Above it, behold the Archbishop's most fatherly of rebukes, And beneath, with his crown and his lion, some little new law of the Duke's! Or a sonnet with flowery marge, to the Reverend Don So-and-so Who is Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarca, Saint Jerome, and Cicero, "And moreover," (the sonnet goes rhyming,) "the skirts of Saint Paul has reached, Having preached us those six Lent-lectures more unctuous than ever he preached." Noon strikes,--here sweeps the procession! our Lady borne smiling and smart With a pink gauze gown all spangles, and seven swords stuck in her heart! _Bang, whang, whang_, goes the drum, _tootle-te-tootle_ the fife; No keeping one's haunches still: it's the greatest pleasure in life. But bless you, it's dear--it's dear! fowls, wine, at double the rate. They have clapped a new tax upon salt, and what oil pays passing the gate It's a horror to think of. And so, the villa for me, not the city! Beggars can scarcely be choosers: but still--ah, the pity, the pity! Look, two and two go the priests, then the monks with cowls and sandals, And the penitents dressed in white shirts, a-holding the yellow candles. One, he carries a flag up straight, and another a cross with handles, And the Duke's guard brings up the rear, for the better prevention of scandals. _Bang, whang, whang_, goes the drum, _tootle-te-tootle_ the fife. Oh, a day in the city-square, there is no such pleasure in life! Of course, there are arguments in favor of placing the "person of quality" in the city near his beloved objects. One of the last lines, beginning "Look, two and two go the priests," seems to imply the discovery and actual presence of the procession. But if Browning had located the speaker in the city, would he not say "here" and not "there," as he does at the end of the third line? If at the villa, why does he say to his listener, "Well, now, look at our villa!" The fact that he points to it and says, "stuck like the horn of a bull Just on a mountain's edge," seems to imply, though in plain sight of it, that he is some distance away. Again, if at the villa, how can he discover the procession? Was the monologue spoken during a walk? We can easily imagine the "person of quality" and his companion starting from the villa and talking while coming down into the city. But this is hardly possible, because when Browning changes his situation in this way, he always suggests definitely the stages of the journey. He never makes a mistake regarding the location or situation of his characters. His conceptions are so dramatic that he is always consistent regarding his characters and the situations or points of view they occupy. However obscure he may be in other points, he never confuses time and place or dramatic situation.