They interest us with new things from book to book.

In _The Ring and the Book_ the subject is not great, the fates concerned are not important, and the same event runs through twelve books and is described twelve times.

However we may admire the intellectual force which actually makes the work interesting, and the passion which often thrills us in it--this is more than the subject bears, and than we can always endure.

Each book is spun out far beyond what is necessary; a great deal is inserted which would be wisely left out.

No one could be more concise than Browning when he pleased.