His idealists grow for the most part in the interstices of the social organism.

He recognises them, it is true, without difficulty even in the most central and responsible organs of government.

None of his unofficial heroes--Paracelsus or Sordello or Rabbi ben Ezra--has a deeper moral insight than the aged Pope.

But the Pope's impressiveness for Browning and for his readers lies just in his complete emancipation from the bias of his office.

He faces the task of judgment, not as an infallible priest, but as a man, whose wisdom, like other men's, depends upon the measure of his God-given judgment, and flags with years.