Blinded by his own passion, Paracelsus has had no sense to divine the sorrow of his friend, and Festus has had no heart to obtrude such a sorrow as this.

Only at the last moment, and in all gentleness, it must be told--Michal is dead.

In Browning's earliest poem Pauline is no more than a name and a shadow.

The creator of Ottima and Colombe, of Balaustion and Pompilia had much to tell of womanhood.
Michal occupies, as is right, but a small space in the history of Paracelsus, yet her presence in the poem and her silent withdrawal have a poignant influence.

We see her as maiden and hear of her as mother, her face still wearing that quiet and peculiar light Like the dim circlet floating round a pearl.
And now, as the strong men of Shakespeare's play spoke of the dead Portia in the tent, Paracelsus and Festus talk of the pastor of Einsiedeln's gentle wife.