May 7: A Bishop Bargains (Vol. 42, pp. 1074-1078)

The English poet Robert Browning was born this day in 1812, so we get two overwritten poems on vanity. And the maddening pattern of this series continues. You get a compelling stretch with Faraday, Machiavelli and Huxley, followed by bad drama and worse poetry. The selections made by the editors, in my view, are eminently second-guessable.