THE PHILOSOPHY OF BROWNING The great fault of most of the appreciation of Browning lies in the fact that it conceives the moral and artistic value of his work to lie in what is called "the message of Browning," or "the teaching of Browning," or, in other words, in the mere opinions of Browning.

Now Browning had opinions, just as he had a dress-suit or a vote for Parliament.

He did not hesitate to express these opinions any more than he would have hesitated to fire off a gun, or open an umbrella, if he had possessed those articles, and realised their value.

For example, he had, as his students and eulogists have constantly stated, certain definite opinions about the spiritual function of love, or the intellectual basis of Christianity.

Those opinions were very striking and very solid, as everything was which came out of Browning's mind.
His two great theories of the universe may be expressed in two comparatively parallel phrases.