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Untitled Article
the only true morality of such works ; and in this we consider the author of ' The Duchess de la Valliere * has quite mistaken his ground , and unwittingly ranged himself on the side of the remorseless stupidity of conventional selfishness . " The
' immoral' is much more conspicuous in this piece , " says the Athenaum , " than the moral ; the punishment falls heaviest upon her with whom we feel most inclined to sympathize . " Certainly ; the criminality is with the King ; his victim is innocent . Her refined and delicate conduct throughout the
story , and everything said about her by the other characters , all prove her purity of soul . The crime of love is all that can be brought against her . " Thy very sin , the overflow of thoughts From wells whose source was innocence . " p . 136 . See also pages 22 , 28 , 49 , 71 , 72 , 126 , &c . And yet , amidst all the heartless licentiousness of the Court of this fourteenth
King Louis , the very victim of its vices is made the black lamb of society , —albeit in the eye of heaven she must be comparatively white as the unsunned snow . But times and opinions have really moved on a little more than even Mr Bulwer seems to be aware ; for , whatever a Court Journal of the period of
the virtuous George the Fourth might have said , our present Court Journal speaks with respect of the morality of the life of the injured La Vallifere . In short , the tenour of her conduct was real morality ; her only immorality resulted from weakness of ^ intellect . If she had married JBragelone , whom she never loved , she would have been made " an honest woman , "
according to the moral of this play—but in reality a prostituted , instead of a betrayed , victim . The erroneous philosophy on this point is manifest , even by the different states of Bragelone ' s mind with regard to the King . In the early part of the play he is all loyalty and combativeness for his Grand Monarque ; as soon as he is rivalled by him , the King is considered as a pattern of vice . Did La Valliere make him vicious ? Alluding to the affection of La Valli&re for the now vicious King , he says , in answer to her question of " What crime have I committed V " No crime at courts I 'Tis only Heaven and Honour That deem it aught but—most admired good fortune . " p . 46 .
. If only Heaven and Honour consider it thus , then the private practices of all classes , in and out of Court , are pretty plainly implicated in the satire . But where one individual feels a particular interest in an object , and when the loss to himself and t ^ e gain to another is at stake , it is very certain that he then Incomes an exception , and sides with heaven and honour . If this be meant for satire , it is as broad as it is searching . Is it anything , we may argue from this , but " most admired good
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J % Dramatic Literature *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 1, 1837, page 72, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1828/page/25/
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