In much of Browning’s poetry he agrees with Mill’s assertion that individual freedom can be credited with the genesis of social progress.  Browning’s poem “Fra Lippo Lippi” epitomizes Mill’s contention that freeing the individual of social bonds enables progress to occur.  Lippo draws his inspiration from his inner fountains, not societal waters. He has so much strength and talent he believes he can, “interpret God to all….”  This is the social progress that Mill, Browning, and most Victorians believed would come of societal emphasis on the individual.  Nevertheless, Lippo cannot fulfill his proclamation because he is bound to a static institution.  Lippo has the will to transcend the past, yet he does not have the freedom. When the Prior of the monastery views Lippo’s work, he denounces it as the “devil’s game.”  He encourages the artist to conform to the artists of the past:  “Here’s Giotto, with his Saint a-praising God, that sets us praising—why not stop with him?”