His popular “shall” against a graver bench
Than ever frown’d in Greece.
(iII. i. 104.)
He hates any innovation that is likely
To break the heart of generosity
And make bold power look pale.
(i. i. 215.)
For to him the power that is vested in the generous, that is, the high-born classes, is a sacred thing.
But the domestic tie is the closest of all. The whole story brings out its compulsive pressure and no particular passages are needed to illustrate it. Yet in some passages we are made to realise with special vividness how it binds and entwines him, as in that exclamation when he sees the deputation of women approaching:
My wife comes foremost; then the honour’d mould