In the last twenty years of his life Browning, on the whole, appears at his worst. We have seen how the development of Tennyson, though not unattended with loss, carried with it much compensating gain. There are some indications that Tennyson felt the influence of his great contemporary. The metrical effects of his later poems, as well as the studies of character, are sometimes suggestive of Browning. It would have been well if Browning had in turn borrowed a few hints from Tennyson; but unfortunately he went steadily along his own course, bringing into ever greater prominence characteristics that rather needed repression. He should have nourished the artistic rather than the intellectual element. Instead, the former dwindled and the latter grew; and some of his later writings may be not unfairly described as merely treatises in verse. Such is _Fifine at the Fair_ (1872); such is _La Saisiaz_ (1878); such are many parts of _Ferishtah's Fancies_ (1884), and of the _Parleyings with Certain People of Importance_ (1887). Such too is _Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau_ (1871); for there the dramatic conception of Louis Napoleon is smothered beneath the arguments of the Saviour of Society. In all of these the philosophy overloads the poetry, a state of matters all the less satisfactory because the philosophy itself is not so sound as that of the earlier periods. There is nevertheless some fine work belonging to this late period. The translations from the Greek are interesting; but their value is outweighed by that of the beautiful romance of _Balaustion_, in which they are set, and by the discussion of the principles of art in _Aristophanes' Apology_ (1875). Still better is _The Inn Album_ (1875), remarkable for the magnificent character of the heroine, and for some of the most powerful reasoning to be found in Browning's works. His last volume, _Asolando_ (1889), will always have a special interest for its publication coincidently with his death; and it illustrates how his favourite ideas remained fixed to the end. There is nothing more characteristic of him than the thought that evil is necessary to the evolution of good. We can trace this all through his work. It is present in _Sordello_, where we find evil described as 'the scheme by which, through ignorance, good labours to exist;' and the poet even modifies the prayer, 'Lead us not into temptation,' because, if we are strong enough to overcome it, the temptation will only do us good. It is indeed Bishop Blougram whom he causes to speak of 'the blessed evil;' but Browning could consistently have used the phrase himself. Nowhere is this doctrine, at first so strange, yet so suggestive, more fully and clearly expressed than in the poem _Rephan_ in _Asolando_. Earth is superior to Rephan just because evil blended with good is better than 'a neutral best,' and it is progress to move from the sphere where wrong is impossible to one where through the