Page:Poet Lore, volume 3, 1891.djvu/265

Rh of the "Pied Piper" or of "Evelyn Hope," while Ben Ezra's initials even are seldom traced on flag or coat-of-arms. It was asserted some time ago that this poem of Ben Ezra was frequently quoted by clergymen, but truth obliges me to say that out of all the sermons which I have heard—and I have listened to many, being in the habit of going to hear able divines of all denominations—I cannot recall one in which any quotation was ever made from this soul-stirring poem. A written discourse was sent me some years ago by Mr. Nathan Haskell Dole; this was the work of a brother of Mr. Dole, and it contained an appropriate reference to Rabbi Ben Ezra as pictured by Browning; here my record of its influence among ministers stops. Even Jewish clergymen make comparatively no use of the philosophical and practical lessons to be derived from a study of this theme as delineated by the English poet. And yet Browning has in it seized the essence of Jewish faith and hope, holding it aloft in the crystal of language. There is no doubt that the writer had drunk deeply at the well of Hebraic thought; not otherwise could he have composed verses which in their majestic music and their noble meaning seem to echo something of the solemn earnestness and inspiration of Isaiah or Job. This poem has for me an indescribable elevation, a spiritual strength and wholesomeness, a comforting and rational philosophy, a deeply-rooted verity and sweetness, that touch and vivify the soul. Mr. Charles Dudley Warner said of the stories in St. Nicholas, "If the children don't like those, then I think it is time to begin to change the kind of children in this country." If the Jewish people do not appreciate what Browning has done for them in "Rabbi Ben Ezra," then I think it is high time to alter the Hebrews of this land. The value of the Hebrew element in Browning's poems is that it does much to remove prejudice, and to place the philosophy of the Jew in its true place among the world's "Credos." A Ben Ezra and a Jochanan may supplant a Shylock and a Fagin in public estimation. This is an effect much to be desired. When in looking through a graphic and beautiful picture of the life of Montefiore by Samuel W. Cooper, I am reminded of the condition of the Jewish people in England a hundred years ago, it may be held a blessing that one of