The "soul" of Chiappino is, in fact, not the stuff of which tragedy is made.

Even in his instant acceptance of Luitolfo's bloodstained cloak when the pursuers are, as he thinks, at the door, he seems to have been casually switched off the proper lines of his character into a piece of heroism which properly belongs to the man he would like to be thought, but has not the strength to be.

On the whole, Browning's scorn must be considered to have injured his art.
Tragedy, in the deepest sense, lay beyond his sphere; and this "tragedy" of mere degeneration and helpless collapse left untouched all the springs from which his poetry drew its life.
[Footnote 21: Browning's letter to Elizabeth Barrett, Feb.

13, 1846, which does not seem to have been adequately noticed.

The piece is ignored by Mrs Orr.