This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1857 Excerpt: ...my good friend, as you never pray for yourself." In speaking Ihesc words her voice had something winged, something aerial and supernatural: there was something which recalled tho calmness of the sky. French saintliness, like French cookery, seems to contain some strange ingredients. Of course every nation has its own ...
Read More
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1857 Excerpt: ...my good friend, as you never pray for yourself." In speaking Ihesc words her voice had something winged, something aerial and supernatural: there was something which recalled tho calmness of the sky. French saintliness, like French cookery, seems to contain some strange ingredients. Of course every nation has its own notion of Christian perfection; but if a mock marriage and a solemn lie go to make up the French ideal of a saint, we must confess to some little curiosity as to the materials of a sinner. Anyhow the device is original, and throws a light on manners and customs. Wc sell our wives in England, as every foreigner knows; but until M. About enlightened us, we never knew the marketable value of consumptive daughters. The money was duly paid, the saint told the lie, and the marriage was concluded. At first, apparently as a mere matter of decency, she was taken to Corfu for her health. But to Madame Chermidy's infinite disgust, no sooner was the arrangement completed past recal than Don Diego developed a sudden attachment to the wife he had bought, which he displayed by "crying over the wheels of the carriage, leaving off smoking," and sundry other touching tokens of affection. But for a Frenchwoman to exist with no one else in love with her but her husband would be the abyss of despair, and M. About has too much sense of poetical justice to condemn his saint to such a fate. Accordingly she lived in Corfu "in a circle of passionate admirations. Every one who approached her, young or old, felt for her a feeling akin to love." This circle of passionate admirations comprised two doctors, two landed proprietors, an English consul, and a French naval officer, who seem to have passed their days with her in a garden "breathing of...
Read Less
Add this copy of The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science to cart. $57.86, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2012 by Nabu Press.
