Excerpt from A Browning Primer: Being a Companion to the Pocket-Volume of Selections From the Poetical Works of Robert Browning Robert browning was born at Camberwell, May 7th, 1812. The mixed nationality of which he comes forms an important and interesting clue to the broadness of his ideas and sympathies. His father's mother was a Creole of St. Kitts; his mother's mother a Scotchwoman. She married a scotch-german mariner, William Wiedermann, and of this marriage was born the poet's mother, Sarianna Wiedermann. His father, also Robert Brown ing, was a clerk in the Bank of England, but the occupa tion was an uncongenial one, and be determined that his son should follow the bent of his inclinations, whitherso ever they might lead him. A loveless and unhappy childhood had pre-disposed the elder Browning towards making his children's lives as happy as possible. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.