As he has sinned. Reward him or I waive
Reward! If thou canst find no place for him,
He shall be king elsewhere, and I will be
His slave forever!"

Greater love hath no man; that's enough. In his
tales of "The Mermaid Inn" Alfred Noyes makes one
of the old cronies on the black settle say the same thing
in these words :

"Give us the fire and a friend or two."

The story of Paracelsus as told by Browning is very
human. In a greater or lesser degree, it is a record
of all earnest human endeavor. Who ever realized
one-half of his wishes? How many of the not at all
extravagant dreams of youth ever materialize? How
often do we say on seeing some wreck of humanity:



24 BROWNING CRITIQUES

"What did he or she dream of being and doing ? Why
this obliteration of what should have been? What
quality was lacking that would have made for at least
a respectable place in life?" Paracelsus was not an
utter failure. He exemplified his own theory of one-
sided development. He was selfish in his strength,
obstinate in his weakness. Browning's strength en-
abled him to work on in his chosen profession for thirty
years before gaining any appreciable recognition. His
myopic weakness and obstinacy led him to object to
the placing of a memorial in Westminster Abbey of
our own poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
CHAPTER II

PIPPA PASSES

So many times we hear it said amongst Browning
students, in reply to the charge of obscurity : "But
we get from the poet the measure that we bring."
That is true too. Coming to Browning with a mind
set to the easy measure of Walter Scott, or of Mrs.
