These defects in Tennyson had the excellences which belong to them in art, just as these excellences in Browning had, in art, their own defects.

We should be grateful for the excellences, and not trouble ourselves about the defects.

However, neither the excellences nor the defects concern us in the present discussion.

It is the contrast between the two men on which we dwell.
5.

The next point of contrast, which will further illustrate why Browning was not read of old but is now read, has to do with historical criticism.