stress on the expediency
of judging the Comparini by the morals of their class, and Count Guido
by the peculiarities of his own nature; admits the punishment of the
wife and parents to have been excessive, and cannot admit it to have
been unprovoked; does not pretend to decide between the conflicting
statements, and does not consider that Pompilia's dying confession
throws much light upon them; seeing that it may be equally true, or
false, or neutralized by another reserved for the priest's ear. Does not
regard putting the Count to the torture as the right mode of eliciting
the truth: because he may be innocent. But declares that if _he_ does
not deserve to undergo the torture, no one ever did or will. Tertium
Quid is sometimes flippant in tone, and his neutral attitude seems
chiefly the result of indifference or of caution. He is addressing
himself to a Highness and an Excellency, and is careful not to shock the
prejudices of either. Still, his statement is the nearest approach to a
judicial summing up of which the nature of the work admits.

Mr. Browning now enters on the constructive part of his work. He puts
the personages of the drama themselves before us, allowing each to plead
his or her own cause. The imaginary occasion is that of Count Guido's
trial; and all the depositions which were made on the previous one are
transferred to this. The author has been obliged in every case to build
up the character from the evidence, and to re-mould and expand the
evidence in conformity with the character. The motive, feeling, and
circumstance set forth by each separate speaker are thus in some degree
fictitious; but they are always founded upon fact; and the literal truth
of a vast number of details is self-evident. We first hear:

COUNT GUIDO FRANCESCHINI. He has been caught red-handed from the murder
of his wife. His crime is patent. He has himself confessed it under
torture. His only hope of reprieve lies in the colour which he may be
able to impart to it; and his speech is cunningly adapted to the nature
of the Court, and to the moral and mental constitution of those of whom
it is composed. His judges are churchmen: neutral on the subject of
marriage; rather coarsely masculine in their idea of the destiny of
women. He does not profess to have entertained any affection for his
wife. He derides the idea of having ill-used her, and thinks she might
have liked him better if he had done so, instead of threatening her into
g