134 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



The reception, in each case, was such that neither thought it 

 necessary, upon returning to the cell, to read at once the fatal news. 



Melmoth, from this point, diverges from La Religieuse as has been 

 stated, and while the journey through the underground passages and 

 the various horrors related there call up memories of other sources, 

 these lie outside the province of our present inquiry. 



Allowing for similarity of subject, we can conclude, with every 

 semblance of justice, that Maturin had not merely read and recalled 

 the main outline of Diderot's novel, but that he actually consulted it 

 during the composition of this portion of Melmoth. If he had followed 

 more closely the sober text of his French predecessor, he would have 

 been more in keeping with our ideas of art,^^ but he would not have 

 been sufficiently "romantic" to have the influence that he certainly 

 exercised upon the French, who no longer read Diderot, and who 

 craved for "something different." 



It is one of the little ironies of literary history that the "some- 

 thing different," which caused them such delight was only, as far 

 as this episode is concerned, a tawdry resetting of one of their own 

 literary gems. 



^^And more in keeping with fact. Any one who has seen a monastery cell will 

 have some difficulty in picturing the scene described above by Maturin (not by 

 Diderot). In a cell in which there are assembled six persons — and a bed — one 

 person takes several turns, followed by three others! 



