In the following year he received and declined the virtual offer of the Lord Rectorship of the University of St.Andrews,rendered vacant by the death of Mr.J.S.Mill.
He returned with his sister to Le Croisic for the summer of 1867.
In June 1868,Miss Arabel Barrett died,of a rheumatic affection of the heart.
As did her sister seven years before,she passed away in Mr.Browning's arms.
He wrote the event to Miss Blagden as soon as it occurred,describing also a curious circumstance attendant on it.
19th June,'68.
'...You know I am not superstitious --here is a note I made in a book,Tuesday,July 21,1863."Arabel told me yesterday that she had been much agitated by a dream which happened the night before,Sunday,July 19.She saw Her and asked 'when shall I be with you?' the reply was,'Dearest,in five years,'whereupon Arabella woke.
She knew in her dream that it was not to the living she spoke."--In five years,within a month of their completion --I had forgotten the date of the dream,and supposed it was only three years ago,and that two had still to run.Only a coincidence,but noticeable....'
In August he writes again from Audierne,Finisterre (Brittany).
'...You never heard of this place,I daresay.After staying a few days at Paris we started for Rennes,--reached Caen and halted a little --thence made for Auray,where we made excursions to Carnac,Lokmariaker,and Ste.-Anne d'Auray;all very interesting of their kind;then saw Brest,Morlaix,St.-Pol de Leon,and the sea-port Roscoff,--our intended bathing place --it was full of folk,however,and otherwise impracticable,so we had nothing for it,but to "rebrousser chemin"and get to the south-west again.
At Quimper we heard (for a second time)that Audierne would suit us exactly,and to it we came --happily,for "suit"it certainly does.
Look on the map for the most westerly point of Bretagne --and of the mainland of Europe --there is niched Audierne,a delightful quite unspoiled little fishing-town,with the open ocean in front,and beautiful woods,hills and dales,meadows and lanes behind and around,--sprinkled here and there with villages each with its fine old Church.
Sarianna and I have just returned from a four hours'walk in the course of which we visited a town,Pont Croix,with a beautiful cathedral-like building amid the cluster of clean bright Breton houses,--and a little farther is another church,"Notre Dame de Comfort",with only a hovel or two round it,worth the journey from England to see;we are therefore very well off --at an inn,I should say,with singularly good,kind,and liberal people,so have no cares for the moment.
May you be doing as well!The weather has been most propitious,and to-day is perfect to a wish.We bathe,but somewhat ingloriously,in a smooth creek of mill-pond quietude,(there being no cabins on the bay itself,)unlike the great rushing waves of Croisic --the water is much colder....'
The tribute contained in this letter to the merits of le Pere Batifoulier and his wife would not,I think,be endorsed by the few other English travellers who have stayed at their inn.
The writer's own genial and kindly spirit no doubt partly elicited,and still more supplied,the qualities he saw in them.
The six-volume,so long known as 'uniform'edition of Mr.Browning's works,was brought out in the autumn of this year by Messrs.Smith,Elder &Co.;practically Mr.George Murray Smith,who was to be thenceforward his exclusive publisher and increasingly valued friend.In the winter months appeared the first two volumes (to be followed in the ensuing spring by the third and fourth)of 'The Ring and the Book'.
With 'The Ring and the Book'Mr.Browning attained the full recognition of his genius.The 'Athenaeum'spoke of it as the 'opus magnum'
of the generation;not merely beyond all parallel the supremest poetic achievement of the time,but the most precious and profound spiritual treasure that England had produced since the days of Shakespeare.
His popularity was yet to come,so also the widespread reading of his hitherto neglected poems;but henceforth whatever he published was sure of ready acceptance,of just,if not always enthusiastic,appreciation.
The ground had not been gained at a single leap.A passage in another letter to Miss Blagden shows that,when 'The Ring and the Book'appeared,a high place was already awaiting it outside those higher academic circles in which its author's position was secured.
'...I want to get done with my poem.Booksellers are making me pretty offers for it.One sent to propose,last week,to publish it at his risk,giving me ALL the profits,and pay me the whole in advance --"for the incidental advantages of my name"--the R.B.who for six months once did not sell one copy of the poems!
I ask 200Pounds for the sheets to America,and shall get it....'
His presence in England had doubtless stimulated the public interest in his productions;and we may fairly credit 'Dramatis Personae' with having finally awakened his countrymen of all classes to the fact that a great creative power had arisen among them.
'The Ring and the Book'and 'Dramatis Personae'cannot indeed be dissociated in what was the culminating moment in the author's poetic life,even more than the zenith of his literary career.In their expression of all that constituted the wide range and the characteristic quality of his genius,they at once support and supplement each other.
But a fact of more distinctive biographical interest connects itself exclusively with the later work.
