50 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



to a faux manage, and although young girls are 

 jealously guarded, married women are tacitly allowed 

 an amount of freedom which in England would 

 entail upon them a loss of consideration. We have 

 already spoken of the evil results of the mariage de 

 conveiiance in destroying the sanctity of the nuptial 

 tie. It is beyond all doubt responsible for the laxity 

 of French morals, in both a literary and a social 

 sense. If we observe the disfavour with which the 

 public in a theatre watch the efforts of a parent or 

 guardian to marry a girl to some detested suitor, and 

 with what delight they see true love get its way, we 

 need not be surprised at the indulgence shown to the 

 victims of a system of loveless marriage, which in 

 France is sustained mainly by its connexion with the 

 laws of property. The growth of Puritanism iu 

 England again has had effects which are felt to this 

 day ; whereas in France that movement, with its 



recherche ; ils me repondaient en riant que les femmes honnetes 

 abondaient dans le monde en depit de la medisance mais qu'elles 

 etaient rares ou introuvables dans la litterature. Je viens de 

 recommencer pour I'amour conjugal la quete que je faisais d'une 

 femme honnSte et j'ai cherche si au ITeme siecle, au 18eme ou de 

 nos jours, cet amour, soit dans son devouement tendre et passionne, 

 soit dans ses fclicites innocentes avait ete represente quelque 

 part. J'ai k peine trouv^, 9a et Ik, quelques esquisses de ce senti- 

 ment." 



