Then, swiftly recovering herself, she sets foot finally on the firm ground where she had first sought her "true resource." [Footnote 20: This fine speech of Valence to the greater glory of his rival (Act iv.) is almost too subtle for the stage.

Browning with good reason directed its omission unless "a very good Valence" could be found.] Berthold, like Blougram, Ogniben, and many another of Browning's mundane personages, is a subtler piece of psychology than men of the type of Valence, in whom his own idealism flows freely forth.

He comes before us with a weary nonchalance admirably contrasted with the fiery intensity of Valence.

He means to be emperor one day, and his whole life is a process of which that is to be the product; but he finds the process unaffectedly boring.

Without relaxing a whit in the mechanical pursuit of his end, he views life with much mental detachment, and shows a cool and not unsympathetic observation of men who pursue other ideals, as well as an abundance of critical irony towards those who apparently share his own.