"When the man wants weight the woman takes it up, And topples down the scales; but this is fixt As are the roots of earth and base of all. Man for the field and woman for the hearth; Man for the sword and for the needle she; Man with the head and woman with the heart; Man to command and woman to obey; All else confusion. Look to it; the gray mare Is ill to live with, when her whinny shrills From tile to scullery, and her small goodman Shrinks in his arm-chair while the fires of Hell Mix with his hearth; but take and break her, you! She's yet a colt. Well groom'd and strongly curb'd She might not rank with those detestable That to the hireling leave their babe, and brawl Their rights or wrongs like potherbs in the street. They say she's comely; there's the fairer chance: _I_ like her none the less for rating at her! Besides, the woman wed is not as we, But suffers change of frame. A lusty brace Of twins may weed her of her folly. Boy, The bearing and the training of a child Is woman's wisdom." --_The Literary Gazette_. ROBERT BROWNING _Paracelsus_. By Robert Browning. There is talent in this dramatic poem, (in which is attempted a picture of the mind of this celebrated character,) but it is dreamy and obscure. Writers would do well to remember, (by way of example,) that though it is not difficult to imitate the mysticism and vagueness of Shelley, we love him and have taken him to our hearts as a poet, not _because_ of these characteristics--but _in spite_ of them.--_The Athenæum_. _Sordello_. By Robert Browning. London: Moxon. 1840. The scene of this poem is laid in Italy, when the Ghibelline and Guelph factions were in hottest contest. The author's style is rather peculiar, there being affectations of language and invertions of thought, and other causes of obscurity in the course of the story which detract from the pleasure of perusing it. But after all, we are much mistaken if Mr. Browning does not prove himself a poet of a right stamp,--original, vigorous, and finely inspired. He appears to us to possess a true sense of the dignity and sacredness of the poet's kingdom; and his imagination wings its way with a boldness, freedom and scope, as if he felt himself at home in that sphere, and was resolved to put his allegiance to the test.--_The Monthly Review_. _Men and Women_. By Robert Browning. Two Volumes. Chapman and Hall.