Those in the dramas were troubled by his want of power to shape them in that vehicle.

It would have then been a pity if, in his matured strength, he had not drawn into clear existence, with full and careful, not impressionist work, and with unity of conception, some women who should, standing alone, become permanent personages in poetry; whom men and women in the future, needing friends, should love, honour and obey, and in whom, when help and sympathy and wisdom were wanted, these healing powers should be found.

Browning did this for us in _Pompilia_ and _Balaustion_, an Italian and a Greek girl--not an English girl.

It is strange how to the very end he lived as a poet outside of his own land.
In 1868, Pompilia appeared before the world, and she has captured ever since the imagination, the conscience and the sentiment of all who love womanhood and poetry.

Her character has ennobled and healed mankind.
Born of a harlot, she is a star of purity; brought up by characters who love her, but who do not rise above the ordinary meanness and small commercial honesty of their class, she is always noble, generous, careless of wealth, and of a high sense of honour.