Browning's Men And Women, 1855 - Vol I

MEN AND WOMEN, 1855 - CONTENTS - PAGE 1 MEN AND WOMEN. BY ROBERT BROWNING, IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON C HAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 1855. . CONTENTS. - Page LOVE AMONG THE RUINS . . 6 EVELYN HOPE . . 16 UP AT A VILLA-DOWN IN THE CITY. AS DISTINGUISHED BY AN I T A N PE RSON OF QUALITY. . . . 10 A TOCCATA OF GALUPPIS . . 39 BY THE FIRE-SIDE . . 43 ANY WIFE TO ANY HUSBAND . . 64 AN EPISTLE CONTAINING THE STRANGE MEDICAL EXPERIENCE OF EARSHISH, THE ARAB P H Y S I W . . . 60 A SERENADE AT THE VILLA . . . 76 MY STAB . . 79 4 COSTESTS. Page IS. T. ASS TTR - SSI-9 . . 80 A PRETTY YlIJIAS . IIILDE ROLASD TCI THE DARK TOWER CAME. . . . RE FE TIBILITT . A I . I . l I T TOJIAX . . . . THE STATrE .4SD THE BCST . . . LOVE I S A LIFE LIFE I - 4 LOVE . . . IIU-IT STRIKES A COSTEMPORART . THE LAST RIDE TOC ETHER . . . TFIE, ATRIOT.-AS OLD STORY . MEN AND WOMEN. LOVE AAIONG THE RUINS. l. WHERE the quiet-coloured end of eveuiiig sides Miles and illiles 011 the solitary pastures where our sheep Half - asleep Tiiikle homeward thro the twilight, stray or stop As they crop-2. Was the site once of a city great aiid gay, So they say Of our countrys very capital, its prince Ages siilce Held his court in, gathered councils, wielding far Peace or war. LOVE ANOXQ THE BULNS. 3. Now-the country does not even boast a tree, As you see, To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills From the hills Intersect and give a name to, else they run Into one 4. Where the domed and daring palace shot its spires Up like fires Oer the hundred-gated circuit of a wall Bounding all, Made of marble, men might march on nor be prest, Twelve abreast. 6. And such plenty and perfection, see, of grass Never was Such a carpet as, this summer-time, oerspreads And embeds Every vestige of the city, guessed alone, Stock or stone-6. Where a multitude of men breathed joy and woe Long ago Lust of glory pricked their hearts up, dread of shame Struck them tame And that glory and that shame alike, the gold Bought and sold. LOVE AMONG THE RUINB. .7. Now, -the single little turret that remains On the plains, By the caper overrooted, by the gourd Overscored, While the patching houseleeks head of blossom winks Through the chinks-8. Marks the basement whence a tower in ancient time Sprang sublime, And a burning ring all . round, the chariots traced As they raced, And the monarch and his minions and his dames Viewed the games. 9. And I know, while thus the quiet-coloured eve Smiles to leave To their folding, all our many-tinkling fleece In such peace, And the slopes and rills in undistinguished grey Melt away-10. That a girl with eager eyes and yellow hair Waits me there In the turret, whence the charioteers caught soul For the goal, dumb When the king looked, where she looks now, breathless, Till I come. 11. But he looked iipotl the city, every side, Far and wide, All the inountains tapped r-itltle mples, all the glades Clololllla les, A11 the ciiusc-Sb, ridges, aqueducts, -aud then, All the men 12. Then I do come, she will speak not, she will stand, Either hand On my slionlder, give her eyes the first embrace Of lliy face, Ere VC rush, ere we esti lguishs ight and speech Each 011 each. 13. In one year they sent a lllillio lf ighters forth South and north, Al d they built their gods a brazen pillar high - 1s the skv, Yet reserved a tliousn ld chariots in full force- old, of course. 1-1. Oh, hcart oh. hlood that freezes, bloodthat burns Earths returns For -hole celitnri so f folll-, noise ailcl sill Shut the111 in, -it11 thcir triiinlphs ailcl tllcir glories ancl the rest. I, o-c i. 11est . 1. OH, . hat a dawn of day How the March sun feels like May All is blue again After last nights rain, And the South dries the hau-thorn-spray...