It was the most wonderful face in the whole congregation--pale, somewhat mysterious, and shaded with black, flowing hair, but a face whose expression you remember through a life-time.
Scarcely less memorable were the countenances of his father, mother and sister."[7] Robert Browning, writes Mrs Orr, "was a handsome, vigorous, fearless child, and soon developed an unresting activity and a fiery temper." His energy of mind made him a swift learner.

After the elementary lessons in reading had been achieved, he was prepared for the neighbouring school of the Rev.Thomas Ready by Mr Ready's sisters.

Having entered this school as a day-boarder, he remained under Mr Ready's care until the year 1826.

To facile companionship with his school-fellows Browning was not prone, but he found among them one or two abiding friends.

As for the rest, though he was no winner of school prizes, he seems to have acquired a certain intellectual mastery over his comrades; some of them were formed into a dramatic _troupe_ for the performance of his boyish plays.