No sooner had he done so than he turned deadly pale, put down the book, and said, "My God! I'm an idiot.

My health is restored, but my mind's gone.

I can't understand two consecutive lines of an English poem." He then summoned his family and silently gave the book into their hands, asking for their opinion on the poem; and as the shadow of perplexity gradually passed over their faces, he heaved a sigh of relief and went to sleep.

These stories, whether accurate or no, do undoubtedly represent the very peculiar reception accorded to _Sordello_, a reception which, as I have said, bears no resemblance whatever to anything in the way of eulogy or condemnation that had ever been accorded to a work of art before.

There had been authors whom it was fashionable to boast of admiring and authors whom it was fashionable to boast of despising; but with _Sordello_ enters into literary history the Browning of popular badinage, the author whom it is fashionable to boast of not understanding.
Putting aside for the moment the literary qualities which are to be found in the poem, when it becomes intelligible, there is one question very relevant to the fame and character of Browning which is raised by _Sordello_ when it is considered, as most people consider it, as hopelessly unintelligible.