Browning alone had no fear; he welcomed, evidently without the least affectation, all the influences of his day.

A very interesting letter of his remains in which he describes his pleasure in a university dinner.

"Praise," he says in effect, "was given very deservedly to Matthew Arnold and Swinburne, and to that pride of Oxford men, Clough." The really striking thing about these three names is the fact that they are united in Browning's praise in a way in which they are by no means united in each other's.

Matthew Arnold, in one of his extant letters, calls Swinburne "a young pseudo-Shelley," who, according to Arnold, thinks he can make Greek plays good by making them modern.

Mr.Swinburne, on the other hand, has summarised Clough in a contemptuous rhyme:-- "There was a bad poet named Clough, Whom his friends all united to puff.
But the public, though dull, Has not quite such a skull As belongs to believers in Clough." The same general fact will be found through the whole of Browning's life and critical attitude.