Yet, he was, in this very book, half-way out of this muddle. There are poems in it, just as strong as _The Inn Album_, but with the ineffable spirit of imaginative emotion and thought clasped together in them, so that the strong is stronger, and the humanity deeper than in the pieces he thought, being deceived by the Understanding, were more strong than the poems of old. In _Bifurcation_, in _St. Martin's Summer_, the diviner spirit breathes. There is that other poem called _Forgiveness_ of which I have already spoken--one of his masterpieces. _Cenciaja_, which may be classed with _Forgiveness_ as a study of the passion of hatred, is not so good as its comrade, but its hatred is shown in a mean character and for a meaner motive. And the _Prologue_, in its rhythm and pleasure, its subtlety of thought, its depth of feeling, and its close union of both, recalls his earlier genius. The first of the _Pisgah Sights_ is a jewel. It is like a poem by Goethe, only Goethe would have seen the "sight" not when he was dying, but when he was alive to his finger-tips. The second is not like Goethe's work, nor Browning's; but it is a true picture of what many feel and are. So is _Fears and Scruples_. As to _Natural Magic_, surely it is the most charming of compliments, most enchantingly expressed. The next volume of original poems was _La Saisiaz_ and the _Two Poets of Croisic_. The _Croisic Poets_ are agreeable studies, written with verve and lucidity, of two fantastic events which lifted these commonplace poets suddenly into fame. They do well to amuse an idle hour. The end of both is interesting. That of the first, which begins with stanza lix., discusses the question: "Who cares, how such a mediocrity as René lived after the fame of his prophecy died out?"[11] And Browning answers-- Well, I care--intimately care to have Experience how a human creature felt In after life, who bore the burthen grave Of certainly believing God had dealt For once directly with him: did not rave --A maniac, did not find his reason melt --An idiot, but went on, in peace or strife, The world's way, lived an ordinary life. The solution Browning offers is interesting, because it recalls a part of the experiences of Lazarus in the _Epistle to Karshish_. René, like Lazarus, but only for a moment, has lived in the eternal. Are such revelations possible, is his second question. Yes, he answers; and the form of the answer belongs to the theory of life laid down in _Paracelsus_. Such sudden openings of the greater world are at intervals, as to Abt Vogler, given by God to men.