  denied  recog- 
nized truths  (if  truths  they  are)*'  atjgerii  6f"tiieir  soul ',  T>ut  he 
probes  much  deeper  than  that.  To  him  jbEeir_teaching  is  the 
symj)tom._o£^n_on-com.ing  destiny  whiclTmay  mean_npless  than  the 
dissolution  of  an  elaborately  "colnisti^te3]sjstem  and  the  substitution 
of — who  knows  'wKaTY The  Molinists  may,  he  "dimly  surmises, 
be  the  heralds  of  a  new  era  which  will  break  up  '  faith  in  the  thing 
grown  faith  in  the_^eport 7  and  will  call  upon  us  all  to  be 

obedient  to  some  truth 
Unrecognized  yet,  but  perceptible — 
to 

Correct  the  portrait  by  the  living  face, 

Man's  God,  by  God's  God  in  the  mind  of  man  2. 

Who,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  was  this  Molinos  who  excited  such 
deep  hatred  and  such  deep  searchings  of  heart  ?  And  what  did  he 
stand  for  ?  The  poet,  for  all  his  thirty  and  more  references,  with- 
holds the  information  3 ;  it  is  perhaps  the  duty  of  a  commentator 
to  supply  it. 

Miguel  de  Molinos  4  was  born  of  noble  parents  in  the  diocese  of 

Saragossa  in  1627.     He  graduated  in  theology,  became  a  -priest,  and 

^ jtgyeloped  in  a  peculiar  direction,  with  a  fanatic's  logic,  the  doctrine 

~  bt" contemplative  passivity  arid  receptivity  (Quietism)  which  he  had 

i  I.  315-16.  2  x.  1864-74. 

»  We  read  in  II.  178  and  in  III.  91-7  of  a  '  doctrine  of  the  Philosophic  Sin ' 
which  Antichrist  or  Moh'nos  disseminates,  but  which  the  poet  does  not  describe. 
He  found  the  expression  hi  the  First  Anonymous  Pamphlet  (O.Y.B.  cxlvi.,  E.L. 
150) :  '  Perhaps  an  attempt  was  being  made  at  Rome  to  bring  in  the  power  of 
sinning  against  the  Law  of  God  with  impunity,  together  with  the  doctrine  of 
Molinos  and  the  philosophic  sin,  which  was  checked  by  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
Office  *.  The  nature  of  this  philosophic  sin,  which  scandalized  '  somebody '  at 
Pompilia's  bedside,  will  appear  from  the  quotation  which  ends  this  Appendix. 

4  The  well-known  account  of  Molinos  and  Molinism  in  the  later  chapters  of 
John  Inglesant  is  most  interesting,  but  its  chronology  is  most  puzzling.  In 
Mr.  John  Bigelow's  lucid  and  altogether  admirable  Molinos  the  Quietist  (New  York, 
1882)  will  be  found  translations  of  the  Papal  Bull  which  condemned  Molinos  in 
1687  and  of  other  important  documents. 


£J  L      &i   IS- 

APP.  VIII. — MOLINOS  AND  THE  MOLINISTS    309 

imbibed  from  the  follower.-  of  his  iellou  -count  iyuom:tn  St.  Theresa 
( 1  ."> 1 5-82).  He  eame  to  Italy  at  some  unrecorded  date  and  by  his 
high  character,  his  personal  attractiveness,  his  intellectual  gifts  and 
the  fascinating  novelty  of  his  tenets,  won  innumerable  adherents  ^ 
•  'very where,  in  Rome  and  Naples  more  especially,  _A^  Rome  he 
bccame^a  director  of  fashionable  consciences'1,  an  '  ellieient 
gleaner  of  souls  ',  as  Mr.  fc>trach«  y  says  of  Manning,  'who  moved  in 
t  he  k>st  society  '  2 ;  among  his  friends  and  followers  he  could  count 
Crist ina,  the  brilliant  and  eccentric  ex-queen  of  Sweden.  Keele-i- 
astics  of  high  position,  one  of  whom  was  Cardinal  d'Kstree>,  the 
French  ambassador,  gathered  round  him,  and  in  IfiTfi  Tnnoo.ent  XL. 
the  newly  elected^Pope.  lodged  him  in  the  Vatican,  took  him — so  it 
was  believed — fojLJlis_j^irituaJLdbIrectpr,  and  even  purposecTto  make 
him  a  cardinal.  It  had  long  been  known  that  Molinos  would 
embody  his  opinions  in  a  book  to  be  called  The  Spiritual  Guide,  and 
in  1675  the  book  had  appeared,  with  '  approbations '  from  members 
of  the  Inquisition.  It  was  most  enthusiastically  received  :  we  are 
told  that  in  five  years  it  passed  through  no  less  than  twenty  editions. 
It  was  not  till  1680  that  a  prognostic  of  trouble  was  first  discern- 
ible, but  it  was  such  a  cloud  as  could  scarcely  disturb  the  serenity 
of  the  sky.  It  was,  indeed,  no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand  ;  it  was 
a  cautious  tract  by  a  Jesuit,  hinting,  without  asperity  or  direct 
mention  of  Molinos,  a/t  dangers  inherent  in  the  Method  of  Quietism. 
The  cloudlet  melted  "away  ;  in  IGSITlhe  Inquisition  approved  the 
Method  and  condemned  its  critic.  Meanwhile,  however,  the 
more  far-sighted  Jesuits  were  beginning  to  see  that  Molinisrn  was  •. 
in  fact  a  challenge  to  the  whole  ecclesiastical  system,  for  its  founder  || 
taught  that  confession  ia-no-  Lin  ding  Christian  duty,  that  there  is  noli 
need  for"  human  intermediaries  between  the  soul  and  God,  that 
all  external  rites  are  superfluities.  Despairing  of  the  Pope  3  they'1 
invited  and  secured  the  help  of  Louis  XIV.,  then,  as  always,  their 
close  ally,  and  by  his  command  the  most  hectoring  protest.-  were 
made  to  the  Vatican;  the  Pope,  so  the  King  complained,  was 
offering  cordial  hospitality  to  'a  corrupter  of  souls,  a  notorious 
scoffer  at  the  practices  and  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  '  4.  The 
French  ambassador,  whom  Molinos  knew  successively  as  adherent, 
as  friend,  as  spy,  as  betrayer  6,  and  as  open  enemy,  was  referred 

1  Lord  St.  Cyres,  Francois  de  Ftnelon,  p.  78. 

•in'iit  Victorians,  p.  54. 

I 'rayers  were  offered  in  Jesuit  monasteries  for  the  Pope's  conversion  to  Roman- 
ism ( liindow,  p.  -4).    The  prayers  were  heard,  for  soon  after  the  arrest  of  Molinos 
Innocent  ibuMOoed  him.     In  a  letter  written  in  1685  he  is  reported  to  have  said, 
\'i'riimi-ntf  *i<iin<>  ingannatu,  '  Truly  we  have  been  deceived  '  (ibid.  p.  K»). 
•»  Ibid.  p.  U7. 

5  'To  most  men  occupying  the  attitude  which  d'KstnVs  had  taken  towards 
Molino-  ami  hi- dort  rine-  these  orders  irom  Yer-aille-  \\oiil.l  have  hem  embar: 
ing.      Hut  d']  -  ;i  courtier,  and  he  enjoyed  an  nilicial  residence  at    Koine 

extremely.      AV/M/V  tff  mck  ruiilii  cr<ni<  t/trio  ,  he  \\;i-  ready  to  hum  Molinos'  (ibid. 
In  John  1  ii<ih's<in(,  o.  xxxvii. 


310  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

by  Innocent  XI.  to  the  Inquisitors,  whom  he  soon  convinced  that 
here  was  a  heresy  for  them  to  hunt.  A  long  secret  trial,  in  which 
imprisonment  and  torture  were  freely  employed  and  every  calumny, 
however  gross,  was  greedily  believed,  ended  as  the  King  and  the 
Jesuits  desired.  On  September  3,  1687.  the  church  of  S.  Maria 
sopra  Minerva,  which  had  been  the  scene,  some  forty  years  before, 
of  the  condemnation  and  of  the  abjuration  of  Galileo,  was  the  scene 
of  the_condemnation,  and  possibly  also  of  the  abjuration,  ofBpEnos, 
who,  unlike  Galileo,  was  kept  fast  in  prison  till  the  day  of  his  death, 
December  28,  1696.  Reisers  oTTJTe'Tlirig  and  the  Book  will  be 
inclined  to  ask,  ^hy^if  Innocent  XII.,  who  became  Pope  in  1691, 
was  as  sympathetic  tbwards'TiIm  as  the  poem  represents,  warte 
content  to  keep  him  there  ? 

Many  excellent  expositions  of  Molinos's  teaching  have  been 
published,  and  some  of  them  are  by  contemporaries  ;  of  these  latter 
I  shall  print  on&  in  full.  In  1685-6  a  famous  Scotchman  visited 
Rome,  Naples,  and  other  Italian  towns — no  less  a  person  than 
Gilbert  Burnet,  who  was  to  be  William  III.'s  Bishop  of  Salisbury, 
the  historian  of  '  his  own  time  '.  On  December  8,  1685,  after  the 
arrest  of  Molinos  but  before  his  condemnation,  this  competent 
observer  wrote  from  Rome  as  follows  to  a  friend  : — 

The  new  Method  of  Molinos  doth  so  much  prevail  in  Naples,  that 
'tis  said  he  hath  above  twenty  thousand  Followers  in  this  City.  And 
since  this  hath  made  some  Noise  in  the  World,  and  yet  is  generally 
but  little  understood,  I  will  give  you  some  Account  of  him.  He  is  a 
S^anish^a&s^  that  seems  to  be  but  an  ordinary  Divine,  and  is  certainly 
a  very  ill  Reasoner,  when  he  undertakes  to  prove  his  Opinions.  He 
hath  writ  a  Book,  which  is  in  titled,  II  Guida  Spirituale,  which  is-  a  short 
Abstract^_the_jffi^iticji.  Divinity.  ~"  The  Substance  of  the  whole  is 
reduced  tcTthis,  That  in  oar  Prayers  and  other  Devotions,  the  best  Methods 
are_to_jc£kir_e  .the  Mind  from  all  gross  Images,  and  so  to  form  an  Act  of 
Faith,  and  thereby  to  present  our  sePves  before  God,  and  then  to  sink  into 
a  Silence  and  Cessation  of  new  Acts,  and  to  let  God  act  upon  us,  and  so 
to  follow  his  ~V6nducl.  This  way  he  prefers  to  the  Multiplication  of 
many  new  Acts,  and  different  Forms  of  Devotion  ;  and  he  makes  small 
Account  of  corporal  Austerities,  and  reduces  all  the  Exercises  of  Religion 
to  this  Simplicity  of  Mind.  He  thinks  this  is  not  oitiy  to  be  proposed 
to  such  as  live  in  religious  Houses,  but  even  to  Secular  Persons,  and 
by  this  he  hath  proposed  a  great  Reformation  of  Men's  Minds  and 
Manners.  He  hath  many  Priests  in  Italy,  but  chiefly  in  Naples,  that 
dispose  those  who  confess  themselves  to  them,  to  follow  his  Method. 
The.  Jesuits '.have  set  themselves  much  against  this  Conduct,  as  fore- 
seeing, that  it  may  much  weaken  the  Empire  that  Superstition  hath  over 
the  MimEjoTPeople,  that  it  may  make  Religion  become  a  more  plain 
and  simple  thing,  and  may  also  open  a  Door  to  Enthusiasms.  They 
also  pretend,  that  his  Conduct  is  factious  and  seditious  ;  that  this  may 
breed  a  Schism  in  the  Church.  And  because  he  saith  in  some  Places 
of  his  Book,  That  the  Mind  may  rise  up  to  such  a  Simplicity  in  its  Acts, 


.I/'/'.  VIII.—  MOLINOS  AND  THE  MOLINISTS   311 


Unit   //   inn//  /'/.NT   ///   .mutt-  of  if*   Ihrotini,*  to  <',ml  i  in  nndiateltj,  Without  Con- 

h  „>/>/,  itit/'j  tin  llnmniiilii  <>f  t'hrixl,  they  have  accused  him  as  intending 
in  lay  aside  the  Doctrine  nf  Christ's  /I  iniintiily  ;  tho'  'tis  plain  that 
he  speaks  only  "/  //,,  /'«/•////  of  some  single  Acts.  Upon  all  those  Heads 
they  have  set  themselves  miieh  against  Moli/io*;  and  they  have  also 
pretended,  that  some  of  his  |)i>eip|rs  have  infused  into  their  Penitents, 
Tlnit  tin'/  niiui  i/o  (i/i<l  i-iuniiiiinii-ntf,  f/.t  t/tti/  find  themselves  disposed, 
irithoiit  going  first  to  Confession  :  which  they  thought  weakened  much 
the-YokeJjy  which  tin-  Priest*  subdue  tfie  Consciences  of  the  People 
to  their  Conduct.  Yet  he  was  mm  h  supported,  both  in  the  Kingdom 
of  .V'//*/«  v.  and  in  Sicily:  He  had  also  many  Friends  and  Followers 
at  Rome.  So  the  Jesuits,  as  a  Provincial  of  the  Order  assured  me, 
finding  that  they  could  not  ruine  him  by  their  own  Force,  got  a  great 
King,  that  is  now  extremely  in  the  Interests  of  their  Order,  to  inter- 
pose, and  to  represent  to  the  Pope  the  Danger  of  such  Innovations. 
It  i-  certain,  the  Pope  understands  the  Matter  very  little,  and  that  he 
i>  po-M^M-d  with  a  great  ((pinion  of  Mol'titox*  Sanctity;  yet,  upon  the 
Complaints  of  some  Cardinals,  that  seconded  the  Zeal  of  that  King, 
he  and  some  of  his  Followers  were  clapt  in  the  Inquisition,  where  they 
have  been  now  for  some  Months  :  But  they  are  still  well  used,  which 
is  believed  to  flow  from  the  good  Opinion  that  the  Pope  hath  of  him, 
who  saith  still,  that  tho'  he  may  have  erred,  yet  he  is  certainly  a  good 
Man.  Upon  this  Imprisonment,  Pasquin  said  a  pleasant  thing.  In 
one  week,  one  Man  had  been  condemned  to  the  Gallies  for  somewhat 
he  had  said,  another  had  been  hanged  for  somewhat  he  had  writ,  and 
Molinos  was  clapt  in  Prison,  whose  Doctrine  consisted  chiefly  in  this, 
That  Men  ought  to  bring  their  Minds  to  a  State  of  inward  Quietness  ; 
from  which  the  Name  of  Quietists  was  given  to  all  his  Followers.  The 
Pasquinade  upon  all  this  was,  Si  parliamo,  in  Oalere  ;  si  scrivemmo, 
1  in  jiii-i-nti  :  .s/  xtiaino  in  quiete,  alV  SanC  OJficio  :  e  che  bisogna  fare? 
If  we  speak,  we  are  sent  to  the  Gallies  ;  if  we  write,  we  are  hanged  ; 
if  \\e  stand  quiet,  we  are  clapt  up  in  the  Inquisition  :  What  must  wo 
do  then  ?*  Yet  his  Followers  at  Naples  are  not  daunted,  but  they 
l»clieve  ho  will  come  out  of  this  Trial  victorious  2. 

1  This  pasquinade,  which  was  current  soon  after  the  arrest,  is  quoted  in  two 
letters  written  in  August  \(W:>  (Him-lnw,  pp.  48,  50). 

-  »S't»/»<'  Li'tli-rx,  (  'ntitni/ihtti  un  Aci'im/it  <>)'  n  luit  neem'd  most  remarkable  in  trarcl/iny 
•t:>-rtnti<l.  It'ili/,  Honw  Part*  of  <;,TIII<II>II.  etc.  In  the  Years  H*.~>  and  MM;. 
Written  by  O.  Burnet,  D.D.  (London.  l7iM).  pp.  ^m-ii. 


APPENDIX   IX 
THE  POSY  OF  BROWNING'S  RING  (I.  1391-1416) 

0  lyric  Love,  half  angel  and  half  bird 

And  all  a  wonder  and  a  wild  desire, — 

Boldest  of  hearts  that  ever  braved  the  sun, 

Took  sanctuary  within  the  holier  blue, 

And  sang  a  kindred  soul  out  to  his  face, —  1395 

Yet  human  at  the  red-ripe  of  the  heart — 

When  the  first  summons  from  the  darkling  earth 

Reached  thee  amid  thy  chambers,  blanched  their  blue, 

And  bared  them  of  the  glory — to  drop  down, 

To  toil  for  man,  to  suffer  or  to  die, —  1400 

This  is  the  same  voice  :  can  thy  soul  know  change  ? 

Hail  then,  and  hearken  from  the  realms  of  help  ! 

Never  may  I  commence  my  song,  my  due 

To  God  who  best  taught  song  by  gift  of  thee, 

Except  with  bent  head  and  beseeching  hand —  1405 

That  still,  despite  the  distance  and  the  dark, 

What  was,  again  may  be  ;  some  interchange 

Of  grace,  some  splendour  once  thy  very  thought, 

Some  benediction  anciently  thy  smile  : 

Never  conclude,  but  raising  hand  and  head  1410 

Thither  where  eyes,  that  cannot  reach,  yet  yearn 

For  all  hope,  all  sustainment,  all  reward, 

Their  utmost  up  and  on, — so  blessing  back 

In  those  thy  realms  of  help,  that  heaven  thy  home, 

Some  whiteness  which,  I  judge,  thy  face  makes  proud,       1415 

Some  wanness  where,  I  think,  thy  foot  may  fall ! 

The  '  posy '  falls  into  two  parts.  In  the  first  (1391-1402),  after 
the  elaborated  vocative  of  lines  1391-1400  and  the  parenthetical 
question  of  line  1401,  the  poet  appeals  in  line  1402  to  his  'lyric 
Love ' *  to  hearken  to  him  from  heaven,  '  from  the  realms  of  help  '. 

1  It  is  a  curiosity  of  literature  that  the  author  of  a  book  called  The  Religion 
of  our  Literature  should  have  written  as  follows  :  '  Though  Lyric  Love  is  here  a 
quality  personified,  it  seems  to  be  so  interchangeably  with  Christ.  .  .  .  We  have 
heard  that  some  interpreters  have  actually  considered  them  to  be  addressed  to 
his  wife  '  (quoted  by  Berdoe,  Browning  Cyclopcedia,  pp.  293-4). 

312 


APP.  IX.—  POSY  OF  BROWNING'S  RING    313 

In  tin-  second  (1403-16)  he  records  a  solemn  vow  which  contains  a 
prayer  and  a  thanksgiving  to  which  he  would  have  her  give  ear. 
He  vows  that  IK  will  never  begin  his  song1  without  praying  her, 
with  brut  head  and  beseeching  hand,  to  inspire  him  still,  and  will 
never  end  it  without  blessing  her,  with  hand  and  head  raised,  for 
the  inspiration  which  he  is  well  assured  that  he  will  have  received. 

That  such  is  the  general  drift  of  the  passage  is  unquestionable  ;  I 
must  therefore  dissent  in  limine  from  the  suggestion  of  the  I: 
J.  J.  G.  Graham  2  that  the  poet  causes  the  poetess  to  bless  back  to 
him  what  the  last  two  lines  express.  The  word  '  blessing  '  in  1413 
is  in  apposition  to  '  raising  '  in  1410,  and  the  person  who  '  raises  hand 
and  head  '  and  who  therefore  '  blesses  back  '  is  obviously  the  poet. 

If  in  its  general  drift  the  passage  is  clear,  in  some  points  of  detail 
it  is  not  so  clear  ;  but  its  only  serious  difficulty  lies  in  its  last  two 
lines  3.  What  are  the  '  whiteness  '  and  the  '  wanness  '  of  those 
lines,  and  what  do  the  relative  clauses  which  describe  them  mean  V 
(  'lit  ics  quote  the  posy  in  full  and  very  justly  extol  it,  but  except  in  the 
Browning  Society's  Papers  I  have  found  no  published  answers  to  these 
questions.  In  those  papers  I  find  answers  from  the  critic  whom  I 
have  named  and  from  Dr.  Furnivall4. 

Mr.  Graham  explains  the  *  whiteness  '  of  the  passage  as  '  good- 
ness, purity,  innocence,  guileless  truth,  unselfish  Jove  —  perfect  in 
heaven,  marred  and  stained  on  earth  '  ;  the  '  wanness  '  as  '  the 
exaggeration  of  whiteness  5,  the  excess  of  all  this,  angelic  goodness  ' 
and  so  forth.  The  poetess,  he  says,  '  is  all  whiteness,  all  wanness  ' 
in  heaven,  and  she  conveys  to  the  poet  some  measure  of  these 
qualities  (for  it  is  only  to  some  that  we  on  earth  can  attain)  —  '  some 
of  her  own  whiteness,  the  idea  of  which  makes  her  face,  he  judges, 
even  in  heaven  to  shine  with  a  ...  prouder  joy  ;  some  of  her  own 
wanness,  reflected  on  him  from  her  realms  of  help,  where  on  the. 
golden  floor,  he  thinks,  her  foot  may  fall  '.  The  critic  cautiously 
adds,  and  I  share  his  misgiving,  that  Browning  may  not  have 
meant  all  this,  but  he  comforts  himself  with  the  reflection  that  '  we 
may  lawfully  find  in  the  creative  work  of  great  bards  meanings  which 
(\eii  they  themselves  never  meant  nor  intended  '.  Very  possibly  ; 
but  great  bards  mean  or  intend  .something,  and  it  is  the  first  duty  of 
their  interpreters  to  discover,  if  they  can,  what  that  something  is. 

Dr.  Furnivall,  whose  exegesis  of  the  passage  claims  respect  both 
from  the  scrupulous  care  which  he  lavished  on  his  'grammatical 
analysis  '  and  from  the  fact  that  '  the  poet  himself  decided  '  at  least 
one  doubt  for  him  8,  wrote  :  *  The  "  whiteness  "  is  the  glory  round 

/     ,  Mjn  I  iiriiivull.  hi>  work  upon  The  Ring  and  the  Book. 
-  The  Browning  Social/'*  /'<//<./-.-,  part  xi.  p.  389. 

"iiir  point-;  of  less  ditl'n  ulty  s,-f  tin-  ix.trs  to  Book  I. 
•it.  p:irt  i\.  pp.  I1 
tirah.ini  .|ii..t.^  fn-m  l'itrl,-ni>t<jn,  p.  -jD'.i,  the  plirusr  '  w 


whiten  to  wanness 
in  support  of  his  Interpretation  of  the  won  I. 

i  mil. 


314  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

the  person,  halo-robed,  of  the  Poetess — with,  perchance,  white  clad 
angels  and  saints — in  Heaven  ;  the  "  wanness  ",  Heaven's  lucent 
floor  '  ;  and  he  added  that  the  poet,  '  for  her  aid  to  him  ',  blessed 
the  poetess  back  in  Heaven — '  her  in  her  glorified  body,  .  .  .  her, 
as  she  paces  the  floor  of  Heaven,  wan  with  unearthly  light '  x.  These 
last  words  are  open  to  the  obvious  criticism  that  the  whiteness  and 
the  wanness  are  not  introduced  by  the  poet  as  simply  descriptive  of 
the  poetess  in  heaven  ;  he  blesses  back,  not  her  in  her  whiteness  and 
her  wanness,  but  the  whiteness  and  the  wanness  themselves. 

A  similar  but  more  attractive  interpretation  of  the  passage  has 
been  suggested  to  me  by  my  friend  Canon  Cruickshank  of  Durham, 
who  writes  as  follows  : 

I  have  often  puzzled  over  the  lines  in  question.  The  only  solution 
I  can  frame  is  this.  Mrs.  Browning  was  an  invalid,  we  know  ;  therefore 
presumably  white  and  wan.  The  poet  regards  her  as  an  angel ;  her 
characteristics  in  heaven  will  still  be  those  which  she  had  on  earth,  and 
her  environment  will  have  elements  which  she  displayed  on  earth,  for 
heaven  and  the  angels  are  entirely  congruous.  Consequently  there 
will  be  whiteness  and  wanness  in  heaven  where  she  moves.  Her  pale 
face  will  make  the  surrounding  whiteness  proud,  and  there  will  be 
wanness  where  '  her  foot  may  fall '. — The  thoughts  really  at  work  in 
the  poet's  mind  are  two  :  (1)  she  is  still  the  inspiration  of  his  life  and 
his  muse,  though  removed  for  a  time ;  and  (2)  she  will  be  recognizable 
in  heaven  when  he  joins  her.  She  who  was  white  and  wan  on  earth 
will  though  glorified  be  his  wife  still  in  heaven.  The  latter  thought 
is  not  indeed  expressed,  but  I  think  it  is  in  his  heart  of  hearts,  inspiring 
the  whole  passage. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Canon  Cruickshank,  who  gives  a  much  more 
satisfactory  meaning  to  '  wanness '  than  the  Browning  Society 
interpreters,  agrees  with  Dr.  Furnivall  in  thinking  that  it  is  in  a 
glorified  vision  of  his  lyric  Love  that  the  poet  will  find  that '  inspira- 
tion of  his  muse  '  for  which  he  has  prayed.  But  the  question  arises 
whether  he  did  not  count  on  a  less  mystical  and  more  definite  in- 
spiration. A  reader  who  has  read  carefully  to  the  end  of  line  1414 
and  then  pauses  for  a  moment  will,  I  think,  very  confidently  expect 
that  what  the  poet  is  blessing  back  will  prove  to  be  some  such  help  in 
his  work  as  the  poetess  gave  him  while  on  earth,  some  such  help  as 
he  has  prayed  that  she  will  still  give  him  from  heaven, 

some  interchange  2 

Of  grace,  some  splendour  once  thy  very  thought, 

Some  benediction  anciently  thy  smile. 

Can  '  wanness '  and  '  whiteness  '  be  so  interpreted  as  to  fulfil  this 
expectation  ? 

1  The  French  version  to  which  I  have  referred  in  the  note  to  I.  1391-1416 
runs  as  follows  :    renvoyant  ainsi  .  .  .  un  pieux  hommage  a  quelque  Wane  rayon 
fier  du  reflet  de  ton  visage,  a  quelque  pale  nuage,  rencontre  peut-0tre  sous  tes  pas. 

2  See  note  on  I.  1407. 


APP.  IX.— POSY  OF  BROWNING'S  RING     315 

Mi.  A.  H.  Smith,  a  friend  who  has  often  come  to  my  rescue  in  a 
diilieulty,  agrees  with  me  that  the  words  ought  to  be  so  interpretable 
and  is  inclined  to  think  that  they  can  be  so  interpreted.  He  suggests 
that  they  refer,  not  to  characteristics  of  the  poetess  in  heaven,  but 
to  characteristics  of  Browning's  own  poem : — 

The  Ring  and  the  Book  [he  writes]  has  moments  and  episodes  of 
splendour  (highly  wrought  and  noble  passion,  etc. — all  this  is  the  '  white- 
ness '),  and  again  a  world  of  suffering  and  of  things  pitiful  ('  wanness  '). 
The  splendour  is  represented  as  reflected  from  the  face  of  the  poet's 
wife  in  heaven  and  the  sad  places  are  places  in  which  she  (who  was 
always  so  ready  to  answer  the  call  of  sorrow  and  '  to  toil  for  man,  to 
suffer  or  to  die  ')  would  be  ready  to  walk  and  which  would  show  the 
traces  of  her  footsteps.  Browning,  communing  with  her  in  heaven, 
t  hanks  her  for  everything  which,  flowing  from  her  inspiration,  is  splendid 
and  pitiful  in  his  poem.  As  the  reference  to  '  whiteness '  catches  up 
and  repeats  1407-9,  so  the  reference  to  '  wanness  '  catches  up  1397-1400. 
One  might  perhaps  argue  in  support  of  this  interpretation  that  the  use  of 
the  word  '  some '  throughout — '  some  interchange ',  '  some  splendour ', 
*  some  benediction ',  '  some  whiteness ' ,  *  some  wanness ' — indicates 
that  Browning  is  on  the  same  tack  throughout,  the  tack  being  that 
all  that  is  best  in  his  poem  comes  from  his  lyric  Love.  ...  It  seems 
very  likely  [he  adds]  that  the  choice  of  the  words  whiteness  and  wan- 
ness was  half -consciously  dictated  in  the  way  Canon  Cruickshank 
suggests.  Physical  and  moral  and  metaphysical  associations  were 
probably  all  mixed  up  in  the  two  words,  which  certainly  give  one  the 
impression  that  they  were  well  packed  with  meaning  for  Browning. 


APPENDIX  X 

'ABATE,— CARDINAL,— CHRIST,— MARIA,— GOD,  .  .  . 
'POMPILIA,  WILL  YOU  LET  THEM  MURDER  ME  ?' 

IF  the  climax  of  Guide's  appeal  at  the  end  of  Book  XL  is  not  what 
R.  H.  Hutton  was  inclined  to  call  it,  '  the  only  purely  dramatic 
passage  in  Browning's  whole  picture  '  \  it  is  assuredly  the  most 
dramatic  ;  it  thrills  the  reader  with  its  final  vocative  2,  the  most 
arresting  single  word,  perhaps,  in  English  literature.  It  thrills  the 
reader,  but  how  should  he  interpret  it  ? 

Bishop  Westcott  noted  as  a  speciality  of  Browning  that  he 
discerns  a  spark  of  goodness  in  very  evil  people  and  '  thereby  restores 
assurance  as  to  the  destiny  of  creation  ' ;  the  poet,  he  wrote,  '  has 
dared  to  look  on  the  darkest  and  meanest  forms  of  action  and  passion 
.  .  .  and  has  brought  back  to  us  from  this  universal  survey  a  con- 
viction of  hope  '.  Of  this  the  Bishop  found  an  instance  in  the 
invocation  of  Pompilia  ;  he  saw  in  it  a  suggestion  that  Guido, 
however  degraded  and  debased,  was  '  not  past  hope  to  the  spiritual 
'  Up  to  the  last ',  he  continued,  '  with  fresh  kindled  passion, 
great  criminal  reasserts  his  hate.  .  .  .  The  end  comes.  The 
ministers  of  death  claim  him.  In  his  agony  he  summons  every 
helper  whom  he  has  known  or  heard  of  ...  and  then  the  light 
breaks  through  the  blackest  gloom.  In  the  supreme  moment  he 
has  known  what  love  is,  and  knowing  it  has  begun  to  feel  it.  The 
cry,  like  the  intercession  of  the  rich  man  in  Hades  for  his  five 
brethren  3,  is  a  promise  of  far-off  deliverance  '  4.  The  same  view  is 
taken  by  Sir  Henry  Jones  5  and  Professor  Hodell  6  ;  and  Mr.  Arthur 

1  Literary  Essays,  p.  232. 

2  We  may  compare  with  it  the  hardly  less  dramatic  vocative  '  HAKEEM  ! ', 
Anael's  dying  cry  in  The  Return  of  the  Druses. 

8  The  comparison  is  not  felicitous.  Dives  intercedes  (as  the  Bishop  says)  for 
his  brethren  ('  lest  they  also  come  into  this  place  of  torment '),  just  as  in  Pippa 
Passes  the  sinful  Ottima  intercedes  for  her  paramour  ('  Not  me — to  him,  O  God, 
be  merciful !  ').  Guide's  appeal  is  for  himself  ('  will  you  let  them  murder  me  ?  '). 

*  Religious  Thought  in  the  West,  pp.  253-4,  265-6. 

5  Browning  as  a  Philosophical  and  Religious  Teacher,  p.  117. 

6  O.Y.JB.  277.     Hodell  calls  the  invocation  a  '  cry  for  forgiveness '. 

316 


eye '. 
the  g 


APP.  X.— INVOCATION  OF  POMPILIA      317 

Symons,  noting  how  in  '  this  superb  dimax  '  (luido  'reveals  in  a 
ln-eath  his  mvri  malignant  cowardice  and  the  innocence  of  his 
murdered  wife',  asks  parenthetically  the  unexpected  question, 
'  Is  it  with  a  touch  of  remorse,  of  saving  penitence  ?  '  * 

That  the  alleged  speciality  of  Browning  is  a  real  speciality  is 
indisputable  2  ;  he  discerned  '  sparks  '  in  most  unpromising  '  clods  '. 
I  cannot  believe,  however,  that  the  invocation  means  that  he  dis- 
cerned any  spark  in  Guido ;  you  must  not  read  what  you  take  to 
be  a  poet's  psychological  system  into  every  line  and  word  of  his 
dramatic  work.  It  is  true  that  the  Pope,  in  the  noble  passage  which 
ends  Book  X.,  expresses  a  (far  from  confident)  hope  that  by  '  a 
suddenness  of  fate  '  the  truth  may  be 

Hashed  out  by  one  blow, 
And  Guido  see,  one  instant,  and  be  saved ; 

but  the  truth  of  Pompilia's  goodness  is  not  suddenly  flashed  upon 
Guido  ;  his  conviction  of  it  has  inspired  some  of  the  ugliest  parts  of 
his  soliloquy ;  it  revolts  him.  He  remembers,  however,  that  she 
found  excuses  for  him — '  he  did  not  make  himself  '  (XI.  941,  2100) ; 
that  she  desired  no  revenge — he  scorns  her  '  abnegation '  of  it  (2086) ; 
that  she  had  '  no  touch  of  hate  ' — '  it  would  prove  her  hell ',  he  says, 
*  if  I  reached  mine  '  (2089-90) ;  and  the  thought  is  '  flashed  '  upon 
him  that  he  can  therefore  count  upon  her  intercession,  which,  as 
coming  from  one  whom  he  has  so  deeply  wronged,  should  have  a 
marvellous  efficacy.  Prompted  accordingly,  not  by  a  knowledge 
of  what  love  is,  nor  by  '  remorse  and  saving  penitence  ',  but  by  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation,  he  appeals  to  her  '  as  to  a  power  almost 
beyond  God's  '  3  ;  despairing  of  all  other  help  he  sees  in  her  his  last 
resource.  But  then  he  has  not  said  one  word  about  her  '  which  is  not 
set  on  fire  by  a  hell  of  hatred '  ;  his  '  outbursts  of  tiger  fierceness '  * 
against  her  have  left  the  foam  still  upon  his  lips  6 ;  so  that  of  all 
powers  in  heaven  and  on  earth  she  is  precisely  the  one  to  whom 
appeal  is  barred. 

The  invocation  exerts  its  arresting  force  on  different  minds  in 
different  ways.  For  some  of  us  its  impressiveness  lies,  not  in  its 
'  restoring  assurance  as  to  the  destiny  of  creation  ',  nor  in  its  furnish- 
ing an  extreme  example  of  the  poet's  optimism,  but  in  its  startling 


1  Introduction  to  Brottming,  p.  146. 

2  See  for  example  the  last  lines  of  Apparent  Failure. 

\\.    II.    lluttcill.  tOC.  tit. 

'  Tin-  c\|»n  —  ion<  qiiMtnl  atv   .Mr.   Stopford  T.r  '»»»«/.  \>.   :'.»' 

I'ompilia  says  of  (iuiilo.  '  hat.-  was  tin-  truth  of  him  '  (VII.  17^7). 

IK  has  said,  only  twenty  lines  before  that  containing  his  appeal, 

1  i.To\v  one  gorge 

To  ln;ithiii'_rly  n'jn-t  I'oinpilia's  pale 
Poison  my  hasty  hunger  took  for  food  (2404-6). 


318  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

revelation  of  the  unspeakable  meannessof^a  lost  soul.  When  fate 
has  mastered  Iago7  lie  declares  thai  from  this  time  forth  '  he 
'  never  will  speak  word ',  and  when  asked  '  What,  not  to  pray  ? ' 
he  makes  no  answer.  '  Well,  thou  dost  best ',  says  Othello  1 ;  he 
does  better,  to  my  mind,  than  Guido. 

i  Othello,  5.  2.  304-6. 


APPENDIX  XI 
REVISIONS  OF  THE  TEXT  OF  THE  POEM 

THE  late  Lord  Courtney  of  Penwith  sent  to  The  Times  (Literary 
Supplement,  February  25,  1909)  '  A  note  on  The  Ring  and  the  Book  ' 
on  the  main  purport  of  which  I  have  commented  elsewhere  \  He 
was  chiefly  concerned  with  what  he  regarded  as  an  error  in  the  poem, 
but  he  quoted  incidentally  from  a  letter  which  Browning  wrote  him 
on  May  14,  1881,  and  from  his  quotation  I  extract  the  following  : 

I  have  not  Iqoked  at  the  poem  .  .  .  since  it  appeared  in  print 
rest -r\  iiiLr  that  business  for  a  future  day  (which  ought  not  to  be  delayed 
much    In  Hirer),    when   the   whole   work   will   be   carefully   revised.     At 
promt    1    have  the  faintest  memory  concerning  any  particular  part 

<>r  pa-sair.e  of  it. 

The  extract  is  of  extraordinary  interest.  It  reminds  us,  in  the 
most  compelling  way,  of  what  we  are  told  was  the  poet's  normal 
attitude  towards  his  past  work.  Matthew  Arnold  used  to  say  that 
an  author  could  not  be  always  reading  his  own  books,  and  no  author 
was  less  disposed  to  do  so  than  was  Browning.  Conscious,  if  ever 
poet  was,  of  the  high  calling  by  the  exercise  of  which  he  was  to  '  save 
his  soul'  he  pressed  forward,  forgetting  much  that  was  behind; 
he  delegated  the  close  perusal  and  the  interpretation  of  his  published 
pomis  (according  to  a  perhaps  mythical  anecdote)  to  the  members 
of  the  Browning  Society.  But  he  cannot,  of  course,  have  been 
speaking  very  seriously  when  In-  professed  to  have  but  the  faint «  >t 
memory  of  any  particular  passage  of  his  nuujniun  <>f»is,  even  of  that 
very  particular  passage  (relating  as  it  does  to  a  crucial  incident 
of  Pompilia's  story)  at  which  his  correspondent  was  inclined  to  cavil. 
He  had  not,  we  may  be  sure,  forgotten  '  O  lyric  Love  ',  or  '  Pompilia, 
will  you  let  them  murder  me  ?  ',  or  the  endings  of  the  monologues 
of  his  hero  and  heroine,  or  many  other  things  that  are  unforgettable. 
Nor,  again,  can  we  interpret  without  much  latitude  his  statement 
that  he  had  not  looked  at  the  poem  since  it  appeared  in  print; 
unless  Lord  Courtney  omitted  some  important  qualification,  it 

i  See  the  notes  on  I.  511-15  and  III.  1065-6. 
319 


320  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

cannot  be  reconciled  with  fact.  A  second  edition  of  The  Ring  and 
the  Book  appeared  in  1872 1  and  it  was  no  mere  reprint  of  the  first 
edition  of  1868-9 ;  the  author  had  subjected  the  text  to  a  thorough 
revision  in  the  interval.  Seventeen  new  lines  had  been  added — an 
addition  which,  if  small  in  proportion  to  the  21,000  lines  already 
there,  could  not,  one  would  have  thought,  have  been  forgotten  by  the 
man  who  made  it — ,  and  not  only  had  these  new  lines  been  added  ; 
like  his  Arcangeli,  Browning  '  stuck  in  this  '  and  '  threw  out  that '  ; 
he  retained  his  old  lines,  it  is  true,  but,  like  his  Bottini,  he  '  pruned 
and  pared '.  The  stickings-in  and  the  throwings-out,  the  prunings 
and  the  parings,  taken  one  by  one,  were  not  often  important,  but 
taken  together  they  come  to  a  good  deal ;  that  many  of  them,  such 
as  most  of  the  changes  in  punctuation,  are  inconspicuous  and  even 
trivial  is  in  itself  good  evidence  that  the  revision  of  1872  was  deliberate 
and  careful. 

We  have  seen  that  nine  years  later  the  poet  looked  forward  (it 
would  seem,  without  enthusiasm)  to  a  further  revision  ;  it  was  a 
business,  he  felt,  '  which  ought  not  to  be  delayed  much  longer '. 
The  business  was  undertaken  and  completed,  for  the  sixteen- 
volume  2  edition  of  his  collected  works,  in  1888-9,  shortly  before  his 
death.  In  this  second  revision  no  new  lines  were  added,  but  in 
other  respects,  though  somewhat  more  extensive,  it  was  of  the  same 
kind  as  that  of  1872. 

I  have  compared  the  text  of  the  different  editions,  and  here  are 
the  general  results  of  the  comparison  in  respect  of  three  of  the  twelve 
Books.  Some  of  the  changes  introduced  were  of  course  merely 
consequent  on  others. 

In  Book  II.  there  are  over  120  differences  between  the  first 
edition  (A)  and  that  of  1888-9  (C) ;  about  half  of  them  are  in 
wording  and  about  half  in  punctuation  and  the  like.  About 
a  third  of  the  changes  had  already  been  made  in  the  second 
edition  (B). 

In  Book  III.  there  are  about  110  differences  between  A  and  C, 
of  which  about  65  are  in  wording.  Rather  less  than  a  third  of 
the  changes  had  been  made  in  B. 

In  Book  XII.  there  are  over  130  differences  between  A  and  C  ; 
they  are  distributed  roughly  as  in  Book  II.  More  than  a 
third  but  less  than  half  of  the  changes  had  been  made  in  B, 
in  which  several  new  lines  were  introduced.3 


1  T  have  seen  no  copy  of  an  1872  edition  of  Vol.  II.  (containing  Books  IV.,  V., 
VI.)  and  am  not  sure  that  one  was  printed. 

2  A  seventeenth  volume,  containing  Asolando  and  some   '  Biographical  and 
Historical  Notes ',  was  afterwards  added  to  this  edition. 

:!  A  list  of  the  changes  in  Book  XII.  is  given  at  the  end  of  this  Appendix.  As 
that  Book  is  much  shorter  than  either  Book  II.  or  Book  III.  it  is  clear  from  the 
figures  given  above  that  in  dealing  with  its  text  Browning  was  more  disposed  to 
alteration. 


APP.  XL— THE  TEXT  OF  THE  POEM   321 

The  changes  in  punctuation  are  included  in  the  above  statistics 
not  merely  because  they  are  sometimes  important,  but  for  two 
special  reasons  besides  :  (1)  for  that  already  noticed,  viz.  that  such 
changes,  especially  in  a  work  which  abounds  in  long  and  intricate 
sentences,  require  a  close  study  of  the  text  such  as  Browning  forgot 
that  he  had  made  ;  and  (2)  because,  though  his  punctuation  was  not 
always  felicitous,  he  was  supremely  alive  to  its  importance.  He 
resented  most  keenly  any  garbling  of  his  text  by  people  who  mis- 
placed his  stops,  for  it  led,  as  he  told  a  correspondent,  to  the  charge  of 
unintelligibility  being  brought  against  him — against  '  your  poor 
friend,  who  can  kick  nobody '  l ;  and  Mrs.  Orr  assures  us  that  his 
punctuation  '  was  always  made  with  the  fullest  sense  of  its  signifi- 
cance to  any  but  the  baldest  style,  and  of  its  special  importance  to 
his  own  '  2.  Unfortunately,  in  spite  of  his  sense  of  its  significance 
and  in  spite  of  the  two  revisions,  much  faulty  punctuation  appears 
in  the  latest  editions  ;  necessary  stops  are  sometimes  absent  and 
unnecessary  ones  present ;  worst  of  all,  some  quite  impossible  stops, 
even  impossible  full  stops,  have  crept  and  intruded  into  the  text  8. 

The  changes  of  wording,  though  not  always  important,  are  almost 
always  improvements.  They  usually  substitute  clearness  for 
obscurity,  or  correct  for  loose  grammar,  or  ordinary  for  Browningese 
English,  or  a  sound  for  an  unsound  emphasis,  or  a  smooth  and 
rhythmical  for  a  turbid  and  obstructed  flow  4,  or  a  lively  and  forcible 
for  a  tame  or  feeble  word  or  phrase.  One  change  of  the  last  kind 
may  be  of  interest  to  persons  concerned  in  the  production  of  books. 
In  the  first  edition  Bottini  introduces  his  extract  from  Fra  Celestino's 
sermon  thus : 

But  what  say  you  to  one  impertinence 

Might  move  a  man  ?     That  monk,  you  are  to  know,  .  .  .6 

'  Man  '  is  clearly  very  tame,  and  in  the  second  edition  it  makes  way 
for  '  stoic  ' ;  but  '  stoic  ',  if  much  more  forcible  than  '  man  ',  is  not 
strikingly  appropriate,  and  (though  its  metrical  peculiarity  is  not 
uncommon  in  Browning)  it  is  not  rhythmical.  In  the  final  edition 
we  read  '  stone  ',  which  is  rhythmical  and  is  absolutely  right  other- 
wise. The  poet,  we  may  conjecture,  deleted  *  man '  and  wrote 
'  stone  '  in  the  margin  on  his  first  revision  ;  '  stoic  '  was  perhaps 
simply  a  misreading  of  his  handwriting  by  a  too  well-informed 
printer. — The  alterations,  even  the  additions,  rarely  (if  ever)  intro- 
duce a  new  thought  or  a  new  fact,  and  do  not  often  correct  a  mis- 
statement  ;  in  one  place  indeed  a  correction  is  made,  where  Browning 


i  Mrs.  Orr,  Life,  pp.  357-8.  a  Life,  p.  360. 

a  See  X.  738-40,  note  ;  cf.  VI.  136.  VIII.  1048. 

•»  '  Metamorphosis  the  immeasurable '  (X.  1616)  is  not  a  very  elegant  line,  but 
it  is  better  than  '  The  immeasurable  metamorphosis ',  which  appeared  in  the  first 
edition.  5  XII.  444-5. 


322  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

does  not  often  slip  1,  in  a  scriptural  reference  ;  he  found  that  he  had 
confused  Hophni  and  Uzzah  2. 

Lists  are  appended  (1)  of  the  lines  which  were  added  to  the  poem 
in  1872 — none  were  added  in  the  later  revision  ;  and  (2)  of  the 
changes  in  wording  introduced  on  the  two  revisions  of  Book  XII., 
which  is  chosen,  not  because  these  changes  are  specially  important 
— they  are  not — ,  but  because  that  Book  is  the  shortest.  I  have 
not  included  in  this  latter  list  the  very  numerous  changes  in  punctua- 
tion to  which  reference  has  been  made  above. 


1.  LINES  ADDED  TO  THE  POEM  IN  1872 

All  the  additions  occur  in  later  Books,  viz.  in  VIII. ,  IX.,  XL,  and 
XII.  Book  X.  is  marked  in  the  margin  of  the  second  and  later 
editions  as  containing  2135  lines  against  the  2134  of  the  first,  but 
this  inconvenient  change  is  due,  not  to  the  addition  of  a  line,  but 
to  a  peculiarity  in  the  numbering ;  line  92  of  the  first  edition  was 
distributed  afterwards  between  two  paragraphs  and  was  therefore, 
in  accordance  with  Browning's  practice,  counted  as  two  lines. 

BOOK  VIII 

1.  The  first  edition  (A)  has  in  402 

Shaming  truth  so  ! 

For  which  the  second  edition  (B)  substitutes  (its  402-3) 

Undoing,  on  his  birthday, — what  is  worse, — 
My  son  and  heir  ! 

[The  change  is  welcome,  as  is  every  reference  to  the  young  Giacinto. 
'  Shaming  truth  so  ! '  has  no  great  value.] 

2.  After  A's  540  (B's  541)  B  adds 

Absit,  such  homage  to  vile  flesh  and  blood  ! 

[This  new  ending  of  the  paragraph  is  thoroughly  characteristic  of 
the  speaker.] 

3.  In  A's  1208-11  we  have 

"  Punishment  exceeds  offence  : 
"  You  might  be  just  but  you  were  cruel  too  !  " 
If  so  you  stigmatise  the  stern  and  strict, 
Still,  he  is  not  without  excuse — 

For  which  is  substituted  in  B  (its  1210-16) 

i  See,  however,  the  note  on  IV.  196.  2  iy.  834. 


APP.  XL— THE  TEXT  OF  THE  POEM       323 

"  Punishment  were  pardoned  him, 
"  But  here  the  punishment  exceeds  offence  : 
"  He  might  be  just,  but  he  was  cruel  too  !  " 
Why,  grant  there  seems  a  kind  of  cruelty 
In  downright  stabbing  people  he  could  maim, 
(If  so  you  stigmatise  the  stem  and  strict) 
Still,  Guido  meant  no  cruelty — 

[The  meaning  was  clear  enough  in  A,  but  there  is  some  gain  in 
getting  rid  of  the  application  of  *  you '  to  different  persons  in  A's 
1209  and  1210.] 

4.  After  A's  1214  B,  changing  the  punctuation  at  the  end  of  that 
line  to  a  comma,  adds  (its  1220) 

Merely  disfigure,  nowise  make  them  die. 

[The  addition  is  unnecessary.] 

5.  After  A's  1240  B,  removing  the  note  of  exclamation  at  the 
end  of  that  line,  adds  (its  1247) 

Obtained,  these  natural  enemies  of  man  ! 

[A  decided  improvement ;  A's  '  these  '  in  its  1240  stands  for  '  to 
these  '  ;  the  removal  of  the  Browningism  here  conduces  to  clearness.] 

6.  For  A's  1449 

Our  Cardinal  engages  read  my  speecli : 
B  substitutes  (its  1456-7) 

Our  Cardinal  engages  to  go  read 

The  Pope  my  speech,  and  point  its  beauties  out. 

[Another  improvement ;  indeed  the  change  is  almost  necessary. 
Arcangeli's  point  is  that  the  Cardinal  will  read  his  speech  to  the  Pope.] 

7.  After  A's  1507  B  inserts  (its  1516) 

By  application  of  his  tongue  or  paw  : 
[A  much  needed  addition.] 

BOOK  IX 

A's  498-500 

Suppose  this  man  could  love,  though,  all  the  same — 

From  what  embarrassment  she  sets  him  free 

Should  one,  a  woman  he  could  love,  speak  first —  500 

becomes  in  B  (its  498-502) 

Despite  the  coil  of  such  encumbrance  here, 

Suppose  this  man  could  love,  unhappily, 

And  would  love,  dared  he  only  let  love  show  ! 

In  case  the  woman  of  his  love,  speaks  first,  601 

From  what  embarrassment  she  sets  him  free  ! 


324  THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

[It  is  perhaps  doubtful  whether  the  expansion  of  the  passage 
improves  it.  The  misplaced  comma  after  '  love  '  in  B's  501  is  due 
to  its  having  followed  the  word,  quite  correctly,  in  A's  500.] 

BOOK  XI 

1.  After  A's  923  B  adds  (its  924),  removing  the  semicolon  after 
'  orb ', 

As  the  eye  of  God,  since  such  an  eye  there  glares  : 

[The  addition  is  not  necessary,  but  it  makes  for  clearness.] 

2.  After  A's  1087  B  adds  (its  1089),  changing  the  stop  after  c  toil ' 
to  a  comma, 

"  Proper  appreciation  and  esteem  !  " 
[Some  such  addition  was  much  wanted.] 

BOOK  XII 

1.  After  A's  606  B  inserts  (its  607) 

"  Plagued  here  by  earth's  prerogative  of  lies, 

[The  words  are  characteristic  of  the  speaker,  but  the  addition  is  not 
necessary.] 

2.  For  A's  607 

"  Should  learn  to  love  what  he  may  speak  one  day. 
B  substitutes  (its  608-9) 

"  Now  learns  to  love  and  long  for  what,  one  day, 
"  Approved  by  life's  probation,  he  may  speak. 

[The  change  makes  the  paragraph  end  with  more  impressiveness 
and  dignity.] 

3.  A's  613 

"  Yet  weigh  the  worth  of  worldly  prize  foregone  [sic], 
is  expanded  in  B  (its  615-16)  into 

"  Yet  what  forbids  I  weigh  the  prize  forgone, 
"  The  worldly  worth  ?     I  dare,  as  I  were  dead, 

[The  change  softens  the  contrast  between  A's  612  and  613.] 

4.  Between  A's  622  and  623  B,  which  changes  the  *  dream  '  of 
A's  622  to  '  doubt ',  inserts  (its  626) 

"  Many  a  dream  of  life  spent  otherwise — 

[The  new  line  enhances  the  beauty  of  the  passage.] 


APP.  XI.— THE  TEXT  OF  THE  POEM      325 


2.  VARIATIONS  OF  WORDING  IN  BOOK  XII 
ABC 

Original  Edition  Second  Edition  Final  Revision 


(1872) 


(1888-9) 


79  the  one 

its  one 

as  B 

85  the  man 

as  A 

our  man 

167  Guido  was  last  to 

To    ...    steps, 

as  B 

.  .  .  steps 

Guido  was  last 

223  he 

as  A 

folk 

268  Decollated    by 

Decollate  by  mere 

as  B 

way 

due 

273  Nor     its    ... 

Thereby,   nor  its 

as  B 

thereby 

.  .  . 

290  On  the  next 

On  next 

as  B 

^  |  folks 

as  A 

folk 

321  but 

as  A 

best 

348  folks 

as  A 

folk 

373  of 

at 

asB 

385  The 

as  A 

I'm 

409  I 

as  A 

Who 

445  man 

stoic 

stone 

451  shows,  have 

show  which 

as  B 

488  and 

as  A 

so 

499  man,  so,  blind 

as  A 

man  born  blind 

512  So 

as  A 

Thus 

521  held  the 

as  A 

now  held 

527  be 

as  A 

brood 

535  Be 

Are 

as  B 

637  Is 

as  A 

Lies 

538  lo,  a  cockatrice 

as  A 

lurks  a  centipede 

543  pass 
546  Was  deemed 

as  A 
as  A 

That  seemed 

547  lays 

as  A 

laid 

548  lets  the  world  see 

as  A 

let      the      woi  Id 

the 

perceive 

550  stand 

as  A 

stood 

655  fame  pearl-pure 

as  A 

E'-pure  fame 

556  In 

as  A 

559  Would       thence- 

as A 

h        thence- 

forth make 

forth  makes 

560  that's 

as  A 

souls' 

561  For 

as  A 

Since 

590  leave 

as  A 

let 

607  See  '  Lines  added  ' 

607-9  See        'Lines      i 

;<)7-'.»  it*  11  ;    hut  sub- 

added ' 

stitutes    Should 

learn  for  Now 

learns 

326 


THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


608  the  worn,  who 

610  as  A 

610  worn,  who  haply 

610  glide 
611  Bare  feet,  coarse 

612  glides 
613  With   these   bare 

612  as  B 
613  as  B 

robe  and  rope- 

feet,  coarse  robe 

girt     waist     of 

and     rope  -girt 

mine 

waist 

613  See  'Lines  added' 

615-16  See      'Lines 

615-16  as  B 

added' 

621  some 

624  much 

624  as  B 

622  dream  would 

625  doubt  would 

625  doubt  will 

—    See  '  Lines  added  ' 

626  See  'Lines  added' 

626  as  B 

626  great,  in  fine 

630  good  and  great 

630  as  B 

630  May  weU  be 

634  Of  life  are 

634  as  B 

641  the 

645  my 

645  as  B 

642  the 

646  my 

646  as  B 

647  Else       had       he 

651  Nor     stoops      to 

651  as  B 

turned 

turn      . 

650  —  So  rounded 

654  —  So,  rounding 

654  And  so  round 

657  the  liars 

661  as  A 

661  earth's  liars 

662  so  much 

666  froth  and 

666  as  B 

666  True 

670  The 

670  as  B 

671  where 

675  what's 

675  as  B 

675  paul 

679  as  A 

679  piece 

684  to  end 

688  as  .4 

688  which  ends 

689  Station 

693  Place  her 

693  as  B 

724  Is  turned  into 

728  Turn  into  quite 

728  as  B 

725  first  of  all 

729  as  A 

729  first 

726  And 

730  Which 

730  as  B 

770  accounts 

774  account 

774  as  B 

777  There 

781  If 

781  as  B 

784  to 

788  of 

788  as  B 

785  men's 

789  all 

789  as  B 

787  of  crime 

791  o'  the  crime 

791  as  B 

788  caused        such 

792  could  have  caused 

792  as  B 

urgency  to  cure 

such  urgency 

789  The     mob,     just 

793  To  cure  the  mob, 

793  as  B 

then,  of  chronic 

just  then,  of 

801  her 

805  the 

805  as  B 

804  stern  History 

808  the  annalist 

808  as  B 

805  Trust  rather  to 

809  Go  rather  by 

809  as  B 

814  one 

818  I 

818  as  B 

817  Of  bearing 

821  Which  bore  the 

821  as  B 

—    Book 

—    page 

—    as  B 

861  the  Andante 

865  as  A 

865  e'en  Beethoven 

It  will  be  observed  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  changes  made, 
including  all  the  added  lines,  occur  in  the  report  of  Fra  Celestino's 
sermon  (459-642  in  A) ;  see  Introduction  to  Book  XII. 


INDEX 


Abacus,  19 

4  Abashless ',  47 

Acciaiuoli,  the,  238 

Acquetta,  84-5,  109 

Addison,  25,  210,  240 

Advocate  and  Procurator,  xviii., 
10,  167 

JSacus,  21 

jEgiochus,  252 

;Elian,  11 

^Eschylus,  207,  227 

Afranius,  107 

'  Aggrandize  ',76 

'  Aggravating  circumstances  ',  10, 
173,  176 

Agur,  178 

Ahasuerus,  204,  246 

Albano  (Albani),  Cardinal  (after- 
wards Clement  XL),  225,  262 

Albano  (painter),  240 

Alexander  VI.,  216 

Alexander  VII.,  240 

Alexander  VIII.,  174,  204,  302 

'  All  and  some  ',176 

Alliteration  and  assonance,  24, 
102-3,  164,  192-3 

Amaryllis,  187 

Amasius,  174 

Ambrose,  St.,  170,  241,  253 

*  Ampollosity  ',271 

Anacreon  ('  the  Teian  '),  184 

Anatomy,  B.'s  knowledge  of, 
transferred  to  Guido,  95, 
240  ;  '  morbid  anatomy  ', 
233-4 

Audio  pescatorio,  205 

Angelica  Battista,  39,  40,  42,  94 


Anonymous  Pamphlets,  xviii., 
xxiii.,  and  passim 

'  Anotherguess ',  89 

Anti-Fabius,  192 

Antimasque,  229 

Antonelli,  Cardinal,  300 

Antony,  St.,  130 

Apices,  166 

'  Apollos  turned  Apollo  ',  43 

Aqua  tofana,  84-5 

Aquinas,  St.  Thomas,  95,  124, 
175 ;  his  Summa  Theologies, 
107,  123 

Arachnoid  tunic  of  brain,  241 

Arcangeli,  G.,  xviii. ;  as  alchemist, 
168;  his  asides,  163,  168, 
171  ;  contrasted  with  Bottini, 
179  ;  on  Molinism,  306-7  ;  his 
letter  to  Cencini,  258,  259, 
266-8;  his  monologue  at- 
tacked and  defended,  160-62, 
179-80,  not  to  be  skipped, 
161-3  ;  his  son,  see  Giacinto  ; 
his  pleadings  quoted  or  re* 
ferred  to,  passim 

Archbishop  (Bishop  ?)  of  Arezzo, 
45,  63,  64,  151,  153,  193,  215, 
223 

Archimedes,  190 

Arezzo  :  Duomo,  123,  125  ;  Fran- 
ceschini  palace,  39 ;  Pieve, 
121,  125,  154  ;  S.  Francesco, 
153;  statue  of  Ferdinand 
I.,  119 ;  Torrione,  126-7 ;  walla 
and  gates,  126-7 
*  Subtle  air  '  of,  82,  272  ;  arms 
of,  xxi.,  195;  the  Comparini  at, 


327 


328 


THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


80,  283-4 ;  the  flight  from,  45, 
64-5,  126-30,  156 ;  magistrates 
of,  272  ;  famous  natives  of, 

153,  210-11,  272;  origin  and 
antiquity  of,    95,    251,    272; 
records  of,  20,  38,  78,  95,  272, 
275 ;     trial   and   sentence    of 
Arezzo  Court,  xviii.,  45, 46,  89, 
110,  133-4,  213,  249 

Aristseus,  194 

Aristophanes,  257 

Aristotle,  169 

Arnold,  Matthew,  243,  319 

Art,  function  of,  273 

'  Artistry's  haunting  curse  ',  235, 

249 

<As'='asif ',  24,  62 
Asafoetida,  82 
Ash  and  elm,  mutual  antipathy  of, 

247-8 

Ashby,  T.,  xiii.,  21,  206 
'  Ask  Jansenius  else  ',  12,  250 
*  Aspectable ',  38 
Ass  as  God  of  Christians,  269 
Assisi,  128,  129,  156 
Assumption  of  the  Virgin,  127 
Astrcea  redux,  51 
Atlas  and  Axis,  240 
Augustin,  St.,  208,  253 
Aulus  GeUius,  227 
Auxilius.  205-6 
Ave,  the',  87 

B.    and     H.    Notes,    xxiii.,    107, 

191,  254 
Baccano,  70-71 
Bacchus,  195,  197 
Bacon,  Francis,  59,  106,  264 
Bacon,  Koger,  172 
Baedeker's  Central  Italy,  61,  165 
Bagehot,  W.,  6,  278 
Bagot's    My    Italian     Year,    108, 

147 

Baldeschi,  A.,  297 
Balliol  College  Library,  xx.-xxi.,  7 
Balzac,  B.  compared  to,  236,  237 
'  Barbacue  ',  175 
Barbers'  shops,  37 
Bartholomew  Anglicus,   101,   136, 

154,  169 

'  Bartolus-cum-Baldo  ',  11,  268 


Basilisk,  135-6 

Basset,  75-6 

*  Bear  the  bell  away  ',  185 

Beatrice  (Guide's  mother),  40,  94, 
96,  103,  111,  194,  214 

Bees,  111,  169,  194 

Belial,  men  of,  111 

Bembo,  Cardinal,  132-3 

Benedict  XIII. ,  265 

Berdoe,  E.,  28,  67,  77,  169,  207, 
312 ;  his  indiscretions,  111, 
125,  134,  153,  165,  187,  209, 
266,  268,  301 

Berger,  P.,  6,  140,  160,  207 

Bessarion,  Cardinal,  134 

Bible,  references  to,  passim 

Bigelow's  Molinos  the  Quietist, 
307,  308,  309 

Bilboa,  102 

Bion,  184 

Blagden,  I.,  277 

Blunderbore,  166 

Boccaccio's  Decameron,  52,  67, 
100 

'  Boggle  ',  120 

Boissier's  L' Opposition  sous  les 
Cesars,  49 ;  Promenades  archeo- 
logiques,  269 ;  La  Religion 
romaine,  228 

Sorrow's  Lavengro,  89 

Borsi,  127,  133-4,  189 

Bossuet,  303,  304 

Boswell,  J.,  12.  See  also  Johnson, 
Dr. 

Bottini,  J.-B.,  xviii.  ;  charac- 
terized by  B.,  24,  179; 
contrasted  with  Arcangeli, 
179  ;  his  letter  to  *  no  matter 
who  ',  259,  271  ;  on  Molinism, 
307  ;  his  monologue  attacked, 
160-61,  180,  a  caricature,  180, 
182,  its  graver  aspect,  182-3  ; 
his  pleadings  quoted  or  re- 
ferred to,  passim 

Bouillon,  Cardinal,  263,  304-5 

'  Brabble  ',  11,  74 

'  Brangle  ',11 

Brazen  Head,  172 

'  Breathe  a  vein  ',  206 

Brooke,  Stopford,  on  Arcangeli' s 
*  boys  ',  163  ;  on  Books  VIII. 


INDEX 


329 


and  IX.,  161  ;  on  Book  XL, 
234,  317  ;  on  B.'s  self-dedica- 
tion, 7-8  ;  on  Mrs.  Browning's 
influence,  6 ;  on  the  inade- 
quacy of  human  speech,  207  ; 
on  mode  of  publication  of 
R.  and  B.,  278  ;  on  Pompilia, 
139  ;  on  B.'s  similes,  18  ;  on 
the  Pope's  theological  dis- 
quisitions, 199 

Browne,  Sir  T.,  133 

Browning,  E.  B.,  her  indignation 
with  the  British  Public,  14; 
her  influence  on  B.'s  poetry, 
6-7,  129,  143-4;  B.'s  'lyric 
Love',  28-9,  261,  312-15; 
her  marriage,  115  ;  her  writ- 
ings quoted  or  referred  to  : — 
Aurora  Leigh,  38,  117,  120, 
129,  144,  262,  265;  Casa 
Ouidi  Windows,  16,  143-4, 
195,  262;  Christmas  Gifts, 
267-8  ,  Greek  Christian  Poets, 
261  ;  Last  Poems,  277  ;  The 
Dead  Pan,  252;  The  SouVs 
Travelling,  38.  See  also  7,  8, 
29,  128,  273,  275,  276 

Browning,  Robert,  studies  ana- 
tomy, 95,  240  ;  compared  to 
Balzac,  236-7 ;  influence  upon, 
of  Mrs.  Browning,  6-7,  129, 
143-4;  his  attitude  towards 
Christianity,  220-21,  and 
miracles,  223 ;  as  corrector 
of  proofs,  212,  321  ;  his 
interest  in  criminals  and 
criminal  trials,  4-6  ,  his  close 
observation  of  detail,  5,  6 ; 
his  doctrines  of  'the  great 
hour',  116,  and  of  'the 
imperfection  of  God ',  220, 
221  ;  his  inaccuracy  in  dates 
and  figures,  53,  91,  204,  240, 
264 ;  on  the  inadequacy  of 
human  speech,  207  ;  on  the 
attainability  of  knowledge, 
215-16,  and  on  the  relations 
of  knowledge  and  love,  219  ; 
how  he  learnt  Latin  grammar, 
172 ;  his  marriage,  116 ; 
studies  modelling,  240,  276; 


hia  '  morbid  psychology  ',  233- 
234;  his  optimism,  142,  260, 
317  ;  '  parental  instinct  not 
strong  '  in,  143  ;  his  attitude 
towards  his  past  work,  319  ; 
his  religious  beliefs,  200, 
220-21,  222;  chronology  of 
his  work  upon  B.  and  B., 
275-8;  his  hostility  to  the 
Roman  church  and  the  tem- 
poral power,  15,  204;  his 
early  unpopularity,  14-15,  28  ; 
his  finding  and  close  study  of 
the  Yellow  Book,  1,  4,  35, 
275-6.  See  also  Ring  and  the 
Book.  The 

Browning's      poems,      references 
(other    than    on    words    and 
phrases)  to  : — 
A  Death  in  the  Desert,  207,  208, 

219,  220,  223 
A  Forgiveness,  114 
Abt  Vogler,  120 
An  Epistle  of  Karshish,  220,  221 

229 

Apparent  Failure,  232,  317 
Aristophanes'  Apology,  118,  227, 

267 

Balauslion's  Adventure,  227 
Beatrice  Signorini,  99,  249 
Bishop  Blougram's  Apology,  16, 

201,  229,  256 

Cenciaja,  10,  14,  15,  67,  97,  204 
Christmas-Eve  and   Easter-Day, 

6,  220,  222,  226,  229 
Coiombe's  Birthday,  33 
Dis  aliter  visum,  115 
Dramatis  Personce,   14-15,   276, 

277 

Fears  and  Scruples,  148 
FerishtaVs  Fancies,  23,  122,  219, 

220 
F ifine  at  the  Fair,  113,  191,  256, 

273 

Francis  Furini,  218 
George  Bubb  Dodington,  127 
Ivnn  Ivnnovitch,  130,  143 
Jochanan  Hakkadosh,  221 
La    Saisiaz,    208,    219,   221-2, 

272 
Mesmerism,  111 


330 


THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


Browning's  poems*  references 
(other  than  on  words  and 
phrases)  to — (contd.) — 

Mr.  Sludge  the  Medium,  233,  256 

My  Last  Duchess,  185 

Ned  Bratts,  51 

Old  Masters  in  Florence,  43 

One  Word  More,  113 

Pacchiarotto,  xxi.,  221 

Paracelsus.  133 

Pippa  Passes,  122,  133,  134,  142, 
231-2,  316 

Porphyries  Lover,  148 

Prince    Hohenstiel  -  Schwangau, 
133,  207,  256 

Rabbi  Ben  Ezra,  69-70,  206,  208 

Red  Cotton  Night-Cap  Country, 
48,  133 

Rephan,  221 

Saul,  206,  220,  221 

Solomon  and  Balkis,  78,  120 

Sordello,  3,  4,  79,  127 

The  Bishop  orders  his  Tomb,  248 

The  Inn  Album,  17,   115,   133, 
143,  237 

The  Italian  in  England,  113 

The  Return  of  the  Druses,  316 

The  Statue  and  the  Bust,  8,  39, 
115,  119 

The  Two  Poets  of  Croisic,  9,  22, 
43,  272 

The  Worst  of  it,  148 

Youth  and  Art,  115 
Browning,    R.    B.,   xx.,  7,  8,  91, 

204,  276 
Browning  Society,  266,  319;    its 

Papers,  28,  313 
Bryce,  Lord,  261 
Buchanan,  R.,  220 
Buffaloes  at  Rome,  239 
Burckhardt's  Renaissance  in  Italy, 

106,  133,  211 
Burke,  240,  251 

Burnet,  Bishop,  on  Franciscans 
and  Dominicans,  95 ;  on 
Innocent  XL,  13,  302;  on 
Malpighi,  149 ;  on  Molinos, 
310-11  ;  on  the  Pantheon, 
101  ;  on  the  Piazza  del 
Popolo,  14,  265 
Butler's  Hudibras,  121 


Butringarius  (Butrigari),  176-7 

Byblis,  253 

*  Bye-blow  ',  81,  89 

Byron,  172 

'  Calash  ',  104 

Calverley's  The  Cock  and  the  Bull, 
97,  120,  209,  278 

Cambridge  Modern  History,  12, 
254;  304 

Camerlengo,  173,  231 

Camoscia,  46,  127,  128 

'  Candid  ',  '  uncandid  ',  45,  185, 
187 

Candle-contest,  243 

Canidia,  49,  51 

Caponsacchi,  Giuseppe,  passim ; 
his  character  in  the  Yellow 
Book,  116-17,  154,  293  ;  dis- 
crepancies between  his  de- 
position and  his  monologue, 
116-17,  291  i  as  hero  for  a 
novel,  117-18.  In  R.  and  B.  : 
amicus  curice,  88,  112  ; 
'  bishop  in  the  bud  ',  43  ;  his 
earlier  career,  34,  116-17  ; 
the  flight,  see  Arezzo ;  his 
connection  with  the  Frances  - 
chini,  43-4 ;  a  Saint  George, 
65,  114;  his  'great  hour', 
115,  125  ;  a  good  hater, 
113 ;  in  what  sense  heroic, 
114-15 ;  repudiates  author- 
ship of  love-letters,  132,  286  ; 
burns  flight-letters,  84 ;  his 
dealings  with  Maria,  123, 
291  ;  occasion  of  his  mono- 
logue, 88,  112 ;  its  variety 
and  brilliancy,  113-14 ;  his 
claim  to  '  nobility  ',  95  ;  the 
Pope's  judgment  upon  him, 
217-18,  224;  his  relegation, 
48,  49,  112,  136,  137 

Caponsacco  ('  old  Head  -  i'  -  the- 
Sack  '),  49,  119 

Caritellas,  21 

Carlyle,  5,  10,  18,  62,  133,  241; 
his  judgment  on  R.  and  B.,  4 

Carmel,  42 

Carnival,  110,  152,  167,  243 

'  Cartulary ',  135 


INDEX 


331 


Cartwright,  W.  C.,  276 

Cassiodorus,  169 

Castellani,  7 

Castelnuovo,  17,  65,  128,  130, 
291-4  ;  arrival  at  the  inn,  17, 
65,  156-7,  291,  293-4;  scene 
there,  47,  131,  157 

Castrensis  (De  Castro),  176-7 

Catacombs,  205,  269 

'  Cater-cousin  ',  40-41 

Cat's-cradle,  38 

Catullus,    93,     191,    266;    doctus   I 
though  *  unseemly  ',  105  ;  his 
metrical    licences,    121  ;     his   , 
scazons,  134 

Caudatory,  244 

Celestino,  Angelo,   Fra,    88,    146,    ' 
281  ;  his  sermon,  260,  326 

Cenci,  Beatrice,  165-6  ;  her  father, 
237,  254 

Cencini,  F.,  xviii.,  xix.,  8  ;  letters 
to,  12,  14,  203,  238,  258-9, 
264,  267 

'  Cephisian  reed  ',125 

Certosa  di  Val  d'  Ema,  238 

Chadwick,  J.  W.,  292 

*  Charactery  ',  63 

Charles,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  250 

Charles  II.  of  Spain,  262,  303 

Chaucer,  52,  105,  122,  176 

Chesterton,  G.  K.,  on  occasional 
need  for  deceit,  135  ;  defends 
Books  VIII.  and  IX.,  161; 
calls  R.  and  B.  '  the  epic  of 
free  speech  ',  3  ;  doctrine  of 
'the  great  hour',  115;  doc- 
trine of  '  the  imperfection  of 
God',  221.  See  also  5,  15, 
256 

Chimaera,  the  Etruscan,  246-7 

Chinese  missions,  224-5 

'  Chirograph  ',  13 

Chiusi,  46 

'  Chop-fallen  ',  *  chap-fallen  ',  244 

Christianity,  B.'s  attitude  towards, 
220-21 ;  as  taught  in  China, 
224-5 

Church,  the,  Guido  upon,  see 
Guido ;  the  Pope's  mis- 

f'vings  about,  see.   Innocent 
II.;   R.  and   B.  'clean   for 


the  Church  '  ?  16 ;  the  Church 
and  torture,  22-3,  298-300 

*  Chyme  ',  183 

Cicero,  132,  190,  267;  his  Pro 
Milone,lG5',  '  breaking  Tully's 
pate  ',  121 

Circe,  254 

Ciro  Ferri,  99,  183 

'Civility  and  the  mode  ',  51,  119, 
169,  215 

Civita  Vecchia,  23,  49,  50,  106 

'  Clack-dish  ',  187 

'  Clap  we  to  the  close  ',  24 

'  Clapnet ',  80 

Ciavecinist,  25 

Clavicle,  52 

Clemenceau's  Le  Grand  Pan,  253 

Clement  IV.,  205 

Clement  XI.  See  Albano,  Car- 
dinal 

Clement  XII.,  265 

Clepsydra,  184 

Clericate,  Guide's  claim  of.  See 
Guido 

'  Clodpole  ',  51 

'  Clout ',  240 

'  Clouted  shoon  ',  183 

Coadunatio  armatorum,  173 

Cockatrice,  135-6 

Coins  current  in  Italy,  8,  13,  77, 
79,  247 

Collatinus,  83,  184 

4  Colly  my  cow  ! ',  242-3 

Colocynth,  194 

Coluthus,  134 

Comacchian  eels,  186 

•  Commerce ',  190 
Commissary   of   Arezzo,   82.     See 

Marzi-Medici 

'  Commodity ',  171 

'Company  (Confraternity)  of 
Death  ',  25,  238,  257,  264 

Comparini,  the,  their  stay  at 
Arezzo,  80, 99,  283-4;  exposure 
of  their  bodies,  21,  35,  36; 
their  home  or  homes,  279-82  ; 
their  return  to  Rome,  41,  100, 
283  -  4  ;  distribute  scritture, 
42.  See  also  Pietro  and  Vio- 
lante 

'  Complot ',  62 


332 


THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


1  Comport ',  226 
'  Composite  ',261 
'  Composure ',  56 

*  Conclusions,  to  try  ',105 
'  Concurrence  ',38 
Confetti,  110,  152 
Consular  road,  70,  71    128 
Contarini,  D.,  208,  301-2,  303 
Conti,  Canon,  78,   123,   137,   152, 

153,  154 
'  Contract ',  61 
'  Convertites  ',  271  ;  Monastery  of 

Convertites.  48-9,  223-4,  281 
Cook,  Sir  E.  T.,  7,  55,  152 
Cophetua,  243 
Coprolite,  127-8 

*  Cord,  the  '.     See  Vigil-torture 
Cordati,  171 

Corderius,  164 
Corelli,  25 
Corinna,  107 
Cornuti,  171 
Correggio's  Leda,  83 

*  Counts  who  don't  count ',  98 
Courtney  of   Pen  with,  Lord,  xx., 

17,  64,  126,  319 
'  Cramp  ',     adjective,     9  ;      verb, 

135 
Crawford,  F.  Marion,  14,  48,  98, 

110,  152,  243 
'  Craze  ',  verb,  152 
Cristina,  Queen,  309 
'  Cross  '  ( =  coin),  58  ;    '  cross  and 

pile ',  98 

Cross-buttock,  82 
Crossing  oneself,  48 
Cruickshank,  A.  H.,  xiii.,  314 
'  Crush  cup  ',  164 
Cuckoo,  45,  58 
Cui  profuerint  ?  84 
'  Cullion ',  240 
Culver,  269 

Danae,  16,  59 

*  Dandiprat ',  268 
Dante,  95,  113.  119,  121 
Daphne,  147 

De  Raptu  Helence,  134 

De  Tribus,  133 

Death-bed  confessions,  88,  196 

'  Decollate ',  266 


Decretum   Relegationis,   xvii.,  136, 

137 

Del  Torto,  G.,  14,  259,  266 
Delilah,  254 
'  Derogate  ',  169,  266 
D'Estrees,  Cardinal,  37-8,  309 
Deus  ex  machina,  75 

*  Devil's-dung ',  82 
Devils  become  gods,  170 
Diana,  147 

Dicey's  Law  and  Opinion  in  Eng- 
land, 299 

Dickens,  6,  72,  100 

Dido,  189 

'  Discept ',  220 

'  Discourse  '  (active  verb),  19,  240 

Djereed,  16 

Dolabella,  11 

Domett,  A.,  5 

Domus  pro  carcere,  xvii.,  50,  147, 
194,  280 

Donnicciuole,  116-17 

Dowden's  Browning,  26,  31,  114, 
124,  207,  214,  273 

Driver,  S.  B.,  25,  177 

Dryden,  40,  56,  122 

Duffy's  My  Life  in  Two  Hemi- 
spheres, 16 

Dumas,  A.,  the  elder,  75,  85,  243, 
263-4  ;  the  younger,  8 

'  Dungy  earth  ',  244 

'  Dusk'',  '  duskest ',  18 

E.L.,  xii.,  xx.,  xxiii.  ;    quoted  or 

referred  to,  passim 
Eagles,  26,  58 
'  Eden  tree  ',  57 
'  Efficacity  '  of  cardinals,  24,  67 
Elisha,  20 
Elm  and  ash,  mutual  antipathy  of, 

247-8 

End  justifies  means,  187 
Entablature,  19 
Erizzo,  N.,  262,  302 
'  Escapes  '  (=escapades),  185 
Estafette,  267 
Est-est,  165 
Esther,  246 
Ethical  dative,  165 
Etruscan  jewellery,  2,  7 

*  Eude,  King  of  France  ',  205 


INDEX 


333 


Euripides,    131,    187,   227-8,   277; 

his  pleading  in  Book  X.,  198, 

203,  226-7 
1  Eusebius    and    the    established 

fact ',  75 

*  Exemplarity  ',  266 
'  Exenterate ',  111 
'  Eximious  *,  183 
'  Extravasate  ',  240 

Fagon,  241 

Falconry,  101-2 

'  Far  and  away  ',  84 

'  Fardels ',  48 

Farinacci,  165-6,  167,  172,  173, 
230-31,  295 

Faust,  20 

'  Fay  '  (in  « by  my  fay  '),  105 

Feminine  endings,  56,  133 

Fenelon,  96,  120,  304-5 

Fielding's  Tom  Jones,  82,  89 

Fiesole,  119 

Filicaja,  250 

'  Finger-wise ',  70 

'  Firk ',  49 

Fisc,  the,  xviii.,  9,  24,  75,  165,  224 

Fish  as  symbol,  205 

Fisher's-signet,  205 

Flight  from  Arezzo.     See  Arezzo 

Florence  :  '  Baccio's  marble  ',  8  ; 
Casa  Guidi,  16,  275  ;  S.  Felice, 
16  ;  S.  Lorenzo  church  and 
piazza,  8 ;  Mercato  Vecchio, 
119  ;  Panciatichi  palace,  247  ; 
Porta  Romana,  16;  Riccardi 
palace,  8;  Stinche,  89;  S. 
Trinita  bridge  and  piazza, 
9  ;  Via  Larga,  247 
The  Brownings  at,  275;  B.'s 
walkthrough,  4,6,8;  sentence 
of  Florence  court,  see  Sentence 

Flower-figs,  151 

Fogazzaro's  Piccolo  Mondo  Antico, 
121;  his  11  Santo,  118 

Foligno,  65,  129,  130,  156 

Formosus,  201,  204,  and  his 
successors,  204-6 

Fra  Angelico,  253 

Francescbini,  the,  ancestors  of, 
58  ;  £  arms  of,  xxi.,  254  ; 
nobility  of,  95 ;  poverty 


and  economies  of,  39-40,  94, 
96,   99,   150.     For  individual 
members    of    the    family    see 
Beatrice,     Girolamo,     Guido, 
Paolo,  Porzia,  Tommaso 
Francis  of  Assisi,  St.,  95,  102,  128 
Franciscans  and  Dominicans,  95 
French  occupation  of  Rome,  15 
'  Frenetic  ',  133 
'  Fructuous  ',171 

*  Fulgurant ',  132 

'  Fulsome-fine ',  97 
Furnivall,  F.  J.,  28,  29,  313-14 

Gabriel's  song,  129 

Gaetano  (Pompilia's  son),  56,  94-5, 

108,  130,  143-4,  157,  158,  212, 

271,  272 

Gaetano,  St.,  146 
Galileo,    condemnation    of,    310; 

his  '  tube  ',  228 
Gallicisms  in  construction,  48,  95, 

155,  226,  243,  in  use  of  words 

and  phrases,  38,  82,  103,  119, 

164,  169,  171,  195 
Galligaskin,  164 

Gambi,  F.,  xviii.,  24,  70,  137,  224 
Gambling  in  Rome,  265 
Gardner's  The  Story  of  Florence, 

89   275 

Gautier,  Theophile,  252-3 
George,  St.,   Caponsacchi  as,   66, 

114  ;  Vasari's  St.  George,  154 
George    Eliot's    Romola,    74,    77  ; 

her  The  Legend  of  Jubal,  256 

*  Get ',  B.'s  use  of,  89-90 
Giacinto    (Arcangeli's    son),    160, 

163,  164,  175,  267,  322 

Gibbon's  Roman  Empire,  75,  164, 
170,  238 

Girdle  of  the  Madonna,  127 

Girolamo  Franceschini, 40, 100,  111 

Gladstone,  190 

YvC)Oi  aeavrbv,  227 

Goats  in  Rome,  149-50 

God  as  All-Loving,  220,  221; 
His  judgments  and  men's 
contrasted,  206,  227 ;  as 
'  Machinist ',  227  ;  His  name, 
sudden  introductions  of,  148, 
tradition  concerning,  120 


334 


THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


Golden  mean,  227 

Golden  Rose,  210 

Goliath,  188 

Gonfalonier  and  Priors  of  Arezzo, 
272 

'  Good  wine  needs  no  bush  ',197 

Gor-crow,  210 

Gorgon  shield,  242 

Governor  of  Arezzo.  See  Mazzi- 
Medici 

Graham,  J.  J.  G.,  313 

Grand  Dukes  of  Tuscany,  119, 
215 

Greeks,  religion  of,  252 

Gregorovius,  97,  201,  205,  255 

Gregory  I.,  215 

'Grey  mare  the  better  horse  ',  80 

'  Griefful ',  123 

Griffin,  W.  Hall,  his  Life  of  E.  B., 
xx.,  16,  29,  204,  215,  240, 
276,  277,  278,  284 

Griselda,  52,  67 

'  Guard  and  guide  ',  46,  98 

Guard-ring,  273 

Guido  Franceschini,  passim ;  his 
age,  20,  38,  43,  96,  97,  240, 
265 ;  his  appearance,  20,  81  ; 
at  Castelnuovo,  47,  157,  211  ; 
attitude  towards  the  Church, 
234-5,  248-9,  and  contem- 
porary Christians,  235,  239, 
242,  252 ;  his  claim  of 
'clericate',  11,  12,  199,  238, 
239 ;  his  confederates,  70, 
87,  176,  177,  213-14,  231, 
296-8  ;  contrast  between  his 
two  monologues,  92,  234-5 ; 
not  styled  Count  in  the 
records,  10 ;  how  he  died, 
237-8,  264 ;  dismissed  ( ? )  from 
a  cardinal's  service,  59 ; 
drugged  by  Pompilia  ?  45, 
188  ;  place  of  his  execution, 
13-14  ;  flight  from  Rome  and 
arrest,  70-71,  87,  213-14; 
forger  of  letters  ?  132,  187, 
285,  288 ;  hanger-on  of  the 
Church,  92,  255;  'hate  the 
truth  of  him ',  158,  207 ; 
intellectualized  by  B.,  208, 
236;  invokes  Pompilia,  316- 


318 ;    his    journey  to    Rome 
and     inactivity     there,    108, 
173 :  his  '  jagged  knife  ',  37  ; 
his  lawsuits,  68,  85,  87,  175  ;     / 
on  Molinism,   235,   306 ;    his    v 
motive  in  marrying,  209-10 ; 
his    fatal    omission,    213-14, 
235  ;  pen-sketch  of,  xxi.,  81-2 ; 
how  far  persuasive  in  Book  V. ,   • 
92,   234;  why   he   postponed 
vengeance,    69,    70,    106  -  7  ; 
threatens  Pompilia,  103,  186; 
was  he  tortured  ?   295-7  ;  his 
desire  for  'colour'  in  a  wife, 
253-4 

Guido  Reni,  37 

Guillichini,  G.,  46,  104,  137 

Haendel  (Handel),  25,  247 
Haggard,  101 

'  Half  -  Rome  '     contrasted     with 
4  The  Other  Half -Rome ',  34-5 

*  Hamstring ',  213-14 
'  Handsel ',  38 

'  Happy  be  his  dole  ',  57-8 
Hare's    Walks   in   Rome,    14,    37, 

56,  61,  97,  146,  239,  265 
Hat  and  Rapier,  173 
Hawthorne,  N.,  29 
Hazlitt's  Shakespeare  Jest-books,  67 
'  Heading  ',  14 
Hecuba,  231 
Hercules,     with     Ornphale,     192 ; 

rescues  Hesione,  191-2 
Herodotus,  12 
Hesione,  192 

*  Hesperian  ball ',  58,  125 
Hexastich,  97 

'  Hip,  to  have  on  ',  166 

Hoare's  Italian  Dictionary,  48,  116 

Hodell,  C.  W.,  xii.,  xix.-xx.,  xxi., 

and  passim 

Hodgkin's  Theodoric,  169,  244 
Holland,  H.  Scott,  28-9 
'  Homager ',  95-6 
Homer:    Iliad,  16,  172,  192,  195, 

246;    Odyssey,  67,   131,   187, 

188,  190-91,  252 
Honoris  causa,   xvii.,   71,  89,  95, 

168,  169,  196 
Hophni,  82,  223,  322 


INDEX 


335 


Horace,  quotations  from  and  allu- 
sions to,  by  '  Half -Rome  ', 
37,  by  'The  Other  Half- 
Rome  ',  66.  by  *  Tertium 
Quid ',  75,  by  *Guido,  103, 
by  Arcangeli,  164,  169,  174, 
178,  by  Bottini,  184,  185,  186, 
188,  189,  190,  192,  197,  by 
the  Pope,  218.  See  also  51, 
227,  245,  262 

'  Horn-blind ',  245 

*  Horn-madness ',  44 
Horsehair,    generation    of    snakes 

from,    195  ;     '  the    horsehair 

springe  ',154 
Hortensius,  165 
Hundred  Merry  Tales,  67 
Button,  R.  H.,  114,  316,  317 
Hyperides,  184 

lago,  236,  318 

Icarus,  188 

'  Illustration  ',  119 

'  Impinge  '  used  transitively,  209 

'  Imposthume  ',  59 

'  Inch  ',  verb,  59 

Incontinenti,  172 

*  Indecorous  ',  scanning  of,  118 

*  Inexpressive  ',  80 

'  Initiatory  pang  '  (or  '  spasm  '), 
218,  229 

Innocent  III.,  216 

Innocent  X.,  12,  86 

Innocent  XL,  13,  250,  301-3 

Innocent  XII.,  his  abstemious 
life,  13,  302;  his  accessi- 
bility, 302-3  ;  his  age,  12,  41, 
206,  231 ;  speaks  for  B.,  198- 
200;  builds  a  dogana,  263 ;  on 
an  Age  of  Doubt,  199,  229; 
— dramatic  force  of  his  soliloquy, 
L)<>:>;  his  election,  262;  con- 
demns Fenelon,  304 ;  his  hope 
forGuido,  232,  317;  compared 
with  Innocent  XL,  301-3;  his 
judgments,  199,  214,  218;  his 
relations  with  Louis  XIV.,  303- 
304 ;  his  misgivings,  200,  202, 
223, 227  ;  his  attitude  towards 
Molinism,  308 ;  '  Naples  born ', 
209,263;  repudiates  nepotism, 


302;  his  pre-papal  career,  201, 
208;  his  love  of  the  poor, 
303  ;  resolute  or  irresolute  ? 
201,  206,  303 ;  alleged  senility 
of,  176,  241,  263;  his  theo- 
logical disquisitions,  198-202^ 
218  seqq. ;  not  prominent  in 
the  Yellow  Book,  203.  See  also 
30,  31,  54,  72 

Instrumentum  Sententice  Defini- 
tives, xviii.,  11,  224,  271 

'  Insuppressive  ',  245-6 

'  Intellectuals ',  176 

'  Intelligence  ',  103 

'  Intention  ',  82-3 

Isocrates's  Panegyric,  197 

Italian  colour  in  R.  and  B.,  33, 
73-4,  236 

Jack  the  Giant-killer,  166 

James  II.,  299,  303 

James,  Henry,  on  Italian  colour 
in  R.  and  B.,  33,  73-4;  on 
excessive  length  of  Book  XL, 
233  ;  on  '  the  novel  in  R.  and 
B.\  117-18;  his  W.  W.  Story 
and  his  Friends,  28,  58 

Jameson,  Mrs.,  her  Legends  of  tht 
Madonna,  124 ;  her  Sacred 
and  Legendary  Art,  153,  230 

Jansenists,  12-13,  250 

Janus  bifrons,  272 

'  Jauncing  ',  239 

Jenkins's  The  Jesuits  in  China, 
224-5 

Jerome,  St.,  104,  228 

Jesuits,  their  '  accommodations  ', 
224,  230 ;  their  Chinese  mis- 
sions, 224-5;  their  attacks 
rn  Molinos,  309-11.  See 
12 

Joab,  176 

Job,  22,  25;  the  book  of  Job 
(Leviathan  passage),  108, 
177-8,  216-17 

Joconde,  the  (la  Gioconda),  8 

Johnson,  Dr.,  31,  82,  85,  164,  166 

Jones,  Sir  H.,  his  Browning  as  a 
Philosophical  and  Religious 
Teacher,  141,  1 4i>,  -2  Hi,  219, 
229,  232,  260,  310 


336 


THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


Josephus,  78 
Jubilees,  41,  56,  263 
Judith  and  Holophernes,  188 
Justinian's  Pandects,  109 
Juvenal,  51,  227,  234,  307 

Kenyon,  Sir  F.  G.,  16,  67,  97,  162, 

191,  276 
'  Kibe  ',  230 
King,  Bolton,  his  History  of  Italian 

Unity,  300 

King  and  Okey's  Italy  To-day,  77 
King,    Mrs.    Hamilton,    her    The 

Disciples,  186 
Kirkup,  Barone,  xxi.,  265-6 

Labeo,  172 

*  Laic  dress  ',  47,  132 

Lamb,  Charles,  38,  55,  76,  81,  175, 
176,  187 

Lamparelli,  A.,  xviii.,  47,  56,  133, 
135,  188,  287,  288,  289 

Landor,  W.  S.,  18,  238 

Lauria,  Cardinal,  37,  60,  110 

Lee  and  Locock's  Paracelsus,  142 

Lehmann's  An  Artist's  Reminis- 
cences, 278 

Leighton,  Lord,  36,  146,  277,  278 

Leo  X.,  216 

Leo  XII.,  59 

Leviathan.     See  Job 

'  Levigate ',  24 

Levite  =  deacon,  102,  185 

Lex  Julia  de  Adulteries,  11,  170 

Lightfoot,  Bishop,  43 

'  Lingot ',  16 

Linnets,  49 

Livy,  184,  190,  197,  272 

Locusta,  102 

*  Lord  of  Show  ',  135 
Lotteries  at  Rome,  265 

Louis  XIV.,  255,  303,  304,  309,  311 

'  Lout ',  verb,  122 

Love-letters,   105,    106,    123,    132, 

153,  285-8,  290-91 
Lucan,  165 
Lucifer,  104 
Lucretia,  83,  184 
Lucretius,  107,  245 
Lucrezia  Borgia,  254-5 
Lunatics  claim  to  be  pope,  153 


*  Lunes ',  186 
Luring  birds,  58 
Lycaon,  253 

Macaulay,    Lord,    75-6,    80,    128, 

164,  241,  299,  303,  304 
Maigrot,  Bishop,  224-5 
'  Main  ',  208 
Malchus,  103 
'  Malleolable  ',  19 
Malpichi  (Malpighi),  149 
Mandatum  procures,  42,    68,   174- 

175 

Mannaia,  25,  68,  239,  240 
Manning,  Cardinal,  15,  82-3 
Maratta,  Carlo,  55,  79,  136 
Maria    Margherita    Contenti,    65, 

123,  133,  152,  287,  291,  292 
Marino  and  Marinisti,  120-21 
Martial,  134,  271 
Martigny's  Dictionnaire  'des  anti- 

quites  chretiennes,  268 
Martinez,  12,  255,  263 
Marvell,  A.,  254 
Marzi-Medici,  V.,  44-5,  63,  64,  82, 

154,  215 

Massinger,  P.,  242 
Maundevile's  Travels,  269 
Mayor's  Chapters  on  English  Metre, 

118 

'  Medicean  mode  ',190 
'  Medicinable ',  20 
Melanges  historiques,  263,  305 
Merlette,  G.-M.,  28,  29,  314 
Merluzza  (Merluccia),  70,  71 
Merry-thought,  193 
Metrical  points,  23,  56,  118,  133, 

135,  150,  225,  230,  242,  321 
Michael  the  Archangel,  statue  of, 

on  the  Castel  S.  Angelo,  215 
Michael  Angelo,  99,  183,  272 
Michelet's  Histoire  de  France,  304 
Milman's  Latin  Christianity,  205, 

216  ;   his  Fazio,  254 
Milton,  on  Marino's  Adone,   120- 

121  ;     on    Ormuz,    254 ;    on 

death  of  Pan,  252  ;   on  Pietro 

Aretino,    210.     See    also    10, 

24,  36,  42,  80,  183,  190,  228, 

246 
'  Minim ',  176 


INDEX 


337 


Minor  Orders,  11-12,  230,  231 

Mirbt's  Quellen  zur  Geschichte  des 
Papstthums,  12,  205,  206,  225, 
256 

Mirtillo,  Myrtillus,  153,  187 

Misprision,  168,  218 

Moliere,  131 

Molina,  12 

Molines,  43,  87 

Molinos  and  the  Molinists,  12-13, 
121,  192,  235,  306-11 

'  Mollitious ',  193-4 

Money,  Italian.  See  Coins  current 
in  Italy 

Montefiascone,  165 

4  Mop  and  mow  ',  17-18 

More's  Utopia,  74 

Morley,  Lord,  on  Arcangeli's 
speech,  161  ;  on  early  dis- 
closure of  story  of  R.  and  B., 
3  ;  on  Fra  Celestino's  sermon, 
260  ;  on  B.'s  '  instrumenta- 
tion ',  93  ;  on  early  judgments 
upon  R.  and  B.,  5,  114,  139  ; 
on  its  length,  31  ;  on  '  morbid 
anatomy  ',  234  ;  the  poem  a 
protest  against  '  fatuous  op- 
timism',  260.  See  also  12, 
26,  158 

Morris,  W.,  225,  241 

Moschus,  187 

'  Muckworm  ',  187 

'  Mum  '  and  '  budget ',  44 

'  Mumps  ',  '  mumping  ',  40,  251 

'  Murk  ',  '  murky  ',  151 

Music  and  Truth,  273 

Musk,  21,  44 

Mustapha,  Turkish  vizier,  250 

Naples,  Innocent  XII. 'a  birth- 
place, 209,  263;  Molinism 
at,  310,  311  ;  description  of 
thunderstorm  at,  231 

Natural  Religion,  219,  220 

Nature,  rapid  sketches  of,  in  R. 
and  B.,  27,  164 

Negro  pages,  83 

Nepenthe,  188 

Nerli,  Cardinal,  37,  110 

Newman,  Cardinal,  15,  82-3 

Nightingale,  123 


Nightmare,  Beatrice  as,  214 
Northcote  and  Brownlow's  Roma 
sotterranea,  269 

'  0  lyric  Love  ',  28-9,  312-15 
O.Y.B.,    xi.-xii.,    xix.-xx.,    xxiii.  ; 
quoted  or  referred  to,  passim 
Oaks  and  lightning,  188 
'  Offuscate  ',  195 
Ogle,  Miss,  277 
Old  age,  insight  of,  201-2,  208 
'  Olent ',  185 
Olimpia,  Donna,  86 

*  Olimpias  and  Biancas  ',  254 

*  Ombrifuge  ',  209 
'  Omoplat ',  95 
Omphale,  192 
Optimism,  142,  260-61,  317 
Ore,  192 

Ormuz,  254 

Orr,  Mrs.  Sutherland,  her  Hand- 
book, 92,  270,  284  ;  her  Life 
and  Letters  of  R.  B.,  7,  14,  15, 
143-4,  172,  220,  240,  275-8, 
321 

Ortolans,  122 

Orts,  60 

Orvieto  (wine),  77 

'  Other  Half-Rome,  The ',  con- 
trasted with  *  Half -Rome  ', 
34-5  ;  excellence  of  the  mono- 
logue, 53-4 

Ottima  (in  Pippa  Passes),  231,  316 

'  Outsight ',  20 

'  Overset ',  241 

Ovid,  quotations  from  and  allu- 
sions to,  by  '  Half-Rome  ', 
49,  by  Guide,  107,  253,  by 
Arcangeli,  172,  177,  by  Bot- 
tini,  185,  192,  195.  See  also 
48,  49,  107,  165 

Palchetti,  263 

Palma  (in  Sordello),  79 

Palmo  di  naso,  48 

Pan,  death  of,  252-3 

Panciatichi,  the,  238  ;  their  palace, 

247 

Panimollus  (B.'s  Panicollus),  174 
Paolo    Franceschini,    the    Abate, 

accessory    to    the    murders  ? 


338 


THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


69 ;  appeals  to  the  Pope, 
67,  203  ;  a  future  Cardinal  ? 
58  ;  his  departure  from  Rome, 
how  explained,  69,  171  ; 
expostulates  with  Guido,  94  ; 
not  the  priest  at  the  marriage, 
39,  149  ;  the  Pope's  judgment 
upon,  214 ;  Guido's  proxy, 
42,  68,  174-5;  his  villa,  70, 
87,  109  ;  his  visit  to  Violante, 
35,57-8.  See  also  38,  111 

Papal  election,  forecasts  of,  255, 
262-3 ;  veto  on  papal  elec- 
tions, 256 

Paphos,  85 

Papinianus,  164 

Parry's  Studies  of  Great  Composers, 
25 

Pasquinades,  86,  264-5,  311 

Pasquini,  F.,  215 

Patavinian,  the,  272.     See  Livy 

Patrizi,  88 

Paul  V.,  constitutions  of,  298 

Paul,  St.,  110-11,  175,  188,  228; 
his  sword,  230 

Peacock  fans,  267-8 

'  Peals ',  42 

Peine  forte  et  dure,  299 

'  Pellucid  soul ',  151-2 

Penitentiary,  61 

'  Perdue  ',  66 

Perseus,  148 

Persius,  172,  186 

Perucchiere,  79 

Perugia,  85,  128,  129,  156 

Peter,  St.,  205,  241 

*  Petit-maitre  priestlings  ',231 
Petrarch,  272 

Petrus,  quo  vadis  ?  241 

Phelps's  Browning  :  How  to  know 

him,  16,  79,  92 
Phillips,  C.  B.,  xiii. 

*  Philosophic  Sin  ',  37,  56,  308 
Phryne,  184 

'  Pickthank ',  191 
Pietro  Aretino,  210-11,  265-6 
Pietro    Comparini,    his    age,    20, 
41  ;       B.'s      conception      of, 
76  ;    his  financial  embarrass- 
ments,    60,     76,     280;      his 
lawsuits,  42-3,  87,  147,  175  ; 


his  objection  to  Pompilia's 
marriage,  36-7,  149 ;  visits 
the  presepi,  147  ;  his  will, 
76,  280.  See  also  Comparini, 
the 

Pietro  da  Cortona,  99,  183 

Pifferari,  107-8 

Pignatelli,  Antonio.  See  Innocent 
XII. 

Pigou's  Browning  as  a  Religious 
Teacher,  221,  222,  226 

Pindar,  xx.,  8,  16 

'  Pink  ',  verb,  47 

Pinners,  77 

Pippa  sophisticated,  141-2 

'  Pisan  assistance  ',  267 

Pistoia,  241 

Pius  VII.,  299,  300 

Pius  X.,  256 

Plato,  124,  218,  242 

Plautus,  149,  174 

Pliny,  106,  184 

'  Plumb  '  and  '  plump  ',  20-21 

Plutarch's  De  Oraculorum  Defectu, 
252  ;  his  Parallel  Lives,  138 

Pomanders,  79-80 

Pompilia,  passim ;  her  age,  45, 
59,  150 ;  her  appeals  to  the 
Bishop  and  the  Governor,  34, 
44-5,  64,  83,  151,  193,  215, 
and  to  the  Augustinian,  34, 

64,  82,    286;     beautiful,    56, 
dark,   38,   79,   245,   and  tall, 
79  ;  her  treatment  by  Bottini, 
181,    182-3;     her    devotion 
to    Caponsacchi,    144-5 ;    her 
arrival    at    Castelnuovo,    17, 

65,  156-7,   291,  293-4;    stay 
there,  130,  131,  291,  294,  and 
attack  upon  Guido  there,  47, 
157 ;  a  child,  but  sophisticated 
by  critics,    140-42 ;    place  of 
her  death,  281-2  ;    her  death- 
bed confession,  55,  88-9,  196  ; 
her     deposition,     286,     288, 
290-91,   contrasted   with   her 
monologue,     291  -  2  ;      drugs 
Guido  ?    45  ;    her  flight,  126- 
130,  156,  and  its  date,  64-5; 
forgives  and  finds  excuses  for 
Guido,    150,    158,    245,    317; 


INDEX 


339 


legitimate  or  illoirit  iinate  ?  95 ; 
letters  attributed  to  her,  42, 
102,  137,  186,  187,  245,  285-9  ; 
her  alleged  lovers,  50,  103 ; 
her  marriage  and  its  date, 
36,  59,  283-4  ;  not  clandes- 
tine, 36-7  ;  maternal  instinct 
in,  55,  143-4  ;  her  names,  36  ; 
'  The  Other  Half-Rome '  upon, 
54,  55  ;  the  Pope  upon,  141  ; 
*  re-integration  of  her  fame  ', 
xviii.,  11,  224;  sent  to,  49, 
59,  89,  106,  147,  and  from, 
50,  69,  147,  279,  280,  the 
Scalette ;  simplicity  of  her 
monologue  in  style  and 
'  thought,  140-42;  at  the 
theatre,  44,  83,  122,  152; 
alleged  thefts  by,  45,  189; 
was  she  truthful  ?  285-94 ; 
could  she  write?  285-9;  the 
Poinpilia  of  R.  and  B.  not  the 
V  Pompilia  of  the  Yellow  Book, 
1  l">,  293 

Pope,  G.  U.,  292 

Pope's  Dunciad,  121,  217 

Pope,  the,  of  R.  and  B.  See 
Innocent  XII. 

Pope  as  fisherman,  205 

Pope  washes  feet,  244 

Pope's  Swiss  Guard,  244 

Popes,  burial  and  embalmment  of, 
205 

Popes,  death  of,  231 

Porporati,  96 

Porta  Santa  of  St.  Peter's,  61 

Porzia  (Guide's  sister),  38,  78,  272 

*  Post-Browning   pamphlet ',    xx., 

xxiii.,  and  passim 
Posy  of  B.'s  ring,  28-9,  261,  312-15 
Poveri  vergognosi,  76-7,  280 
Prato,  127 
Presepi,  147 

*  Preside  '  used  transitively,  243 

*  Prince  o'  the  Power  o'  the  air  ',17 
Priscian's  head,  to  break,  121 

'  Prize,  to  fight  a  ',  81,  242 

f  Prizer ',  98 

Probation,  Life  as,  18,  221-2,  223, 

229 
Process  of  Flight,  xxiii.,  and  passim 


Procurator  and  Advocate,  xviii. 
10,  167 

*  Properly  ',  42 

Prothero's  The  Psalms  in  Human 

Life,  130 

Provencal  roses,  101,  246 
4  Public  Force  ',  87 

*  Puissance  ',  '  puissant ',  23 
Pulpit,  position  of,  248 

4  Purfled ',  97 

*  Put  case  ',  102 

Quakeresses  in  America,  250 
Qualitates.     See  Aggravating  Cir- 
cumstances 
Quarter-staff,  82 
Quietism,  304,  307,  308,  309 
Quis  est  pro  Domino  ?  108 

Raleigh's  Shakespeare,  18 

Ranke's  History  of  England,  304  ; 
his  History  of  the  Popes,  208, 
262,  301,  302,  303,  304 

4  Rap  and  rend  ',15 

Raphael  the  Archangel,  as  patron 
of  travellers,  129,  176 

Raphael  (painter),  99,  127,  206 

Ravenna,  synod  of,  205 

4  Reclaim  '  (  =  protest),  167 

4  Recognize  '  (  =  review),  218 

Red  stockings  of  cardinals,  96,  217 

4  Rede  ',  206 

Referendary,  244 

Registers  of  Arezzo,  20,  38,  78, 
95,  272,  275  ;  of  S.  Lorenzo 
church,  36,  37,  39,  59,  145, 
146,  281,  282,  284 

Relative  pronouns,  omission  of,  19, 
57,  78,  90,  109 

Renan,  E.,  216,  217 

Revisions  of  text  of  R.  and  B., 
319-26,  and  passim 

Rhodes,  gold  snow  rained  on,  16 

Rinaldo  and  Armida,  247 

Ring,  Mrs.  Browning's,  2,  7 

Ring  and  the  Book,  The,  chrono- 
logy of  its  composition,  275-8  ; 
curtailments  desired  in,  31-3, 
72-3,  201  ;  distribution  of  its 
monologues,  30 ;  as  4  epic  of 
free  speech  ',  3  ;  Gallicisms 


340 


THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


in,  see  Gallicisms ;  loose 
grammar  in,  42,  57,  61,  63, 
80,  82,  126,  135,  148,  196; 
Italian  colour  of,  33,  73-4, 
236 ;  abnormal  length  of, 
31,  233 ;  its  effective  long 
sentences,  110-11,  270 ; 
method  of,  1,  2-3,  26,  162, 
involves  repetition,  2,  33 ; 
its  name,  1  -  2 ;  optimistic 
moral  drawn  from,  142,  260, 
V  317  ;  publication  of,  by  instal- 
ments, 278  ;  faulty  punctua- 
tion in,  55,  67,  83,  118,  126, 
173,  211,  212,  229,  230,  321  ; 
its  purpose,  1,  260  ;  revisions 
of  its  text,  see  Revisions ; 
similes  in,  18,  186,  209,  231  ; 
slips  and  mistakes  in,  8,  9, 
39,  48,  59,  77,  78,  97,  146,  170, 
171,  172,  174,  175,  223,  231, 
257,  264;  sources  of,  xviii.- 
xix.  ;  sublimities  and  depths 
of,  26 :  variety  of,  6,  how 
secured,  33-5,  179-80 

'  Rivel ',  25 

Robinson's  Ephesians,  17,  111 

Rochet,  135 

Rolando's  sword,  52 

Roman  customs,  passim.     See  es- 
pecially Story,  W-  W. 

Romano  the  Augustinian,  34,  64, 
82,  223,  286 

Romano  vivitur  more,  253 

Rome  : — 

Bridges  :  Ponte  S.  Angelo,  13, 
14  ;  Ponte  Molle  (Milvio),  70 
Churches  :  Domine  quo  vadis, 
241  ;  Gesu,  56  ;  S.  Lorenzo 
in  Lucina,  36,  146,  277,  281, 
282;  S.  Maria  in  Ara  Cseli, 
147  ;  S.  M.  in  Cosmedin,  239  ; 
S.  M.  Sopra  Minerva,  310; 
S.  M.  dei  Miracoli  and  S.  M. 
di  Monte  Santo  ('  twins '), 
265;  S.  M.  del  Popolo,  14, 
265;  S.  M.  della  Rotonda 
(Pantheon),  101  ;  S.  Pietro, 
61 

Fountains  :     Barcaccia   ('  Boat- 
fountain  '),  58  ;  Triton,  21,  56 


Palaces  :       Doria-Pamfili,     86 ; 

Fiano  and  Ruspoli,  21 
Piazzas :    S.  Angelo,   14 ;    Bar- 
berini,    56,    59;      di    Monte 
Citorio,  77  ;    Colonna,  79  ;    in 
Lucina,  21 ;  Navona,  86,  264; 
di  Pietra,    263;    del   Popolo, 
13,  14,  265  ;    della  Rotonda, 
101 ;  di  Spagna,  58,  150,  279 
Prisons :      Carceri    Nuove,    97, 

257  ;  Tordinona,  97 
Streets  :  del  Babuino  ( =  Strada 
Paolina),  38,  58,  263,  279, 
281  ;  della  Bocca  di  Leone, 
149;  Condotti,  164;  Corso, 
21,  149,  263,  279;  Giulia, 
97  ;  della  Lungara,  48 ;  di 
Ripetta,  263,  264;  Vittoria, 
38,  58,  149,  279-81 
Bocca  deUa  Verita,  239  ;  Castel 
S.  Angelo  (Mausoleum  of 
Hadrian),  14,  215 ;  Dogana, 
263 ;  Monastery  of  Conver- 
tites,  48-9  ;  Pincian  Hill,  14  ; 
Porta  Capena,  183;  Porta 
del  Popolo,  14,  59 ;  Le 
Scalette,  49;  Sistine  Chapel, 
173  ;  Villa  Barberini,  206 
B.'s  visits  to,  128,  149,  272, 
275 ;  French  occupation  of, 
15;  shambles  in,  59 

'  Rondure ',  7 

Rose,  St.,  86 

Rosolio,  178 

Rossetti,  D.  G.,  4-5,  151-2 

Rossetti,    W.    M.,    3,    233,    265, 
277-8,  292-3 

*  Rosy  Cross  ',  225 

'  Round  us  in  the  ears  ',  80-81 

Ruskin,  vii.,  7,  9,  93,  121, 128,  233, 
240 

Sacchetti,  F.,  67,  100,  240 

'  Sagacious  Swede  ',  207 

St.  Anna's,  55,  281 

St.     Cyres,     Lord,     his     Fenelon, 

309 

Saint-Simon's  Memoires,  302 
Salviati,  the,  119 
Sampson,  G.,  248 
Samson,  170,  187 


INDEX 


341 


'  Save  the  mark  ',  248 

'  Save-all ',  268 

Sbirri,  48 

Scagliola,  8 

Scalette,  Le,  48,  50,  68,  69,  106, 

147,  279,  280 
Scaliger,  J.  J.,  169 
Scazons,  134 
Sclopulus,  166 
Scott,   Sir  Walter,   81,    100,   166, 

206,  239,  268,  299 

*  Scrannel ',  24 

'Secondary  Source',  xix.,  xx., 
xxi.,  xxiii.,  277,  284  ;  quoted 
or  referred  to,  passim 

Seneca  and  St.  Paul,  228 

Sentence  of  Florence  Court,  xviii., 
45,  46,  64,  89,  104,  126-7, 
137,  189,  213,  249 

*  Sentry  crane  ',  154 
Sepher  Toldolh  Yeschu,  192 
Septem  Dolores  B.  V.  M.,  123-4 
'  Service  and  suit ',  38,  66 

'  Shade  and  shine  ',  27-8 

*  Shagrag ',  98 

Shakespeare :  Antony  and  Cleo- 
patra, 195 ;  As  you  like  it, 
197  ;  Hamlet,  101,  261  ; 
Henry  V.,  178;  Macbeth, 
51  ;  Measure  for  Measure, 
188 ;  Merchant  of  Venice, 
192 ;  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream,  188;  Much  Ado, 
67;  Othello,  101,  194,  236, 
318 

Feminine  endings  in,  133  ;  omis- 
sion of  relatives,  19  ;  free  use 
of  superlatives,  10;  words 
and  phrases,  passim 

Shakespeare's  England,  18,  79, 
101-2,  136,  242 

Shambles  in  Rome,  59 

Sharp's  Life  of  B.,  5,  32,  201,  268, 
275  ' 

Shelley,  24  ;   his  Cenci,  237,  254 

Shimei,  111 

'  Shine  and  shade ',  27-8 

Shorthouse's  John  Inglesant,  79-80, 
231,  307,  308 

'  Sib ',  40 

'  Silly-sooth  *,  62 


Similes  in  R.  and  B.,  IS,  186,  209, 
231 

'  Sincere  ',  147 

Sixtus  V.,  13,  153,  256 

'  Skin  for  skin  ',  25 

'  Smell-feast ',  164 

Smith,  A.  H.,  xiii.,  315 

Smith,  G.  M.,  278 

Smith,  Goldwin,  250 

'  Snicker ',  15 

Snow,  T.  C.,  193 

'  Soldier-crab  ',  209 

Solomon,  169  ;  his  porch  of  judg- 
ment, 78  ;  his  ring,  120 

Solon,  10,  170 

Sophocles,  184,  193,  227 

'  Sops-in-wine ',  106 

Sources  of  R.  and  B.,  xi.-xii.,  xvii.- 
xxi. 

Source-study,  xi.-xiii.,  292 

Spada,  Cardinal,  262-3 

Spanish  succession,  303 
j   *  Sparks  '  in  '  clods  ',  69-70,  317 

Spenser,  23,  122,  176 
|   Spicilegium,  8 
!   Spinello  Aretino,  153 

Spreti,  D.,  xviii.,  10,  167  ;  his 
pleadings  quoted  or  referred 
to,  passim 

'  Stanchion  ',  verb,  96-7 

Stephen  VII.,  204-5 

Stephen,  Sir  Leslie,  160,  221,  233, 
234 

Stevenson's  Virginibus  Puerisque, 
217-18 

'  Stock-fish ',  85 

Story,  W.  W.,  B.  studies  modelling 
under,  240,  276;  his  Graffiti 
<f  Italia,  255;  his  Roba  di 
Roma,  why  specially  im- 
portant to  readers  of  R.  and 
B.,  58,  description  of  Roman 
customs,  etc.  in,  25,  56,  58, 
59,  77,  86,  98,  99,  107,  147, 
149-50,  151,  165,  205,  231, 
239,  243,  251,  263.  See  also 
28,  300 

'  Studio  ',  25 

Stump,  artist's,  183 

'  Style  '  =pen,  228,  =  pillar,  19 

Succubus,  105 


342 


THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


'  Suchanone  ',  204 

Suetonius's  Nero,  190 

Sulphur,  106 

Summaria,  xviii.,  9 

Superlatives  in  B.,  10 

Susanna,  83 

Swete's  St.  Mark,  256 

Swinburne,  A.  C.,  236,  237 

Symons's  Introduction  to  B.,   35, 

275,  317 
Symphyses,  240 

Tacitus,  102,  106,  269 

Tsenia,  249 

*  Tale  '  of  the  Incarnation,  219-20, 
222,  226 

Tarocs,  121 

Tasso's  Gerusalemme  Liberate,  247 

'  Tawdry ',  247 

Taylor,  Jeremy,  253 

'  Tenebrific ',  62 

Tennyson,  23, 
208,  227 

'  Tenon  ',  verb,  166 

'  Term  ',  97 

'  Tern  Quatern  ',  265 

Tertium  Quid,  31,  306  -,  char- 
acteristics of  the  monologue, 
72-4;  on  torture,  299;  un- 
favourably judged,  73 

Tertullian,  269 

'  Tetchy ',  93 

Thackeray's  Esmond,  21,  83,  122, 
164,  241 

'  Thalassian-pure  ',  191 

Theatre -incident  at  Arezzo,  44, 
83,  122,  152 

Themistocles,  death  of,  257 

Theodoric  the  Goth,  11,  169 

Theresa,  St.,  309 

'  Thishow  ',  *  thiswise  ',  19 

Thomas,  St.,  127 

Thucydides,  257  ;  his  *  sole  joke  ', 
193 

Thule,  106 

'  Thwart ',  adjective,  188 

Tichborne  trial,  B.  at  summing-up, 
5 

'  Tickle  to  the  touch  ',  85 

Tighetti,  D.,  271 

Time,  Roman,  87 


Tines,  174 

'  Tinkle  ',  244 

'  Title  '  of  decree,  137,  197 

'  Tittup  ',  97 

'  To  and  fro  the  house  ',  20 

4  Toad's-head-squeeze  ',  51,  107 

Tobias  and  Tobit,  129,  176 

Tommaseo,  261,  273 

Tommaso  (Guide's  father),  251 

Tommati  (Tomati),  22,  42-3,  87 

Tonsures,  11,  43 

Tophet,  18 

Torture,  B.  and  Tertium  Quid 
upon,  22-3,  298-300;  inflic- 
tion of,  during  murder-trial, 
295-8 ;  in  papal  states  and 
in  secular  states,  299-300 

Tournon,  Cardinal,  225 

Tozzi,  256 

Treves,  Sir  Frederick,  on  the 
flight,  127,  128,  129,  130, 
156  ;  identifies  Pompilia  with 
Fra  Filippo  Lippi's  Madonna, 
79 ;  on  points  relating  to 
Home,  14,  38,  146,  149,  257  ; 
on  the  Comparini's  '  villa  ', 
280-81.  See  also  10,  44,  76, 
125,  126,-  and  Registers 

Triarii,  197 

'  TroU ',  100 

*  Truliest ',  270 

'  Trundle  ',  240 

Tuker  and  Malleson's  Christian  and 
Ecclesiastical  Home,  96, 205, 244 

Twelve  Tables,  the,  170 

Ugolinucci,  C.  A.,  12,  238,  259,  267 

Umbilicus,  265,  271 

Unidentified  quotations  and  allu- 
sions, 39,  90,  173,  174,  175, 
184,  185,  207,  248,  249,  251, 
254 

'  Unisonous  ',  175 

'  Unshent  *,  67 

'  Use  ',  verb,  36 

Uzzah,  82,  223,  322 

Valerius  Maximus,  172 
Vallombrosa  Convent,  245 
Vasari,  G.,  83,  153,  154,  272 
Velletri  (wine),  93,  256 


INDEX 


343 


Venetian  envoys.  See  Contarini, 
D.,  and  Erizzo,  N. 

Venetian  visitor  to  Rome,  xii.,  13, 
238,  255,  259,  301,  303,  304 

Venturini,  M.  A.,  22,  87,  271 

Verjuice,  39-40 

Verrall,  A.  W.,  17 

Vestal  Virgins,  49 

Veto  on  papal  elections,  256 

Vienna,  second  siege  of,  250 

Vigil-torture  (Vigiliarum),  91-2, 
295-8 

'  Villa  i'  the  Pauline  district ',  38, 
147,  279-81 

Vindicatio  honoris  causa,  168. 
See  Honoris  causa 

Violante  Comparing  her  age,  20, 
41  ;  her  confession,  56,  95  ; 
opens  door  to  the  murderers, 
109;  visited  by  Paolo,  35, 
57-8.  See  also  60,  77,  99,  148, 
280,  and  Comparing  the 

Virgil,  quotations  from  and  allu- 
sions to,  by  Guido,  98,  106, 
107,  251-2,  by  Arcangeli, 
165,  167,  168,  174,  176,  by 
Bottini,  183,  185,  189,  190, 
194,  195,  by  the  Popje,  231  ; 
his  *  fieriest  word  ',251.  '  See 
also  111,  152,  164,  169,  191, 
215 

'  Virgilian  dips '  (sortes  Vir~ 
giliance),  98,  207 

Vittiano,  44 

Voltaire,  82,  192,  272 

'  Votarist ',  155 

Walker's  Age  of  Tennyson,  32, 
139-40 


Waller,  E.,  208 

Wanley's  Wonders  of  the  Little 
World,  204 

'  Wanness  '  and  *  whiteness  ',  313- 
315 

Ward's  The  English  Poets,  72-3, 
161 

Were -wolves,  18 

Westcott,  Bishop,  on  Christian 
symbols  in  the  catacombs, 
205  ;  on  doubts  in  religion, 
229;  on  Euripides  as 
a  religious  teacher,  228 ; 
on  Guide's  invocation  of 
Pompilia,  316 ;  on  *  the 
sovereignty  of  feeling  over 
knowledge ',  216,  See  also 
218 

Wey's  Rome,  61 

'  What's  this  to  Bacchus  ? ',  195 

'  Whiffle  ',  24 

'  Whistling- while  ',  13 

*  Windlestraws ',  239 

Wine,  adulteration  of,  in  Rome, 

147 
Wiseman,  Cardinal,  15-16,  61 

*  Woe  worth  ',  100 
Woods,  Mrs.,  72-3,  161 
Wordsworth,  218,  250,  262 
Wormwood  Star,  261-2 

Yellow  Book,  xi.,  xii.,  xviii.-xix., 
xx.-xxi.,  275-8.  See  also  E.L. 
andO.Y.B. 

1  Yellow-haired  beauties  '  in  B.,  79 

Zampini-Salazar's  La  Vita  e  le 
opere  di  R.  B.  ed  E.  B.-B., 
29,  115,  162,  198,  273,  275 


THE   END 


Printed  by  R.  &  R.  CLARK,  LIMITED,  Edinburgh. 

o 


Cook,  Arthur  Kemball 
4219  A  commentary  upon 
C6  Browning1  s  The  ring  and  the 

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