_THE RING AND THE BOOK_ When Browning published _The Ring and the Book_, he was nearly fifty years old.

All his powers (except those which create the lyric) are used therein with mastery; and the ease with which he writes is not more remarkable than the exultant pleasure which accompanies the ease.

He has, as an artist, a hundred tools in hand, and he uses them with certainty of execution.

The wing of his invention does not falter through these twelve books, nor droop below the level at which he began them; and the epilogue is written with as much vigour as the prologue.
The various books demand various powers.

In each book the powers are proportionate to the subject; but the mental force behind each exercise of power is equal throughout.