526 FRENCH NOVELISTS. 



stroke ; I must prove so her that she does not know what she says, 

 and that she loves me to distraction." Here he mimicked the walk 

 and gesture of Buonaparte. 



" ' Will can do all things; it made the world, it shall make a mar- 

 riage, I swear. The part of an empassioned lover is not so very difficult. 

 I have a good memory, and since Salicetta must have a Spanish passion, 

 she shall have one of the most high-flown, with the accompinament of the 

 guitar. The guitar shall be my Amphion's harp. By the sounds of its 

 chords I shall build the edifice of our conjugal felicity. Imagination shall 

 be my Proteus (I am decidedly mythological to-day). To be brief; 

 Madam, I shall cure your niece of this sentimental madness, that baneful 

 poison, extracted from romances. Common-sense is the basis of every- 

 thing, even of love. I hope, in a month, to be able to say to you, I came, 

 I saw, I conquered!' " 



Juviessy conducted his attack with such consummate art and dex- 

 terity, that the innocent Salicetta was soon entangled in the net of his 

 sentimental hypocrisy. 



" ' I have been too hasty in judging him,' said she, ' can it be that his 

 habitual irony and disdain *are compatible with passion? Is it suffering 

 that gives to his lips that turn of mockery ? He has spoken of the myste- 

 ries of his life and heart? Has he been unhappy? Is he capable of an 

 unalterable attachment ?' " 



This was much : a temporary absence and correspondence effected 

 the rest. The account of the latter is thus given by Juviessy, writing 

 to the Count de Naviers : 



" ' I have just given the decisive blow ! having written several letters 

 with the proper admixture of the pathetic. I am not quite sure of having 

 steered clear of the shoals of common-place ; but it is so difficult to be new 

 in writing love-letters. I am half afraid of having mixed some diplomatic 

 jargon with the burning phrases of passion ; in truth, I am losing that fine 

 style which gained me so much favour with the women; and were it not 

 for the Heloise, I should never have got through with it. I was obliged 

 to draw upon that fool Rousseau, for a supply of enthusiasm, and for the 

 honour of a phrase I was forced to distil some tears in a glass. One of 

 them, let fall upon the name of Salicetta, will produce a wonderful 

 effect/ " 



Three months' assiduous attention completed the fascination in- 

 spired by this imposture. Salicetta became the wife of Juviessy. 



Time and accident soon discover to her that she had been duped. 

 A sight of the ironical correspondence of Juviessy with her uncle 

 Naviers revealed to her the cold artifice that had been practised 

 against her happiness. Contempt and hatred for her husband fol- 

 lowed the self-humiliation of the discovery. Doubt in the reality of 

 virtue next took possession of her mind. The irony of Juviessy had 

 destroyed the poetry of her affections, and it soon obliterated the 

 poetry of her religious feelings. Led away by the desire of produ- 

 cing effect, and of scattering the scintillations of his wit around him 

 in profusion, he demolished, at one moment, the principles he had laid 

 down the moment before. Politics, morals, religion, science, history, 

 arts, nature, all were confused and melted away by the electric fluid 

 of his ingenious scepticism, Salicetta was soon bereft of all belief, and 

 in its stead she learned to wield the powerful weapon of irony for 

 destroying it in others. A victim was not long in presenting him- 

 self. Monsieur Laviteal, a valued friend of the Count de Juviessy, 



