For some time after that he was better, and probably, had he been
under such intelligent care as may be had at present, the crisis might
have been followed up, and a favorable direction given to his disease.
But the subject was not understood then, and, having once fallen mad,
he was doomed to live and die a madman.
FROM A CRITICISM ON BROWNING'S POEMS.
* * * * "The return of the Druses," a "Blot in the 'Scutcheon," and
"Colombo's Birthday," all have the same originality of conception,
delicate penetration into the mysteries of human feeling, atmospheric
individuality, and skill in picturesque detail. All three exhibit very
high and pure ideas of Woman, and a knowledge, very rare in man, of
the ways in which what is peculiar in her office and nature works. Her
loftiest elevation does not, in his eyes, lift her out of nature. She
becomes, not a mere saint, but the goddess-queen of nature. Her purity
is not cold, like marble, but the healthy, gentle energy of the
flower, instinctively rejecting what is not fit for it, with no need
of disdain to dig a gulf between it and the lower forms of creation.
Her office to man is that of the muse, inspiring him to all good
thoughts and deeds.
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