[Written at Bagni di Lucca, 1853; published in _Men and
Women_, above; reprinted in _Poetical Works_, 1863, under a
separate heading; _id_., 1889 (Vol. VII. pp. 1-41). Performed
at the Browning Society's Third Annual Entertainment,
Prince's Hall, Piccadilly, Nov. 28, 1884, and by the English
Drama Society at the Victoria Hall, June 8, 1905.]

The dramatic scene of _In a Balcony_ is the last of the works written in
dialogue. We have seen, in tracing the course of the plays from
_Strafford_ to _A Soul's Tragedy_, how the playwright gave place to the
poet; how the stage construction, the brisk and interchanged dialogue of
the earlier dramas, gradually and inevitably developed into the more
subtle, the more lengthy dialogue, which itself approached more and more
nearly to monologue, of the later ones. _In a Balcony_, written eight
years later than _A Soul's Tragedy_, has more affinity with it, in form
at least, than with any other of the plays. But while the situation
there was purely intellectual and moral, it is here passionate and
highly-wrought, to a degree never before reached, except in the crowning
scene of _Pippa Passes_. We must go to the greatest among the
Elizabethans to exceed that; we must turn to _Le Roi s'amuse_ to equal
this.

The situation is, in one sense, extremely subtle; in another,
remarkably simple. The action takes place within a few hours, on a
balcony at night. Norbert and Constance are two lovers. Norbert is in
the service of a certain Queen, to whom he has, by his diplomatic skill
and labour, rendered great services. His aim, all the while, though
unknown, as he thinks, to her, has been the hope of winning Constance,
the Queen's cousin and dependant. He is now about to claim her as his
recompense; but Constance, fearing for the result, persuades him,
reluctant though he is, to ask in a roundabout way, so as to flatter or
touch the Queen. He over-acts his part. The Queen, a heart-starved and
now ageing woman, believes that he loves her, and responds to him with
the passion of a long-thwarted nature. She announces the wonderful news,
with more than the ecstasy of a girl, to Constance. Constance resolves
to resign her lover, for his good and the Queen's, and, when he appears,
she endeavours to make him understand and enter into her plot. But he
cannot and will not see it. In the presence of the Queen he declares his
love for Constance, and for her alone. The Queen goes ou