Opening
"The Browning Cyclopædia."
SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE FIRST EDITION.
"Conscientious and painstaking,"--The Times.
"Obviously a most painstaking work, and in many ways it is very well done."--Pall Mall Gazette.
"In many ways a serviceable book, and deserves to be widely bought."--The Speaker.
"A book of far-reaching research and careful industry ... will make this poet clearer, nearer, and dearer to every reader who systematically uses his book."--Scotsman.
"Dr. Berdoe is a safe and thoughtful guide; his work has evidently been a labour of love, and bears many marks of patient research."--Echo.
"Students of Browning will find it an invaluable aid."--Graphic.
"A work suggestive of immense industry."--Morning Post.
"Erudite and comprehensive."--Glasgow Herald.
"As a companion to Browning's works the Cyclopædia will be most valuable; it is a laborious, if necessary, piece of work, conscientiously performed, for which present and future readers and students of Browning ought to be really grateful."--Nottingham Daily Guardian.
"A monumental labour, and fitting company for the great compositions he elucidates."--Rock.
"It is very well that so patient and ubiquitous a reader as Dr. Berdoe should have written this useful cyclopædia, and cleared the meaning of many a dark and doubtful passage of the poet."--Black and White.
"It is not too much to say that Dr. Berdoe has earned the gratitude of every reader of Browning, and has materially aided the study of English literature in one of its ripest developments."--British Weekly.
"Dr. Berdoe's Cyclopædia should make all other handbooks unnecessary."--Star.
"We are happy to commend the volume to Browning students as the most ambitious and useful in its class yet executed."--Notes and Queries.
"A most learned and creditable piece of work. Not a difficulty is shirked."--Vanity Fair.
"A monument of industry and devotion. It has really faced difficulties, it is conveniently arranged, and is well printed and bound."--Bookman.
"A wonderful help."--Gentlewoman.
"Can be strongly recommended as one for a favourite corner in one's library."--Whitehall Review.
"Exceedingly well done; its interest and usefulness, we think, may pass without question."--Publishers' Circular.
"In a singularly industrious and exhaustive manner he has set himself to make clear the obscure and to accentuate the beautiful in Robert Browning's poem ... must have involved infinite labour and research. It cannot be doubted that the book will be widely sought for and warmly appreciated."--Daily Telegraph.
"Dr. Berdoe tackles every allusion, every proper name, every phase of thought, besides giving a most elaborate analysis of each poem. He has produced what we might almost call a monumental work."--Literary Opinion.
"This cyclopædia may certainly claim to be by a long way the most efficient aid to the study of Browning that has been published, or is likely to be published.... Lovers of Browning will prize it highly, and all who wish to understand him will consult it with advantage."--Baptist Magazine.
"The work has evidently been one of love, and we doubt whether any one could have been found better qualified to undertake it."--Cambridge Review.
"All readers of Browning will feel indebted to Dr. Berdoe for his interesting accounts of the historical facts on which many of the dramas are based, and also for his learned dissertations on 'The Ring and the Book' and 'Sordello.'"--British Medical Journal.
"The work is so well done that no one is likely to think of doing it over again."--The Critic (New York).
"This work reflects the greatest credit on Dr. Berdoe and on the Browning Society, of which he is so distinguished a member,--it is simply invaluable."--The Hawk.
"The Cyclopædia has at any rate brought his (Browning's) best work well within the compass of all serious readers of intelligence--Browning made easy."--The Month.
THE BROWNING CYCLOPÆDIA.
By the Same Author.
=BROWNING'S MESSAGE TO HIS TIME. His Religion, Philosophy, and Science.= With Portrait and Facsimile Letters. Second edition, price 2_s._ 6_d._
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
"Full of admiration and sympathy."--Saturday Review.
"Much that is helpful and suggestive."--Scotsman.
"Should have a wide circulation, it is interesting and stimulative."--Literary World.
"It is the work of one who, having gained good himself, has made it his endeavour to bring the same good within the reach of others, and, as such, it deserves success."--Cambridge Review.
"We have no hesitation in strongly recommending this little volume to any who desire to understand the moral and mental attitude of Robert Browning.... We are much obliged to Dr. Berdoe for his volume."--Oxford University Herald.
"Cannot fail to be of assistance to new readers."--Morning Post.
"The work of a faithful and enthusiastic student is here."--Nation.
THE BROWNING CYCLOPÆDIA
A GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF THE WORKS OF ROBERT BROWNING
WITH Copious Explanatory Notes and References on all Difficult Passages
BY EDWARD BERDOE
LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, EDINBURGH; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, ENGLAND, ETC., ETC.
Author of "Browning's Message to his Time," "Browning as a Scientific Poet," etc., etc.
LONDON: SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. LTD. NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. 1897
FIRST EDITION, December, 1891. SECOND EDITION, March, 1892. THIRD EDITION (Revised), September, 1897.
I gratefully Dedicate these pages TO DR. F. J. FURNIVALL AND MISS E. H. HICKEY, THE FOUNDERS OF THE BROWNING SOCIETY.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The demand for a second edition of this work within three months of its publication is a sufficient proof that such a book meets a want, notwithstanding the many previous attempts of a more or less partial character which have been made to explain Browning to "the general." With the exception of certain superfine reviewers, to whom nothing is obscure--except such things as they are asked to explain without previous notice--every one admits that Browning requires more or less elucidation. It is said by some that I have explained too much, but this might be said of most commentaries, and certainly of every dictionary. It is difficult to know precisely where to draw the line. If I am not to explain (say for lady readers) what is meant by the phrase "De te fabula narratur," I know not why any of the classical quotations should be translated. If Browning is hard to understand, it must be on account of the obscurity of his language, of his thought, or the purport of his verses; very often the objection is made that the difficulty applies to all these. I have not written for the "learned," but for the people at large. The Manchester Guardian, in a kindly notice of my book, says "the error and marvel of his book is the supposition that any cripple who can only be crutched by it into an understanding of Browning will ever understand Browning at all." There are many readers, however, who understand Browning a little, and I hope that this book will enable them to understand him a great deal more: though all cripples cannot be turned into athletes, some undeveloped persons may be helped to achieve feats of strength.
A word concerning my critics. No one can do me a greater service than by pointing out mistakes and omissions in this work. I cannot hope to please everybody, but I will do my best to make future editions as perfect as possible.
E. B.
March 1892.