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.
Is it not best to imagine him as having walked out with a friend to some point where the villa above and the city below are both clearly visible? And as the humor of the monologue consists in the impressions which the two places make upon the speaker, the contrasts are sharp and sudden. In such a position we can distinctly realize him now looking with longing towards the city that he loves and then turning with disgust and contempt towards the villa he despises.