if not profound, adviser, and of tender friend. His personality is
sufficiently marked to claim the importance of a type; and as such he
stands forth, as contrasted with both Paracelsus and Aprile, and yet a
bond of union between them. It is more probable however that he was
created for the mere dramatic purpose of giving shape to the confession
of Paracelsus, and preserving it from monotony. The story is principally
told in a dialogue between them.

The first scene is entitled "Paracelsus aspires;" and takes place at
Würzburg between himself, Festus, and Michal, on the eve of his
departure from their common home. Both friends begin by opposing his
aspirations, and thus lead him to expound and defend them. The aim and
spirit of these is the distinguishing feature of the poem. Paracelsus
aspires to knowledge: such knowledge as will benefit his fellow-men. He
will seek it in the properties of nature, and, as history tells us, he
will succeed. But his _aspirations_ pass over these isolated
discoveries, which he has no idea of connecting into scientific truths:
and tend ever towards some final revelation of the secret of life, to
flash forth from his own brain when the flesh shall have been subdued,
and the imprisoned light of intellect set free. And here Mr. Browning's
metaphysical fancy is somewhat at issue with his facts. Paracelsus
employed nature in the quest of the supernatural or magical; this is
shown by the poem, though in it he begins by repudiating, with all other
external aids, the help of the black art. He therefore relied on other
kinds of knowledge than that which springs direct from the human mind.
The inconsistency however disappears in Mr. Browning's conception of the
case, and the metaphysical language which he imputes to Paracelsus in
the earlier stages of his career, is not felt to be untrue.

Paracelsus not only aspires to know: he believes it his mission to