R651007A. Selection (1865).
The London Review, 7 October 1865, p. 395.
Listed in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 32, 391.
The new volume of “Moxon’s Minature Poets” consists of selected pieces from the poet who is the only one of the present day worthy to stand on the same footing with Tennyson, and whom many prefer to his great contemporary. We are not generally well disposed towards selections from a fine writer; but Mr. Browning’s works are so numerous, and their style is for the most part so difficult and obscure, that it is doing a service to a large body of readers, who would probably be daunted by a complete edition, to put forth a small collection of the choicest pieces, in a volume of no appalling size. The poems now reproduced are of various dates—ranging from some of Mr. Browning’s earlier volumes to his latest. In a brief introductory note, the poet says:—“It is the wish of Messrs. Chapman & Hall, who now publish my poems, that a little gathering from the lightest of these should be tied together, after the pretty device of my old publishers, Messrs. Moxon. Not a single piece here belongs to the selection already issued by the former gentlemen, which was, perhaps, a fair sample of the ground’s ordinary growth; this, such as it may prove, contentedly looks pale beside the wonderful flower-show of my illustrious predecessor—dare I say? my dear friend: who will take it, all except the love in the gift, at a mere nosegay’s worth.” The volume is adorned by a portrait, from a photograph by W. Jeffrey, of Mr. Browning—a strong, firm, thoughtful head, true to the writings of the man.
Reviewed:
A Selection (RB), London: Edward Moxon, 1865.
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