His masters were Homer, Vergil, Milton and the rest of those who wrote with measure, purity, and temperance; and from whose poetry proceeded a spirit of order, of tranquillity, of clearness, of simplicity; who were reticent in ornament, in illustration, and stern in rejection of unnecessary material.

None of these classic excellences belong to Browning, nor did he ever try to gain them, and that was, perhaps, a pity.

But, after all, it would have been of no use had he tried for them.

We cannot impose from without on ourselves that which we have not within; and Browning was, in spirit, a pure romantic, not a classic.

Tennyson never allowed what romanticism he possessed to have its full swing.