exception only of the more recent importations from France, the rondeau and the rest. His remarkable versatility is, perhaps, best shown by the fact that his most popular productions were descriptive pieces of pure action—the themes of Hamelin and Ghent—which were outside his ordinary range of interest, wide as that was.
'My stress lay on the incidents in the development of a soul; little else is worth study.' These words from the dedication to the reprint of Sordello—itself the key to all Browning's more serious side—sum up his method. Spiritual dynamics, the influence of soul on soul, this is what his mind fixes upon amidst all the plexuses of things. Not action, but character, and not character formed, but in the forming—there is the staple of Browning's art. And in that direction his power is unique in the world's literature. Comparisons have been made with Shakespeare in this regard, but here the superiority is with Browning without a doubt, and a moment's reflection will show why it must be so. The business of the true dramatist is with action—with character too, but character formed, and only so far as action brings out the character that is already there. The conditions of Shakespeare's art prevented him from dealing with character formation, modification, elevation,
