256 THE HOMELINESS OF BROWNING

Landor saw that long ago, when he linked him with an earlier democrat : — Since Chaucer was alive and hale, No man hath walk'd along onr roads with step So active, so inquiring eye, or tongue So varied in discourse. But even Landor's tribute has been outdone, in fun- damental completeness, by the proud testimony of Lockhart. It is the perfect exposition of his secret. Let it stand for peroration here. " I like Browning," said he. "He's not the least bit like one of your damned literary men." Ave! Liverpool Courier, 1912.