[481]Webster Dyce, 1857, "Vittoria Corombona," p. 20, 21.
[482]Ibid. III. 2, p. 23.
[483]"Vittoria Corombona," III. 2, p. 24.
[484]Compare Mme. Marneffe in Balzac's "La Cousine Bette."
[485]"Vittoria Corombona," V. last scene, pp. 49, 50.
[486]Hence the happiness and strength of the marriage tie. In France it is but an association of two comrades, tolerably alike and tolerably equal, which gives rise to endless disturbance and bickering.
[487]See the representation of this character throughout English and German literature. Stendhal, an acute observer, saturated with Italian and French morals and ideas, is astonished at this phenomenon. He understands nothing of this kind of devotion, "this slavery which English husbands have had the wit to impose on their wives under the name of duty." These are "the manners of a seraglio." See also "Corinne," by Mme de Staël.
[488]A perfect woman already: meek and patient.—Heywood.
[489]See, by way of contrast, all Molière's women, so French; even Agnes and little Louison.
[490]Beaumont and Fletcher, Works, ed. G. Colman, 3 vols. 1811, "Philaster", V.