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beggars—all are dealt with in the same God-like fashion ; they 
are judged not by their outward condition, but by the inward 
condition of the heart. The great fact which obliterates the out- 
ward condition of these men and women is that they are human, 
and the poet’s only interest in their outward condition relates to 
its influence upon the development of their soul. Therefore, we 
may specially call him the poet of man, and still more correctly 
the poet of character. Browning, as a humanist, stands in the 
position of a great teacher, living truths blaze like fire beneath 
the jewelled lines, but they are the utterances of a man, and not 
a theologian. Browning’s strenuous character has no patience 
with a man who thinks himself to be something, when he is 
nothing, and with splendid irony he says :— 
The soul doubtless is immortal, 
Where a soul can be discovered. 
To him a man should not only be good ; he should be good for 
something. He thinks there is more hope of a strong sinner 
than a flabby saint. The force of character which makes a great 
sinner, may fashion a great saint. The chivalry of God, says 
Browning, does not consist of those who have kept their garments 
unspotted by cowardly avoidance of the battle, a lazy renuncia- 
tion of the world. It is formed of— 
The soldier saints, who, row on row, 
Burn upward to His point of bliss. 
And the one sin that seems most effectually to frustrate the end of 
life, according to Browning, we find expressed in ‘‘ The Statue 
and the Bust: ” 
The sin I impute to each frustrate ghost, 
Is the unlit lamp and the ungirt loin. 
Therefore, a man must be of positive quality before any good can 
be made of him. Browning cannot endure lethargy and in- 
difference and torpid conventionalism in the conduct of life. 
Therefore, he says, ‘‘obey your highest impulse.’’ Whether 
your stake in the game be a wooden button or a gold coin, it 
matters not, risk everything to accomplish your purpose, never 
mind whether you succeed or fail; the very effort that never 
slacks its courage is success. The great matter is not what our 
work gets for us, not how much applause we receive from the 
gallery, or from admiring friends, but what it makes of us. This 
is the essence of Robert Browning’s teaching. The very striving 
is great, apart from any outward gain, for, as he says in 
*« Sordello :”’ 
They fail, and they alone, who have not striven. 
And again :— 
Let a man contend to the uttermost, 
For his life’s set prize, be what it will, 
