He dwelt with emphasis upon this aspect of the fate of Charles's great minister; in _Luria_, where he was working uncontrolled by historical authority, it is the fundamental theme.

At the same time the effect is heightened by those race contrasts which had been so abundantly used in _The Return of the Druses_.

Luria is a Moor who has undertaken the service of Florence, and whose religion it is to serve her.

Like Othello,[22] he has been intrusted, alien as he is, by a jealous and exacting State, with the supreme command of her military forces, a position in which the fervour of the Oriental and the frank simplicity of the soldier inevitably lie open to the subtle strategy of Italians and statesmen.

"Luria," wrote Browning, while the whole scheme was "all in my brain yet, ...