CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE AND MORALITY 49 



shameful iudulgeuces, or life itself as a discreditable 

 thing. It is true that some of our most necessary- 

 appetites, besides the sexual oue, are the subject of a 

 very widespread moral reprobation, eating and sleep- 

 ing being of the number. Many men boast of their 

 love of art, for example, but few are prepared to boast 

 of their love of beef or mutton. In these sentiments 

 the influence of the Church is again to be traced, 

 asceticism or the mortification of the flesh having 

 been regarded from the earliest times as conducive 

 to holiness. 



These various influences have not been uniform 

 in their operation throughout Christendom ; they 

 have been strengthened or weakened by the special 

 circumstances of each country. Thus the public 

 sentiment of England, with regard to certain breaches 

 of the moral law, is much more stringent than that of 

 France. Virtuous women are common in English 

 literature, whereas in French they are exceedingly 

 rare.^ In French society hardly any stigma attaches 



^ Professor St. Marc Girardin, in bis Cours de Litterature Bra- 

 matiqiie, relates the following curious experience : — 



"Quanii je faisais h, la Sorbonne, il y a vingt ans, la com- 

 paraison de I'expression des divers sentiments du coeur humain, 

 j'allais cherchant partout dans le drame et dans le roman modernes. 

 une femnie honnete ; je priais meme mes amis de s'associer a ma 



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