love of Luria. All of them only exist to be the scaffolding by means
of which Luria's character is built into magnificence, and they
disappear from our sight, like scaffolding, when the building is
finished.

There are fine things in the poem: the image of Florence; its men, its
streets, its life as seen by the stranger-eyes of Luria; the contrast
between the Eastern and the Latin nature; the picture of hot war; the
sudden friendship of Luria and Tiburzio, the recognition in a moment of
two high hearts by one another; the picture of Tiburzio fighting at the
ford, of Luria tearing the letter among the shamed conspirators; the
drawing of the rough honest soldier-nature in Puccio, and, chief of all,
the vivid historic painting of the time and the type of Italian
character at the time of the republics.

* * * * *

The first part of _A Soul's Tragedy_ is written in poetry and the second
in prose. The first part is dull but the second is very lively and
amusing; so gay and clever that we begin to wish that a good deal of
Browning's dramas had been written in prose. And the prose itself,
unlike his more serious prose in his letters and essays, is good, clear,
and of an excellent style. The time of the play is in the sixteenth
century; but there is nothing in it which is special to that time: no
scenery, no vivid pictures of street life, no distinct atmosphere of the
period. It might just as well be of the eighteenth or nineteenth
century. The character of Chiappino may be found in any provincial town.
This compound of envy, self-conceit, superficial cleverness and real
silliness is one of our universal plagues, and not uncommon among the
demagogues of any country. And he contrasts him with Ogniben, the Pope's
legate, another type, well known in governments, skilled in affairs,
half mocking, half tolerant of the "foolish people," the alluring
destroyer of all self-seeking leaders of the people. He also is as
common as Chiappino, as modern as he is ancient. Both are representative
types, and admirably drawn. They are done at too great length, but
Browning could not manage them as well in Drama as he would have done in
a short piece such as he placed in _Men and Women_. Why this little
thing is called _A Soul's Tragedy_ I cannot quite understand. That title
supposes that Chiappino loses his soul at the end of the play. But it is
plain from his mean and envious talk at the beginning with Eulalia th