_Men and Women Series_, we may not unreasonably hold ourselves to possess fair _prima facie_ evidence that in a theory so treated is centred much of the interest of the writer; in the arguments deduced is to be accepted a more or less definite expression of the writer's own belief, or at least of that form of creed to which he is most strongly attracted. Of the five poems chosen as illustrative or explanatory of Browning's attitude towards that which we have designated _dogmatic_ religion, one only, _La Saisiaz_, the latest in point of time, is non-dramatic in character. Between the other four a line of connection is easily established, since all deal with different aspects of the same subject regarded through different media. If, then, beginning with the lowest link of the chain, we gain by means of a consideration of _Caliban_ some realization of the dramatic feats which Browning could accomplish at pleasure, we shall find less difficulty in distinguishing between the dramatic and personal elements in _Christmas Eve and Easter Day_ where the line of demarcation is more finely drawn. In _Caliban upon Setebos_ (from the _Men and Women Series_ of 1855) is presented the lowest conception of a Deity and of his dealings with the world and humanity, as evolved by a being incapable of aspiration, satisfied with existing conditions in so far, although in so far only, as they afford opportunity for material gratification. With _Cleon_ follows the substitution of the Greek conception of life at the beginning of the Christian era, speculations as to the design of Zeus in his intercourse with man. The speculator, at once poet, musician, artist, to whom have been accessible all the stores of Greek philosophy and Greek culture, feels inevitably the necessity for the existence of a Deity differing from that of the monster of Prospero's isle. Nevertheless to the Greek thinker the immortality of the soul is not yet more than a vague suggestion, the outcome of desire. His world has come into touch, but at its extreme edge, with the recently promulgated tenets of Christianity. To this inhabitant of "the sprinkled isles" the teaching of the Apostles of Galilee is so far "a doctrine to be held by no sane man": and yet his very yearning, nay, even his reasonable deductions from the experience of life, point to the need of "doctrines" such as those which he now deems impossible of credence. Of the character of the changes separating the world of religious thought of Blougram from that of Cleon, suggestions are afforded by the _Epilogue_ to the _Dramatis Personae_. The Christianity which Cleon criticized from afar has, by the date of the Bishop's _Apology_, become the creed of the civilized world. Not only has the time passed when The Temple filled with a cloud, Even the House of the Lord, Porch bent and pillar bowed: For the presence of the Lord, In the glory of His Cloud, Had filled the House of the Lord. (_Epilogue, Dram. Pers._)