ANOTHER CHAPTEll ON THE " RIGHTS OF WOMAN." 269 



Again : 



" Man to man so oft unjust, 



Is always so to women ; one sole bond 

 Awaits her, treachery is all her trust. 



Taught to conceal, their bursting hearts despond 

 Over their idol, till some wealthier lust 



Buys them in marriage ; and what rests beyond ? 

 A thankless husband next a faithless lover 

 Then dressing, nursing, praying, and all over." 



Little doubt could be entertained, but that Madame Dudevant had 

 had her share of the matrimonial afflictions she so feelingly describes 

 and so pathetically laments. Whether she realized the character so 

 pointedly draw in the remaining verses of the same passage, and be- 

 longed to those who 



" First play the devil, and then write a novel," 



was a matter that was open to conjecture. But, however this might 

 be, the jealous eye of criticism soon discovered that the scope and 

 tendency of the fair novelist was directed against that old and ve- 

 nerable institution, yclept marriage ; and that she stood forward as 

 an impassioned pleader against the binding principles of society. 

 The tide of censure now flowed in with greater violence, in propor- 

 tion as the previous praise had been unmeasured. The critic was 

 angry with himself at being duped into patronizing so dangerous a 

 writer, and he redoubled his attacks in order to efface the effects of his 

 first acquiescence. Leaving Madame Dudevant to settle this matter 

 with her critics, which she does in a style much too metaphysical for 

 ordinary apprehensions, we shall proceed to give an analysis of the 

 work before us. 



It generally happens that the later efforts of a successful writer 

 fall immeasureably beneath the promise of his earlier productions. 

 He writes up to a certain point, beyond which he may not pass. 

 The succeeding works may be good, but we do not find them rise 

 above each other in spirit and excellence. Thus, though in the pre- 

 sent work we still recognize the boldness of execution and vivid por- 

 traiture which lent so powerful a charm to Indiana, Valentine, and Rose 

 et Blanche, we cannot help feeling, that, like the music of the Theban 

 statue, as the day declined the strain is fainter, and the impression 

 produced is less profound. 



Louis de Saint Julien, the heir apparent of a noble but impo- 

 verished family, becoming disgusted with some stories that have 

 reached his ears of the youthful gallantries of his mother, forms the 

 romantic project of quitting his paternal home, and trusting to his 

 own energy and talents for making his way through the world. In 

 pursuance of this resolution, we find the young count journeying 

 on foot, on the dusty high road between Paris and Lyons, delighted 

 at having left behind him the land of sad reality, and resolved to 

 plunge, at any hazard, into the joyous land of his own fond ima- 

 ginings. 



Bred up in the country, under the tuition of a kind and good- 

 hearted curate, the count was possessed of much genuine principle, a 



