Browning had for long been much interested in the stage, but only as a spectator.

His imagination now turned towards dramatic authorship with a view to theatrical performance.

A play on a subject from later Roman history, _Narses_, was thought of and was cast aside.

The success of Talfourd's _Ion_, after the first performance of which (May 26, 1836) Browning supped in the author's rooms with Macready, Wordsworth, and Landor, probably raised high hopes of a like or a greater success for some future drama of his own.

"Write a play, Browning," said Macready, as they left the house, "and keep me from going to America." "Shall it be historical or English ?" Browning questioned, as the incident is related by Mrs Orr, "What do you say to a drama on Strafford ?" The life of Stafford by his friend Forster, just published, which during an illness of the author had been revised in manuscript by Browning, probably determined the choice of a subject.
By August the poet had pledged himself to achieve this first dramatic adventure.